The cohabitation of different cultures and the rise of new cultural and social clashes in more or less wide contexts (nation-states, macro- areas, civilizations) has pushed human sciences to examine themselves through an interdisciplinary point of view and to develop new categories in order to define the Other. Since the development of a multicultural approach to otherness was born in Early Modern culture, the book’s main goal is to research such a historical process, beginning from the specific point of view developed by Jesuits between the 17th and 18th centuries. A specific focus will also be devoted to the discussion of today’s intercultural and religious clashes in the Islamic world and in the Far East: in fact, in these contexts, religious movements have given a decisive contribution to the spread of strong paradigms, useful in representing the Other. Three chapters (those by M. Catto, E. Colombo and P. Broggio) will analyse the Jesuits’ missionary strategies; P. Pizzo will give an overview on the Islamic world, and S. Picciaredda will study the debate on Otherness within the Catholic culture during the 20th century.
Niccolò Guasti, PhD, is Assistant Professor in Early Modern History at the Department of Humanistic Studies of the University of Foggia. His research interests include the history of the Jesuits and eighteenth-century reform debates in the Iberian and Neapolitan contexts. He is the author of two monographs and several articles on the expulsion of the Spanish Jesuits and enlightened reform projects between Spain, France and Italy in the eighteenth century.