SECL alumna Penelope Reilly, a Master’s graduate in Hispanic Studies from the Department of Modern Languages, has published an article based upon her postgraduate research, entitled: “New light on the road to Damascus? Some further thoughts on acculturation as seen in the auto La Conversión de San Pablo” in the journal Franciscan Studies.
Her article focuses on aspects of the early interaction between the Franciscan friars and the indigenous people of Mexico in the early 16th century. Focusing on a religious play performed by newly converted Aztecs, the article explores ambiguities in the relations and interpretations of the Christian message in the early period of conquest and evangelisation; it suggests that there was a greater degree of mutual accommodation than has been previously recognised and that the friars in their relations with the Nahua were changed, as the Nahua were by their contact with the friars.
In addition to her academic research, Penelope is also a successful children’s author, having published Sprat the Cat, Hervé the Campsite Cat, and Magnus the Mouse.
Penelope’s supervisor, Dr William Rowlandson, Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies, who encouraged the writing of the article, is delighted with the publication and looks forward to the next submission.