Abstract

GARCIA BRAVO, María Haydeé. Evangelization and science: nineteenth-century anthropological missions in Mexican territory. Inter disciplina [online]. 2021, vol.9, n.24, pp.51-72.  Epub June 25, 2021. ISSN 2448-5705.  https://doi.org/10.22201/ceiich.24485705e.2021.24.78458.

In this work I seek to trace the meaning of the concept of mission in the so-called anthropological missions that took place in nineteenth-century Mexico in two moments: during the French intervention and in the Porfiriato. In the first period I will highlight the role played by the French Vincentian priest Emmanuel Domenech. And in the second, at the end of the 19th century, I will approach the mission that the Belgian Jesuit Aquiles Gerste carried out in the Tarahumara at the request of the Junta Colombina de Mexico. The objective is to establish the close relationship between the missions and the colonization, to emphasize that there are a series of practices that both personages combined. There are some actions that ecclesiastical pastoral work and anthropological incursions share: the displacement, to travel to distant territories; to stay there for a while, the attempt to learn the native language and to accomplish an indoctrination work, on the one hand, with respect to the gospel and, on the other, flagging the faith in progress and science.

Keywords : Anthropological missions; 19th century; French intervention; Emmanuel Domenech; Junta Colombina de México; Aquiles Gerste.