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- Convenors:
-
Antonella Viola
(FCSH, UAç and Universidade Nova)
Hakim Ikhlef (European University Institute)
- Location:
- C301
- Start time:
- 27 July, 2012 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
The panel focuses on visions of India, understood as perceptions and portrayals of different aspects of Indian social, economic, political and artistic life. It seeks to tackle the multiple models of representation through which India has been depicted during the Early Modern Time.
Long Abstract:
The panel focuses on visions of India, understood as perceptions and portrayals of different aspects of Indian social, economic, political and artistic life. More specifically, the panel deals with representations of Portuguese India as produced by external observers on the one hand, and with representations of India produced by the Portuguese themselves. The analysis of the converging and diverging visions of India serves the purpose of discussing how images and perceptions have been shaped, used and circulated, producing a stratified and complex narrative about India. The panel's overriding goal is to tackle the multiple models of representation through which India has been perceived and depicted during the Early Modern period.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to discuss ideas about and visions of India, more specifically Portuguese India, as they were developed in the second half of the 16th century, when Portugal was about to be subjected to the Spanish rule. Its main goal is to see how Portuguese India was perceived and portrayed in the Italian documentation (merchant letters, travel accounts, and so forth) of the 16th century.
Paper long abstract:
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese created an overseas empire in the Orient. The Indian Ocean became the centre of Portuguese trading activities, linking strategic spots on the Indian coast to Lisbon. Since the establishment of the so-called Carreira da India, Italian merchants, above all Florentine economic operators, were involved in the Portuguese long-distance trade with the Orient.
Italian princely states were particularly attracted by everything that came from the Orient and developed a great interest in the narratives, particularly travel accounts, about Asian lands and peoples. Works relating the longs journey undertaken by travelers and merchants throughout Asia became thus fashionable readings which stirred the curiosity of many princes and kings, as the circulation enjoyed by the work of Giovan Battista Ramusio, Delle navigationi et viaggi, shows. In his work Ramusio collected the travel accounts of Portuguese authors, and texts produced by Italian travelers.
The dissemination of works of this sort within Italian courts during the 16th century, shows that the Orient, and particularly India, represented an interesting and fascinating topic. This paper aims to discuss ideas about and visions of India, more specifically Portuguese India, as they were developed in the second half of the 16th century, when Portugal was about to be subjected to the Spanish rule. Its main goal is to see how Portuguese India was perceived and portrayed in the Italian documentation of the 16th century.
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims at discussing the ways in which Portuguese India was portrayed in the Florentine documentation of the second half of the 17th century. The focus is on the economic and commercial conditions of Portuguese India.
Paper long abstract:
The paper aims at discussing the ways in which Portuguese India was portrayed in the Florentine documentation of the second half of the 17th century. The focus is on the economic and commercial conditions of Portuguese India as they were perceived and described by Florentine merchants involved in the Portuguese colonial trade. In the documentation analyzed the economy of the Portuguese empire in general, and that of the Estado da Índia in particular, was often portrayed in a contradictory way. Such contradiction reflected, on the one hand, the different perceptions that Florentine economic operators and on the other, the multiple interests that linked Tuscany to Portuguese overseas trade. "Sterile land" according to some merchants and a "land of opportunities" according to others, Portuguese India was depicted through a set of ideas often contradictory, diverging and overlapping which mirrored subjective experiences, individual and group interests, and commercial opportunism. The result was a composite and stratified picture which deserves to be illustrated, discussed and compared to other visions. By mostly relying on merchant letters, consular correspondence and a wide range of documents related to the project of a Luso-Florentine trading company, this paper tackles the vision of Portuguese India as it was forged within and outside the Florentine court.
Paper short abstract:
See, compare and adapt: the individuality of Indo-Portuguese retable art begins with the missionaries understanding of the potential of conversion thru art, and at the same time, local artisans begin the introduction of non-liturgical representations, even though with the same devotional connotation
Paper long abstract:
The arriving in India by the Portuguese was the result of an economic intent disguised with the search of the long lost Christians. To maintain this strategy, after the conquest of the first territories along the Indian coast in the beginning of the sixteenth century, India bound ships carried, alongside missionaries, reinóis, governors and goods for trade, the first retables to furnish the newly built churches hoping to loyalty thru conversion. If at first, retables, alongside its artisans, were imported, soon was realized that local artisans used to carve deities and temples for many centuries could also embrace the carving of Our Ladies and retables. By making this choice, the missionaries were not only eliminating a problem but also providing the necessary elements towards the creation of unique representations in art, the resulting art forms of several praises combined with the Christian praise. The individuality of Indo-Portuguese retable art begins when the potential of conversion thru art is understood by the missionaries, and, at the same time, the local craftsmanship begins the introduction of non-liturgical representations, even though with the same devotional connotation. This bipolar action gives way to the process of comparison and adaptation of imported artistic and religious values. The study of the art and architectural forms and they're religious values will allow the understanding of its process of miscegenation and the reason behind the artistic options.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation will examine Portuguese perceptions of corruption in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in order to expose how the Portuguese thought about corruption, what they viewed as corrupt, what might have motivated accusations, and how they responded to the challenges corruption posed.
Paper long abstract:
Corruption has been a thorny topic among historians who debate the extent to which this phenomenon was present in the ancient regime. In early modern Portuguese India, corruption has been deemed ubiquitous, but is altogether overlooked in Indo-Portuguese historiography. While the context and semantics may have differed, the early modern Portuguese possessed a concept of corruption, a sense of integrity tied to their broader Christian values that guided the comportment of crown officials, ecclesiastics, and laypeople alike. However, they had no uniform language to refer to the contravention of norms that were established by law, or even by religious or social convention, and constituted disobedience to King and God. The study of corruption is made even more difficult by the lack of proof, as often only charges are present, but nonetheless, an allegation of corruption — whether substantiated or not, prosecuted or not — is sufficient to ascertain the existence of an established law, normative attitude, or custom accepted over time, and so inversely how and when these conventional ideas and behaviors were transgressed. This presentation will examine Portuguese perceptions of corruption in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in order to expose how the Portuguese thought about corruption, what they viewed as corrupt, what might have motivated accusations, and how they responded to the challenges corruption posed.
Paper short abstract:
The paper deals with the relations between Portuguese India and the Sultanate of Mysore under the rule of Haydar Ali and Tipu Sultan. Its main goal is to analyse and discuss how the Portuguese saw and perceived the rising power the Sultans of Mysore in the changing geo-political context of 18th century India.
Paper long abstract:
The paper deals with the relations between Portuguese India and the Sultanate of Mysore under the rule of Haydar Ali and Tipu Sultan. Its main goal is to analyse and discuss how the Portuguese saw and perceived the rising power the Sultans of Mysore in the changing geo-political context of 18th century India. Through the analysis of diplomatic sources, State papers and minutes, the paper seeks to explore Portuguese's perceptions of the Sultans of Mysore and their rule. By doing so, it attempts to show how a political vision of the emerging Muslim power in South India was constructed and corroborated through a set of cultural images of Muslim rulers. The Portuguese perception and vision of Mysore were shaped and re-articulated on the basis of the geo-political situation of India. The rise of the English East India Company as a powerful player in the South Asian scenario was a factor which influenced to a great extent the way the Portuguese perceived Mysore and put its rulers in relation to the interests and the goals of the Portuguese empire.