November 6
Mission and the Margins: The Jesuit Pandarasami Tradition and the Making of Tamil Catholicism (
details)
Catholicism as practiced today by south India's Tamil people has its roots in the Jesuit missions of the 16th-18th centuries. Early Jesuits adopted the customs of "upper-caste" Brahmins, but Balthasar da Costa broke with this tradition in 1640, adopting the diet, dress, and ascetic lifestyle of "lower-caste" Hindu
Yogis, or
Pandarasamis. These Jesuits trained native catechist
Pandarams, drawn from the margins of Indian society, who collaborated with them to build an enduring Catholic community in south India. Join our visiting research scholar,
Patrick Gnana (University of Madras), to explore the fascinating ups and downs of their story.
January 23
Catolicismo, Cultura y Comida Series
Next talk by Gina Pérez, PhD
(title of talk to come)
The 2nd talk in this series will be given by
Gina Pérez,
professor of Comparative American Studies at Oberlin College & Conservatory (Oberlin, OH). She is the author of two award-winning books:
The Near Northwest Side Story: Gender, Migration, and Puerto Rican Families (University of California Press, 2004) and
Citizen, Student, Soldier: Latina/o Youth, JROTC and the American Dream (New York University Press, 2015). Her research interests include Latinas/os, youth, militarism, gender, migration, urban ethnography, and faith-based organizing. Her new project focuses on sanctuary movements and multiethnic faith-based organizing among Latina/o communities in Ohio.
(Organized in partnership with DePaul's
Tepeyac/Catholic Campus Ministry)