Basel Mission Education In Cameroon

This volume examines the relationships between the German colonial administration, the Basel Mission, the British Baptist Missionary Society and other missionary societies that characterized the setting up of Basel Mission education in Cameroon against the backdrop of intense rivalry. Spanning a period of 82 years, the book meticulously documents the kick off, expansion and elaboration of the Basel Mission’s efforts to institutionalise education as well as its objectives and operational modalities. Basel Mission Education in Cameroon deepens our understanding of European imperialism and its legacy in postcolonial societies. Policy makers and educationists in Cameroon and Africa at large will find this volume very instructive as they forge educational systems that serve the needs of current and future generations of Africans.

This book provides an in-depth study of the nature and pattern of educational development in Cameroon from 1844 to the post-independence period. Drawing upon a wide range of sources including hitherto unused archival material and formal interviews with people involved in Cameroon’s pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial educational traditions, the result is an elegantly written history enlivened by illustrative texts and archival pictures.

This study presents a history, based on original archival and primary source material, of the Baptist mission educational situation of Cameroon province from 1922 to 1945. The provisions of the League of Nations' mandate, under which Great Britain administered the province in this period, included 'complete freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship', yet from the beginning of the Mandate clear tensions existed. The missions desired education to serve evangelical purposes, while the colonial government strove for a uniform adaptionist program, suited to European perceptions of the abilities, traditions and local conditions of the African peoples. The work relates thus to a number of themes: European colonialism; the Mandate system; international theories of education; a comparison of British, American and German influences; cross-cultural mission work; and the personal contributions of three particular missionaries: Bender, Gebauer and Dunger.

This book examines women's participation in the executive structures of the Basel Mission and Presbyterian Church in Cameroon in order to tell a new story of women and church leadership. In 1886, the Basel Mission commenced mission work in Cameroon and successfully established an indigenous church which gained independence in 1957 as Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC). In both churches, women were underrepresented in the echelons of power owing to entrenched patriarchy and recourse to controversial empowerment. Female missionaries to Cameroon trained women in fields like motherhood, domestic science and marriage, which yielded little or no opportunities for local women to participate in the power structures of the Basel Mission. This patriarchal culture was handed down to the PCC, whose initial all-male authority ensured that the power structure was all-male. But growing feminism within the church and pressure from international ecumenical partners led to timid gender reforms which ended women's exclusion from the ordained ministry, promoted female eldership, led to the establishment of a convent, and the adoption of a gender inclusive policy. But women's dearth in positions of leadership persisted, with most executive structures filled by men. So, this book tells the story of women's involvement in the executive structures of the Basel Mission and Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. It is the first effort at a holistic approach to interpreting women's lack of power in these two churches. Based upon archival research and oral sources, the book tells the story of the people, forces and events that led to the consistent underrepresentation of women in the churches' echelons of power. The lived realities of women who challenged patriarchy and held leadership positions in the church are illuminated. It documents the reality of women's lack of power, with particular focus on the dilemmas of female pastors, elders, nuns, and female Christian groups.