Jesuits in Portuguese-Speaking America: A Historiographic Vacuum in Post-Restoration Period

Abstract

In this essay, we propose a journey through post-restoration historiographic production from the late nineteenth century to the present. The first part focuses on the role of Jesuit historiography in the foundation of Brazilian national history. We highlight the role played by the Brazilian Historical Geographical Institute in the vindication of the figure of the first Jesuits arrived in Brazil. The second part focuses on the pioneering work of Jesuit Serafim Leite (1890–1969), quickly adopted by the national historiography to provide a coherent image of the Brazilian colonial past with the Jesuits at the center. The third and fourth parts address the development of historiography since the 1970s, when “jesuitology” becomes a non-confessional transdisciplinary field. We argue that most of the post-restauration bibliography is devoted to the Old Society of Jesus, reified as a pillar element of Brazilian nationhood.