Med geografskimi odkritji, evangelizacijo in globalizacijo (Entre descubrimientos geográficos, evangelización y globalización)

The third part of the monograph touches upon the history of ideas of the 17th and 18th centuries. Ana Cecilia Prenz Kopušar locates the life of Marcos Antonio Kappus at the intersection of the contemporary spirit of the imagination, on the one hand, and the intellectual spirit of the Enlightenment which was to profoundly transform the perception of the world, on the other. The study brings forward mainly the episodes, actions, decisions and coincidences from Kappus’ missionary life that are associated with the ambitious plans of Eusebio Francisco Kino. It outlines an arc of thought extending from the “imaginary geography” of chivalric romance that had an impact on the explorers’ imagination and affected their vision of “reality” when the two worlds met, to discoveries, such as Kino’s peninsula character of California that no longer contributed to the construction of the fantasy world, but rather to the plausible, “measured” and lived reality. These discoveries were complemented by Kino’s attitude towards the construction of what is now called the globalised world, one that is based on the idea of cultural mediation rather than on the principles of Christian universalism, imperialism, Eurocentrism or colonialism. The Slovenian missionary, albeit not always seeing eye to eye with his colleague, played a small part in this shift. In addition, the study raises a complex issue on the formation of discourse on indigenous people with whom the Jesuits came into contact and worked towards their (full) acculturation.