The article investigates the impact of Western Christian concepts of disease and death on indigenous Guarani sensibility and their translation into social representations and practices in the Jesuit-Guarani missions of Paraguay's Jesuit Province during the seventeenth century. This research is based on a re-reading of the Cartas Ânuas da Província Jesuítica do Paraguai, which encompass the 1609-75 period. The study seeks to ascertain how expressions of Guarani sensibility were appropriated by Jesuit discourse as part of the process of conversion to Christianity. It also assesses observable changes in Guarani sensibility as a result of this new mission reality.
Guarani; sensibility; disease; death; Jesuit discourse