UNSILENCE · Trafficking of girls and Catholic missionary networks in the South China Sea (18th-19th centuries): a transnational approach
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-02-01 → 2024-05-13
- EU contribution
- €166,320
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Trafficking of girls and Catholic missionary networks in the South China Sea (18th-19th centuries): a transnational approach
The project titled “UNSILENCE: Trafficking of girls and Catholic missionary networks in the South China Sea (18th-19th centuries): a transnational approach” examines the reception and buying of abandoned Chinese little girls by Catholic missionaries in their inland missions, Canton and Macau, and their transportation to the Philippines to be raised as Christians in the early modern period. Human trafficking, decolonisation in Asia, and gender equality are major contemporary challenges. Every country in the world is affected with thousands of victims attested in Europe alone, and with a high percentage of the victims being females and children under 18 subjected to different types of dependencies. UNSILENCE project not only helps to understand its historical roots, and the mechanisms behind but also seeks to raise awareness about the importance of History to fight against human trafficking and in favour of women and children rights. The overall objectives of this project have been to (1) reconstruct child trafficking systems between 1700 and 1800 by studying the agents participating and their roles in the context of the political, religious, social, economic and jurisdictional conditions of Macao, Canton and Manila; (2) analyse the life trajectories of little girls and boys including also the number of children, their age, gender, prices and destinations, both geographically and in terms of life trajectories; (3) analyse the consequences of this phenomenon at two different levels: individuals (missionaries, children and their foster families) and receiving societies: colonial settlements that took in these children and Europe itself, as European believers were informed about, and funded, charitable actions in China.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Child trafficking is one of the most challenging problems of our time, a problem with deep historical roots. This interdisciplinary project aims to contribute to the understanding of these roots by studying the migration of abandoned children organised by members of Catholic religious orders in the South China Sea during the 18th and 19th centuries. As part of the Catholic mission in China, Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans took in and bought abandoned Chinese children in their inland missions, Canton and Macau, whence many of these children were sent to distant places such as the Philippines or Goa to be raised as Christians. The project will first reconstruct the channels through which these children, mostly girls, were transported, using Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese sources; and, second, analyse the ethical and moral boundaries crossed and the various effects of this phenomenon in the European and Catholic projects of the Early Modern period. At the same time, it will UNSILENCE the voice of these historiographically neglected children. How many girls were involved in this flow? What was their fate and life trajectories in their foster societies? What was their agency? Unveiling this hitherto unknown traffic and examining its consequences will open a new chapter in the history of early modern intra-Pacific circulations and the analysis of intercultural encounters. Fully within the framework of KU Leuven’s strategic goals, the researcher's cooperation with the ERC AdG TRANSPACIFIC project, and the dissemination of results (high-impact publications, an international conference and a ground-breaking exhibition with educational materials) will greatly boost her career. Moreover, this innovative project will raise awareness about the importance of history in tackling current European and international challenges such as gender equality, decolonisation, and the protection of human rights.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenCoordinatorBelgium
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union