The International Seminar is an initiative promoted by the JeMiNA University Project on Jesuit missions in Ethiopia. Its aim is to bring together specialists from a wide range of disciplines—archaeology, Ethiopian studies, history, linguistics, Hispanic studies, and Lusophone studies—who have worked on these missions. The arrival in Ethiopia of the six Portuguese missionaries led by Bishop Andrés de Oviedo in 1557 represents not only a turning point in the religious history and cultural life of Christian Ethiopia, but also effectively marks the country’s entry into the Early Modern period.
The Seminar also seeks to highlight how L’Orientale is perhaps the only academic institution in the world where all these fields of expertise are simultaneously present. This unique convergence explains the determination of the five scholars leading the project to form a collaborative team in which their respective disciplines contribute toward achieving integrated and synthetic results.
