Missionary Imperialists

Missionary Imperialists? examines the frontiers of empire in tropical Africa and the south-west Pacific in the Mid-Victorian era. Its central theme is the role played by British Protestant missionaries in imperial development and a continuous thread is the interaction between the missions and those in government, both London and in the colonies. An introductory chapter examines the main missionary societies involved in this study. This is followed by six detailed case studies, three from the south-west Pacific (the Pacific labor trade, Fiji, and New Guinea) and three from tropical Africa (the Gambia, Lagos and Yorubaland, and East Africa). The crucial importance of influential missionary supporters in Britain is noted as its missionary involvement in wider campaigning networks with other humanitarian groups. The book argues that where missionaries did aid imperial development it was largely incidental, an imperialism of result rather than an imperialism of intent to use the categories of Cain and Hopkins. It will be seen that although there were a few dedicated imperialists in the missionary ranks, and others gradually became convinced that the future of their particular mission and its people would be most secure under British jurisdiction, the majority had no such enthusiasm. Yet this did not mean that they had no effect on imperial development. Campaigns against both slavery and indentured labor inevitably raised the profile and influence of Europeans on the imperial frontier thus shifting a fragile balance in their direction. Most importantly, by their very presence on the frontiers of empire and as providers of education and European moral and spiritual values, missionaries became incidental and sometimes unintentional but nevertheless effective agents of imperialism.

For more than half a century, the field of Canadian Studies has attracted North American scholars of the highest caliber to examine Canada: its distinctive social makeup, its fascinating colonial and postcolonial history, its intriguing literature, its political structure, and its changing place in the world. Scholars, Missionaries, and Counter-Imperialists: The American Review of Canadian Studies, 1971–2021 traces the birth and growth of that field by reproducing 15 exemplary articles published in the pages of that journal from its establishment until the present day. For five decades, the American Review of Canadian Studies (ARCS) acted as a bellwether for the field, revealing its strengths, projecting new directions and inquiries, and reflecting the changing topics and methods that scholars used to study Canada. This book captures the history of that field in one robust volume. Carefully selected by the co-editors of ARCS, the chapters in this edited volume are prefaced by an introductory essay that assesses the accomplishments of the field and brief chapter introductions that place them into context.

"Missionary Imperialists? examines the frontiers of empire in tropical Africa and the south-west Pacific in the Mid-Victorian era. Its central theme is the role played by British Protestant missionaries in imperial development, and a continous thread is the interaction between the missions and those in government, both in London and in the colonies. An introductory chapter examines the main missionary societies involved in this study. This is followed by six detailed case studies, three from the south-west Pacific (the Pacific labor trade, Fiji, and New Guinea) and three from tropical Africa (the Gambia, Lagos and Yorubaland, and East Africa). The crucial importance of influential missionary supporters in Britain is noted, as is its missionary involvement in wider campaigning networks with other humanitarian groups. The book argues that, where missionaries did aid imperial development it was largely incidental, an "imperialism of result" rather than an "imperialism of intent" to use the categories of Cain and Hopkins. It will be seen that although there were a few dedicated imperialists in the missionary ranks, and others gradually became convinced that the future of their particular mission and its people would be most secure under British jurisdiction, the majority had no such enthusiasm. Yet this did not mean that they had no effect on imperial develpment. Campaigns against both slavery and indentured labor inevitably raised the profile and influence of Europeans on the imperial frontier, thus shifting a fragile balance in their direction. Most importantly, by their very presence on the frontiers of empire and as providers of education and European moral and spiritual values, missionaries became incidental and sometimes unintentional but nevertheless effective agents of imperialism."--Back cover.

Using the work of Edward Said as a point of departure, this book dissects the concept of Orientalism through the lens of 19th century missionary impressions of Kurdistan. Wilcox argues that dominant interpretations of Said's work have a tendency to present Orientalism as an essentialist practice and instead offers an alternative manifestation in which the Oriental is perceived as the mutable product of cultural forces. The relationship between missionaries and imperialism has long been a contentious issue with many scholars highlighting their apparent ambiguity. This study reveals how Protestant missionaries can be identified as anti-imperialist in their rhetoric of ecumenical independence; yet through their preconceptions of Oriental inferiority, they contributed to a more subtle undermining of local forms of knowledge and identity. Wilcox argues that this apparent ambiguity is in part a consequence of the ways in which the term imperialism is frequently used to allude to diverse and even contradictory meanings; therefore it is not so much the missionaries who are ambiguous, as the ways in which they are judged by today's multivalent standards. The analysis also makes clear the complex discursive processes which can undermine the actions of altruistic individuals. By drawing threads from this 19th century example into the current geopolitical foreground of Middle East-West relations, this book not only sheds light upon a little-known historical case study but also illuminates larger questions of the present and future encouraging a more vigorous examination of contemporary Orientalist prejudices.

The third volume of a historical series which includes Dog-Collar Diplomacy and British Christians, Indian Nationalists, and the Raj which collects previously published papers that explore the notion that British Imperial history can not be fully understood without taking into account the political significance of British religious convictions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"The war of Africa has been the dream of my entire political life" -- They "were calling us their liberators": the taking of Tetuán -- The visual culture of mid-nineteenth-century Spanish imperialism -- Order, progress, and civilization -- Anatomy of an uprising: race war in Santo Domingo -- Death to Spain! -- The traveling society of La Exploradora.

Draws on archival material to chart the complex and often contradictory reactions of leading British missionary organizations to changing imperial realities around the globe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Explores pressures that contributed to the formation of imperial policy during a significant period of the evolution of the British empire, and shows that the leadership of British missionary societies was split between those who wanted to be treated without favoritism by the British government and those who had more aggressive expectations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In 1812, eight American missionaries, under the direction of the recently formed American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, sailed from the United States to South Asia. The plans that motivated their voyage were ano less grand than taking part in the Protestant conversion of the entire world. Over the next several decades, these men and women were joined by hundreds more American missionaries at stations all over the globe. Emily Conroy-Krutz shows the surprising extent of the early missionary impulse and demonstrates that American evangelical Protestants of the early nineteenth century were motivated by Christian imperialism—an understanding of international relations that asserted the duty of supposedly Christian nations, such as the United States and Britain, to use their colonial and commercial power to spread Christianity. In describing how American missionaries interacted with a range of foreign locations (including India, Liberia, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, North America, and Singapore) and imperial contexts, Christian Imperialism provides a new perspective on how Americans thought of their country’s role in the world. While in the early republican period many were engaged in territorial expansion in the west, missionary supporters looked east and across the seas toward Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Conroy-Krutz’s history of the mission movement reveals that strong Anglo-American and global connections persisted through the early republic. Considering Britain and its empire to be models for their work, the missionaries of the American Board attempted to convert the globe into the image of Anglo-American civilization.