Flagler College plays host to international conference on early Franciscan history

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL (02/25/2014)(readMedia)-- Scholars from across the world will travel to Flagler College in March for a conference focusing on the early history of the Franciscans in North America and the indigenous peoples they encountered.

Keynote speakers for the conference include David Hurst Thomas, Curator of North American Archaeology for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and Constanza Ceruti of the Campus de Castañares Salta in Argentina.

In addition, scholars from institutions such as Flagler, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, the University of North Florida, Harvard University, the University of California - Berkeley, the University of Dresden, the University of Arizona and others will present as will representatives of the Hopi, Navajo, and Ohlone peoples.

"While scholars often highlight the mission system throughout the Southwest and California, this conference includes numerous papers from recognized scholars on Saint Augustine and missions in the Southeast United States," said Flagler College Professor of Religion Timothy Johnson who also serves as the conference's organizer. "This gathering is the first time an international conference of such breadth and depth has ever been dedicated to the Franciscan presence in the Spanish Borderlands and the indigenous peoples of this region."

The conference, "Franciscan Florida in pan-Borderlands Perspective: Adaptation, Negotiation and Resistance," will be held from March 13-15. The Flagler conference is made possible by partners such as the Academy of American Franciscan History, Arizona State University, Franciscan Institute at Saint Bonaventure University, The Saint Augustine Foundation, the Research Centre for Comparative History of Religious Orders in Germany, the St. Augustine Historical Society and the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig.

For more information, visit flagler.edu/franconf.

___

Flagler College is an independent, four-year, comprehensive baccalaureate college located in St. Augustine, Fla. The college offers 29 majors, 34 minors and two pre-professional programs, the largest majors being business, education and communication. Small by intent, Flagler College has an enrollment of about 2,500 students, as well as a satellite campus at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Fla. A Flagler education is less than half the cost of similar private colleges, and competitive with many state universities. A relatively young institution (founded in 1968), Flagler College is also noted for its historic beauty. The centerpiece of the campus is the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, a grand resort built in 1888 by Henry M. Flagler, industrialist, railroad pioneer and co-founder of Standard Oil. The Ponce has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. For more on Flagler College, visit www.flagler.edu.