The Worlds of Junipero Serra

Historical Contexts and Cultural Representations

Steven W. Hackel

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780520295391
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520968165
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia moderna temprana

As one of America's most important missionaries, Junípero Serra is widely recognized as the founding father of California's missions.  It was for that work that he was canonized in 2015 by Pope Francis.  Less well known, however, is the degree to which Junípero Serra embodied the social, religious and artistic currents that shaped Spain and Mexico across the 18th century. Further, Serra's reception in American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries has often been obscured by the controversies surrounding his treatment of California's Indians. This volume situates Serra in the larger Spanish and Mexican contexts within which he lived, learned, and came of age. Offering a rare glimpse into Serra's life, these essays capture the full complexity of cultural trends and developments that paved the way for this powerful missionary to become not only California's most polarizing historical figure but also North America's first Spanish colonial saint. 

Table of contents

• Cover
• The Worlds of Junípero Serra
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction. Junípero Serra: New Contexts and Emerging Interpretations
• PART ONE. MALLORCA: FROM STUDENT TO PROFESSOR
• PART TWO. MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA: SERRA AS MISSIONARY
• PART THREE. ART AND ARCHITECTURE: THE AESTHETIC EYE OF SERRA
• PART FOUR. JUNÍPERO SERRA: INVENTION AND CONSUMPTION
• Contributors List
• Index