The return of the Jesuits to Postcolonial America: Science, modernity and catholicism in nineteenth century Ecuador.

Description: After the Independence movements of the beginning of the nineteenth century, the new Andean postcolonial territories face the challenge of building nation-states. The European path defined as ?modernity? resonates in the mind of many Latin American politicians. What is modernity and how to achieve it? Gabriel Garcia Moreno (1821-1875), a political and intellectual figure that dominates Ecuadorean politics between 1858 and 1875, has a plan on how to move towards what he considers modernity.