Orientalism, Colonialism, and Christianity in Nineteenth-Century France: Jean-Félix-Onésime Luquet’s India

Abstract

In the 19^th century, relations between the European powers and the regions they directly or indirectly controlled outside Europe were reconfigured; industrialisation became impetuous and with it the myth of progress spread; the transport and communications revolution gave Europe a global dimension and, depending on the situation, national identities were constructed or redefined. As the race for colonies accelerated, the “non-European worlds” simultaneously became more and more present in the European imagination. With this work, the author proposes the analysis of a particular case study, that of Jean-Félix-Onésime Luquet’s Considérations sur les Missions catholiques et voyage d'un missionnaire dans l'Inde, a work that testifies to the interconnections existing between the missionary activity of the Congrégation des Missions Étrangères and the dynamics of French colonial interests in Asia, both characterised by a clear Eurocentric and Orientalist approach.