Jos¨¦ F. S¨¢nchez Labrador (1717¨C1798) was an outstanding figure of the 18th century. However, today, he is only known to a few experts. One reason for this is that his magnum opus has to date not been published in its entirety. The encyclopaedic description of Paraguay, which runs to over 4,000 pages and is divided into three parts, was inaccessible for a long time. The location of at least two of the three parts was known, but the work could only be viewed in manuscript form.

Editions of the first two parts, El Paraguay Natural Ilustrado (1767¨C1776) (in parts) and El Paraguay ÍþÄá˹¶Ä²©ÓÎÏ·_ÍþÄá˹¶Ä²©app-¡¾¹ÙÍø¡¿o (1769¨C1772), have now been published. The third part, El Paraguay Cultivado (1772¨C1776, supplemented up to approx. 1790), is now to follow. A research team led by Prof Joachim Steffen from the Chair of Applied Linguistics (Romance Studies) at the ÍþÄá˹¶Ä²©ÓÎÏ·_ÍþÄá˹¶Ä²©app-¡¾¹ÙÍø¡¿ of Augsburg will examine the manuscript and prepare it for publication. The project is a collaboration with Prof Harald Thun from Christian-Albrechts-Universit?t in Kiel. It is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to the tune of around €500,000.

The most original part thought to have been long lost

¡°Paraguay Cultivado is the most original part of the trilogy,¡± explains Steffen. The other two parts of the encyclopaedia deal with topics that are largely covered in other writings of the time. However, Paraguay Cultivado is different: It outlines a programme for the future. Influenced by ideas from the Enlightenment and written in exile after the expulsion of the Jesuits from South America, it describes how agriculture in Paraguay could be modernised. ¡°This is interesting from a linguistic and cultural studies perspective. From this point of view, it is the most rewarding part of the trilogy,¡± explains Steffen.

That this classic work on the history of agriculture in South America is still almost completely unknown is also due to the fact that part of the manuscript was considered lost for about a hundred years. It was only rediscovered in 2017 but has not yet been published. The research project aims to remedy this.

Making the complete text accessible

The research project plans to make a complete digital and printed edition of Paraguay Cultivado available. To this end, the handwritten manuscript will be transcribed, translated, and annotated. The work contains numerous references to other writings, such as agricultural books from the Renaissance and Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclop¨¦die (1751¨C1772), but it does not cite the exact passages from the works quoted. The research team now wants to rectify this.

¡°We want to add precise references and source citations and also transcribe the relevant excerpts.¡± The aim is to produce a comprehensive critical edition of the Paraguay Cultivado. If possible, the entire 4,400-page trilogy will be transcribed anew. Although the first two parts have been published, they are hardly accessible. ¡°For the first time in the history of its reception, a comprehensive comparative interpretation of the work would then be possible,¡± says Steffen.

Multilingual text, special layout

Transliteration will be a challenge. The research team will be supported by an AI tool that has been trained on the corpus and reliably recognises the text. However, the manuscript has some special features. The layout is complex: Each page of the book is divided into two parts and contains margin notes and footnotes in addition to the main text. This means that coherent text needs to be marked individually in ¡°text regions¡± for each page of the book.

In addition to Spanish, other languages are also used, including Italian, Latin, French, English and Guaran¨ª. This language belongs to the Tup¨ª-Guaran¨ª language family and is spoken today by several million people in Paraguay and parts of Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. The programme often makes mistakes with words from these languages, and the researchers have to check the results very carefully.

Language and craftsmanship

Paraguay Cultivado is interesting on several levels. ¡°It documents the linguistic contact between Spanish and Guaran¨ª and shows how the languages have influenced each other,¡± explains Steffen. This is because the Jesuits preached in Guaran¨ª, describing the grammar of the language and coining new words for Christian vocabulary. However, S¨¢nchez Labrador's work reveals deviations from the traditional form of Jesuit Guaran¨ª of the 17th century, which point to innovations.

Paraguay Cultivado also describes the craftmanship of the time: ¡°What raw resources and other materials were used? Less is known about this today than one might think,¡± explains Steffen. Research assistant Dr Corinna Gramatke is approaching this topic from a historical perspective, while Dr Leonardo Cerno, an expert in ¡®colonial Guaran¨ª,¡¯ has joined the team. The team is rounded out by doctoral candidate Christian Wilson, who is pursuing a specialisation in ethnolinguistics.

Shedding light on the history of colonialism

Paraguay Cultivado is also a valuable historical source. It contains a wide range of information, for example about Jesuit and indigenous medicine and social life in the region, as well as the Jesuit mission in general. It documents cultural contact and enables a nuanced view of the colonial period.

¡°Nowadays, there is often a simplistic assumption that the Europeans came and oppressed the others. In fact, what happened in Paraguay was much more complex,¡± says Steffen. ¡°Of course, ideological paternalism took place. But no one was forced at sword point to stay in the reducciones, the settlements created by the Jesuits for the Guaran¨ª. There were about 2,000 to 7,000 Guaran¨ª for every one or two priests.¡± According to Steffen's thesis, the indigenous communities also pursued their own interests with respect to this cultural contact. ¡°Our desire is to make this complexity visible and contribute to shedding light on the colonial era.¡±

Recreating historical recipes

A side project shows the practical benefits of studying historical works today. In collaboration with an ethnobotanist, a book of recipes from Paraguay Cultivado is being created. The recipes are being recreated with the help of an indigenous Guaran¨ª community and a Spanish Argentinian chef. The recipes also provide interesting insights into 18th century trade networks.

?