Encounters in the glocal mirror: The role of the performing arts in Japan’s Christian century and its reflection in early modern Europe, 1549–1783

In exploring encounters between Jesuit missionaries and the Japanese in the sixteenth century, this thesis interprets musical and theatrical practices in light of recent historiographical debates on globalisation theory. The first half of the thesis analyses how the performing arts were formed and experienced as syncretic religious practices among Japanese Christian (Kirishitan) communities .The second half demonstrates how globalisation entailed both a real and imagined defiance of geography; it comprises three case studies of musico-theatrical compositions and their re-interpretation of famous figures from Japan's 'Christian Century' (1549-1650) in seventeenth - and eighteenth-century Europe.