Biography

Ana Caroline Hosne is an assistant professor at the Center for Slavic and Chinese Studies (CEMECH) at the National University of San Martín (UNSAM), Argentina. Her field of research is the Society of Jesus in the late sixteenth century, a theme that connects three major areas of her academic background: colonial Latin American history, early modern history, and Ming China. Her book The Jesuit Missions to China and Peru (1570-1610). Expectations and Appraisals of Expansionism will appear in March 2013. Last year, as a postdoctoral fellow at the European University Institute, she began her new research project: ‘The circulation of the Art of memory throughout the Jesuit missions in the late sixteenth century’.

Project Summary

This research project investigates the art and uses of memory as well as mnemonic techniques in the Jesuit missions in Spanish America and in Ming China. In the West, the Society of Jesus promoted such training to enhance artificial memory in its colleges. Soon after, the Jesuits expressed their interest in memory techniques in missions outside Europe.