Encontros interculturais e transferência de conhecimentos : mulheres como intermediárias no Império Ultramarino Português

Abstract

The paper will give attention to the roles of women in the East in the specific field of transference of knowledge. Processes of transference of knowledge and cultural translation depended a great deal on the performances of women as intermediaries, as brokers and go-betweens, presented and analyzed in this paper as agents of circulation of knowledge between different worlds. Processes of transference of knowledge and cultural translation depended in a great deal on the performances of these intermediaries. The historical sources used are mostly European and include chronicles, administrative correspondence, and letters from missionaries. This paper will thus enquire, based on an empirical basis and taken into consideration the local contexts and cultures, to what extent processes of cultural encounters and the circulation of knowledge depended on the still unscrutinised role of women - European or autochthone of old and new worlds with which European contacted.