Agenda

18 Mar 2026 15:00

Abortion and Infanticide in Japanese kirishitan Communities (16th-17th century)

Online

Linda Zampol D’Ortia
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Abortion and Infanticide in Japanese kirishitan Communities (16th-17th century): Japanese Love, Jesuit Depictions, Lived Religion

Wednesday 18th March 2026, 3.00pm – 4.00pm CET
Online - For online participation please register at this Zoom link

Abstract
This paper discusses the practices of abortion and infanticide among Japanese people at the end of the sixteenth century, and how they changed in the communities that converted to Catholicism (kirishitan). It will start by considering the cultural and religious background that informed these practices in the archipelago, to then illustrate how the European missionaries understood and described them. Starting from an image of loveless Japanese women, the Jesuits attempted to identify possible solutions to eradicate these practices, which were not only held to be sinful by Christian tenets, but imperiled the status of Japanese people as racially white and rational in European classifications. Finally, this paper considers the effect that this ban had on the lives of the kirishitan communities, and especially women.

For information please contact the Center for the Study of Lived Religion cslr@unive.it

Organizzatore

Department of Asian and North African Studies; Center for the Study of Lived Religion

Allegati

Poster 683 KB

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