Bishop Las Casas’ Boldest Move: Demanding Restitution as a Prerequisite for Justice

Virtual Collaboration Session with David Orique (Providence College)

Curator: José Montelongo

Zoom link: https://brown.zoom.us/j/92030767259

Bishop Las Casas’ Boldest Move: Demanding Restitution as a Prerequisite for Justice

One hundred and seventy five years ago, a wealthy Providence bachelor decided to collect books related to the exploration and colonization of the Americas. In the first shipment of books that John Carter Brown received from Europe, there was a volume containing eight treatises by Fray Bartolomé de las Casas printed in Seville between 1552 and 1553.

Join us for a show-and-tell centered on a handful of items that speak of the origins of the JCB Library in the year 1846. 

Our guest, David Orique, will talk about one of Las Casas’ lesser-known and most radical publications--Aquí se contienen unos avisos y reglas para los confesores--included in the aforementioned volume. The notion of restitution in this work carries deep implications for theology, ethics, and the law.

David Thomas Orique, O.P., Ph.D, is Associate Professor of Colonial and Modern Latin America, as well as Iberian Atlantic World History, and the Director of Latin American and Latinx Studies at Providence College.