Wei Jiang
I am a historian specialized in early modern global Christianity, with a particular reference to the Catholic missionary rivalries in China, Japan, and the Philippines.
I am also interested in the reception of Italian and European Renaissance ideas in late Ming and early Qing China, as well as in modern South Asian Christianity.
I am currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Art History of the University of Zurich, as part of the ERC Project on "Global Economies of Salvation: Art and the Negotiation of Sanctity in the Early Modern Period" (GLOBECOSAL), directed by Prof. Raphaèle Preisinger.
Before coming to Zurich, I worked for three years as postdoctoral researcher in Religions Studies at the University of Bonn and then I was a yearly fellow of Villa I Tatti, the Harvard Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies.
I have also been a Fellow of the Fondazione Cini in Venice and the Medici Archive Project in Florence.
I have obtained a PhD in Historical Research from King’s College London, after an MA in Comparative Literature and a BA in Hispanic Studies from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
I am also interested in the reception of Italian and European Renaissance ideas in late Ming and early Qing China, as well as in modern South Asian Christianity.
I am currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Art History of the University of Zurich, as part of the ERC Project on "Global Economies of Salvation: Art and the Negotiation of Sanctity in the Early Modern Period" (GLOBECOSAL), directed by Prof. Raphaèle Preisinger.
Before coming to Zurich, I worked for three years as postdoctoral researcher in Religions Studies at the University of Bonn and then I was a yearly fellow of Villa I Tatti, the Harvard Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies.
I have also been a Fellow of the Fondazione Cini in Venice and the Medici Archive Project in Florence.
I have obtained a PhD in Historical Research from King’s College London, after an MA in Comparative Literature and a BA in Hispanic Studies from Beijing Foreign Studies University.
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Books by Wei Jiang
Wei Jiang, “«True Catholicism» in Colonial South Asia: The Independent Catholics in Ceylon and India in the late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries", Studien zur Außereuropäischen Christentumsgeschichte. Asien, Afrika, Lateinamerika/Studies in the History of Christianity in the Non-Western World 37 (Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag, 2023), 246 pp.
Papers by Wei Jiang
ABSTRACT
This paper examines a collection of 42 funerary emblems, or jeroglíficos in Spanish, crafted in honour of the Spanish Abbess Mother Jerónima de la Asunción (1555-1630), the foundress of the first female monastery in the Philippines in 1621. While the original copies of these emblems, comprising images, biblical references, and Spanish verses, have yet been discovered, detailed descriptions of each emblem provide valuable insights into the production of imagery in relation to local veneration of a potential saint. By situating these emblems within the broader context of emblematics in early modern Asia, this paper reveals their significance in various cultural events in the Spanish Philippines, including the celebrations of canonizations, royal exequies, literary competitions and other festivities. Moreover, this paper emphasizes the role of emblems as an efficient medium for cultivating devotion to Mother Jerónima not only among the Spanish devotees but potentially among non-Spanish-speaking Christians as well. In summary, this paper under-scores the potential of emblematic studies in the Spanish Philippines, contrasting with their widespread use in early modern Iberian America primarily at noble exequies and as aids for catechism.
Conferences and workshops by Wei Jiang
Conference Presentations by Wei Jiang
Wei Jiang, “«True Catholicism» in Colonial South Asia: The Independent Catholics in Ceylon and India in the late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries", Studien zur Außereuropäischen Christentumsgeschichte. Asien, Afrika, Lateinamerika/Studies in the History of Christianity in the Non-Western World 37 (Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag, 2023), 246 pp.
ABSTRACT
This paper examines a collection of 42 funerary emblems, or jeroglíficos in Spanish, crafted in honour of the Spanish Abbess Mother Jerónima de la Asunción (1555-1630), the foundress of the first female monastery in the Philippines in 1621. While the original copies of these emblems, comprising images, biblical references, and Spanish verses, have yet been discovered, detailed descriptions of each emblem provide valuable insights into the production of imagery in relation to local veneration of a potential saint. By situating these emblems within the broader context of emblematics in early modern Asia, this paper reveals their significance in various cultural events in the Spanish Philippines, including the celebrations of canonizations, royal exequies, literary competitions and other festivities. Moreover, this paper emphasizes the role of emblems as an efficient medium for cultivating devotion to Mother Jerónima not only among the Spanish devotees but potentially among non-Spanish-speaking Christians as well. In summary, this paper under-scores the potential of emblematic studies in the Spanish Philippines, contrasting with their widespread use in early modern Iberian America primarily at noble exequies and as aids for catechism.