Giuramenti e stranezze dei gentili: interpretazioni culturali e pragmatiche dei missionari cappuccini nel Regno del Congo

Missionary official reports to the Holy siege of their experiences during the 17th century represent an interesting field of research both in terms of historical reconstruction of linguistic and anthropological characteristics of Modern African societies, and for epistemological data deriving from their approach toward pragmatic differences in oral communication. Ordalic rites description in Father cavazzi official report dated 1687 are commented and represented in figures, where paralinguistic details on gestures and body’s distance are represented as part of the communication strategies.

Il contributo fornisce una chiave di lettura pragmatica della comunicazione missionaria in Africa, in età moderna, a partire da dati descrittivi presenti nelle fonti documentarie delle missioni italiane in Africa, nei secoli XVI e XVII.