The Department of Modern Languages is delighted to announce that Penny Reilly has successfully defended her MPhil in Hispanic Studies, under the supervision of Dr William Rowlandson, with a thesis entitled ‘Acculturation by the Franciscan Friars in Mexico from 1520-1550’.
Her thesis examines the cultural and psychological changes experienced by the Franciscan friars during the first years of their mission in Mexico at the beginning of the 16th century. It suggests that the acculturation was a two-way affair; that the Franciscans were as much changed by their contact with the indigenous people as were the natives by their contact with the friars. When friars first came to be in Mexico, the Aztec culture which they encountered both shocked by its human sacrifice and yet provided striking examples of parallels with the Christian religion, thus indicating an early example of possible mutual accommodation.
Our congratulations to Penny.
For more details of research programmes in Modern Languages see: www.kent.ac.uk/secl/modern-languages/postgraduate