CALL FOR PAPERS

Legacies of the Book:
Early Missionary Printing in Asia and the Americas
University of San Francisco, September 24-26, 2010

The Ricci Institute at the University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim is please to invite scholars to submit proposals for 20-minute papers to be delivered in English at an international symposium to be held on the 400 th anniversary of the death of the Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci (1552-1610). The University hopes to welcome some of the world's leading experts as well as promising young scholars engaged in research on the history of printing to compare notes on how missionary presses were organized outside of Europe.

One of the principal aims of the meeting will be to outline a comparative cultural typology of books printed in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in the context of Christian missions beyond the boundaries of Europe as a means of transmission of faith, knowledge, and culture. It will also analyze the process of adaptation of the press to and the beginnings of production of movable type in non-European languages in Asia and the Americas. The geographical scope of the symposium will concentrate on various key points on the Pacific Rim, including Mexico, Peru, Alta and Baja California, the Philippines, (India), Japan, and China.

The symposium will be complemented and illustrated by a display of rare original imprints and other missionary artifacts at the Thacher Gallery and Gleeson Library Rare Book Room as part of the exhibit, In the Circle of the Galleon.

To enable scholars from around the world to attend, full reimbursement of travel expenses to and from San Francisco (in conformity with the travel policy and regulations of the University of San Francisco) and free accommodation pre-arranged by USF for the duration of the symposium will be made available to participants whose papers are selected.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: January 15, 2010

A COMPLETE SUBMISSION CONSISTS OF:

-- 350-400 word proposal in English

-- 1 to 2 page academic curriculum vitae

-- Contact information, including both email and mailing address, and telephone/fax number(s)

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ONLY (as MS Word or PDF file attachment).

Please submit all the above VIA EMAIL to: wu@usfca.edu, Subject line: “Missionary Printing 2010 Proposal”