Nordic Summer Univeristy session 21-28th of July 2025 in Jyväskylä

Reading what is absent and hidden in José de Acostas (1590)
Historia Natural y Morales de las Indias

You are warmly invited to apply to be part of the “Praxis of Social Imaginaries” study circle. This community operates within the Nordic Summer University and sets out to foster a platform for trans- and inter-disciplinary research. By bringing people together from various different disciplines and fields of artistic work into shared laboratories of praxis, we aim to create a transformational learning environment. This summer, the focus is on reading some of the books found in José de Acostas (1590) Historia Natural y Morales de las Indias. We will particularly work on how to read what is absent and hidden in a text, centring European and Jesuit ways of interpreting the lands and cultures of Anahuac and Tawantinsuyu.

Theologian Willie James Jennings writes in his The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (2010), that the reason for the Western Church’s difficulty in grasping its deep involvement in the formation of the modern racial condition fully is due to the distorted social imaginary that was formed when the first theologians and conquistadores passed over the Atlantic to conquer the “New World”. One of the leading theological voices in re-imagining the world after the textual authorities - both biblical, theological and philosophical - had been questioned and altered through the experiences in the “New World” was the Jesuit pater José de Acosta. Jennings describes that Acosta's Historia Natural y Morales de las Indias (1590) earned him the title “the Pliny of the New World”. Historia was one of the most comprehensive descriptions of the Americas for its time, widely translated and spread across Europe. According to Jennings, Acosta's treatment of creation and description of new ways to imagine the doctrine of creation in relation to the Christian presence in “the New World” came to alter European consciousness for centuries.

De-colonial scholar Walter D. Mignolo, states that when engaging with Acosta’s Historia the reader “should keep in mind what is constantly absent and silenced in the narrative.” The replacement, absence and silence of Amerindian voices is another important theme of this gathering and our sessions aim at bringing forth counter narratives to Acosta’s story.

To learn more about our transdisciplinary approach and approach to Indigenous-centered research ethics, please see the section “About Our Study Circle” below.

To Apply
Send a short introduction to yourself, your interest in the study circle, your status (scholar, artist, student, independent researcher, etc.) and how you want to contribute to the sessions that are arranged during the summer. Additionally, if you are interested in receiving a scholarship, either towards the participation fee, travel or both, provide a preliminary budget for the costs you need to be covered.

For more information, visit our page