The Andean Devil: The Demonological Representations and the Society of Jesus in the Vice-Kingdom of Peru in the sixteenth century
Demonology; Viceroyalty of Peru; Jesuits; Third Council of Lima; Amerindians.
Our present research intends to investigate the relationships generated from the contact between the Jesuit evangelizing priests and the native Amerindians in the Viceroyalty of Peru during the 16th century, understanding the Christian demonological discourse as a fundamental element to entirely understand them. In this way, we use the prism of Cultural History to understand demonology as a heterology and thus investigate which elements of Amerindian culture were placed under the demonic aegis in light of the production of Jesuit literature by authors such as José de Acosta. In addition, we will try to understand how the need to extirpate native idolatries was justified through the need to destroy that same demonic agency over the Amerindian people, fostering the institution of a strong apparatus of evangelization that culminated in the resolutions of the Third Council of Lima (1582-1583) and a consequent change in the education provided by the Jesuits to the indigenous people.