CRCAO / Research / Research programmes
East Asia Through the Sources of the Missions Étrangères de Paris (17th–21st Centuries)
China Team - Japan Team - TBACT Team
Presentation
The Missions étrangères de Paris (MEP) is a society of Catholic priests whose main mission is to evangelize the peoples of Asia. Since it was founded in the 1660s, the society has sent about 4,300 priests on missions. Along with the women and men of Asia who collaborated in their work, they have left behind a rich, multilingual documentary heritage. The letters, reports, photographs, maps, artifacts, and printed materials collected in Paris (“128 Rue du Bac”) and in the MEP’s various regional centers cover a wide range of subjects. These go far beyond just missiological questions and include various academic fields.
The establishment in 2019 of the Institut de Recherche France-Asie (IRFA), responsible for preserving and promoting the MEP’s historical heritage, has facilitated access to this unique collection for researchers worldwide. There has already been a noticeable rise in studies related to the MEP. However, research from an areal or transregional perspective remains relatively uncommon, especially compared to what has been achieved on the Society of Jesus.
This program aims to fill this gap. To achieve this, it first seeks to create a space for exchange and discussion among specialists in Asian regions at the core of the CRCAO who, whether regularly or occasionally, use sources from the IRFA (or any other collection with documents on the MEP). More broadly, it also aims to highlight French Catholic documentary collections related to East Asia, especially those of both female and male congregations. Bringing together specialists from multiple countries and breaking down disciplinary boundaries will, in a second phase, encourage the development of collective projects.
Planned Events for 2025–2026
- Three study days: December 15, 2025 (EFEO), March 26, 2026 (EFEO), and June 12, 2026 (IRFA)
- Invitations of Asian researchers visiting Paris to give talks
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Participants
Leaders
Martin Nogueira Ramos
(École française d'Extrême-Orient)
Pierre-Emmanuel Roux
(Université Paris Cité)
CRCAO members
Full members
Martin Nogueira Ramos
(École française d'Extrême-Orient)
Associated members
Pierre-Emmanuel Roux
(Université Paris Cité)
Guoqiang Li
(Université de Lille)
Doctoral students
Etienne Marq
(École Pratique des Hautes Études)
Hoang Phuc Nguyen
(École Pratique des Hautes Études)
Outside Participants
Patrick Beillevaire
(Cnrs)
Pascal Bourdeaux
(EPHE)
Evelyne Chérel-Riquier
(U. de La Rochelle)
Anne Dalles Maréchal
(U. Jean Monnet-Saint-Étienne)
Andrew Hardy
(EFEO)
Fabienne Jagou
(EFEO)
Aurélie Nevot
(Cnrs)
Eva Salerno
(ICP Taïwan)
Catherine Scheer
(EFEO)
Erina Shimooka
(Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès)
Fang Hui
(Université Nankai, Tianjin (Chine) )
Hoang Thi Bich Ngoc
(EPHE)
Li Shuang
(EPHE)
Liu Weijia
(EHESS)
Marina Valente
(Paris Cité)
Xiao Yuan
(Paris Cité)
Li Qingfeng
(EHESS)