Missionaries and their conflictive involvement in Imperial politics
Foreign Missionaries played a detrimental role when it came to colonial conquest in the 19th century. Sent out by the European governments to expand its empires, missionaries influenced the lives of Africans by directly or indirectly facilitating the “Colonization of Consciousness:” the idea of transforming Africans into colonial subjects by introducing the western, civilized way of life. This was seen through language, religion, respectability, family life, etc. However, as the British cause penetrated the lives of the indigenous African peoples, and as the missionaries interacted more with their African natives, the individual perspectives of the missionaries began to contradict how the British went about in colonizing the Africans. Many foreign missionaries began to challenge imperial political agenda, and protect these African natives. One can study the Radical Racial politics of missionary David Livingstone, and the relationship between Missionary John Colenso and his African Christian converts, to understand how Missionaries challenged British Imperial politics. David Livingstone was a missionary doctor, and an explorer who was an acclaimed “British hero.” Even though popular culture depicts him as a defender of British Colonialism, a zealous missionary, and a symbol of the masculine drive to explore and civilize Africa, Livingstone supported the Xhosa in the Eighth Frontier war against the British, stating “the Xhosa had fought ‘bravely for nationality’ and were ‘surely deserving of independence’ from the British at the Cape. This support for the Xhosa was an example of Livingstone’s Radical racial politics. Livingstone strongly believed that Britons working in Africa as settlers, missionaries, explorers, or administrators should embrace the concept of masculinity and morality to be considered the ideal colonizer. His view of masculinity contradicted the racial and gender norms of British colonization. Livingstone believed that the “white man” is not the only subject of masculinity. But rather, Africans had the ability to embrace this concept by working hard and upholding a moral and righteous character. He even went as far as abominably (in the eyes of the British) stating that Africans could embrace masculinity by challenging/fighting the British for stripping them of their land and resources. Livingstone’s decision to support the Xhosa and KhoiKhoi against the British in 1852 was contradictory in the sense that he still upheld the idea of colonizing these Africans for the British, but he did it in a way where he treated these Africans as equals because he believed that they had the ability to commence to “the most civilized and cultured, regardless of their unusual political, Social, and spiritual lifestyle (in comparison the European lifestyle), and that the British and the Boers who had a ‘stupid prejudice against color,’ were the less civilized ones. In other words, Livingstone had a condescending, native respect that challenged Britain’s strategy of colonizing Africans and expansion of empire. Missionary John W. Colenso, Bishop of Natal, practiced and maintained a completely different ideological stance when it came to British colonization and expansion of empire. According to Fuze Magema’s, (an African Christian Convert) memoir of Colenso, he (Colenso) never forced anyone to come to his services. People would come voluntarily, and Colenso would set time aside for the natives to ask him questions. Colenso abided to his religious …show more content…
He became involved in a political conflict with Bishop Gray of Cape town, who argued that Colenso was revealing their secrets to the natives, and that these secrets were to be known only by them. Fuze discussed that Colenso was despised by Natal’s colonial whites for not discriminating against the blacks, and if anything, Colenso rather found the white man to be in the wrong and exonerated the black man. In doing so, Fuze alluded to the kind of political dilemma and conflicts that Colenso faced in his missionary career. In addition, Colenso challenged Imperial politics by defending the Hlubi chief Langalibalele, and by disagreeing with the 1879 invasion of the Zululand. Fuze rationalized Colenso’s sacrificing of his missionary career through involvement of Colonial and Zulu politics, and throwing himself into the blazing fire, knowing that his own would reject him, as a comparison to the nature of Christ. As seen through Fuze’s account of John W. Colenso, an understanding of Colenso’s role in challenging British Imperial politics is
Foreign Missionaries played a detrimental role when it came to colonial conquest in the 19th century. Sent out by the European governments to expand its empires, missionaries influenced the lives of Africans by directly or indirectly facilitating the “Colonization of Consciousness:” the idea of transforming Africans into colonial subjects by introducing the western, civilized way of life. This was seen through language, religion, respectability, family life, etc. However, as the British cause penetrated the lives of the indigenous African peoples, and as the missionaries interacted more with their African natives, the individual perspectives of the missionaries began to contradict how the British went about in colonizing the Africans. Many foreign missionaries began to challenge imperial political agenda, and protect these African natives. One can study the Radical Racial politics of missionary David Livingstone, and the relationship between Missionary John Colenso and his African Christian converts, to understand how Missionaries challenged British Imperial politics. David Livingstone was a missionary doctor, and an explorer who was an acclaimed “British hero.” Even though popular culture depicts him as a defender of British Colonialism, a zealous missionary, and a symbol of the masculine drive to explore and civilize Africa, Livingstone supported the Xhosa in the Eighth Frontier war against the British, stating “the Xhosa had fought ‘bravely for nationality’ and were ‘surely deserving of independence’ from the British at the Cape. This support for the Xhosa was an example of Livingstone’s Radical racial politics. Livingstone strongly believed that Britons working in Africa as settlers, missionaries, explorers, or administrators should embrace the concept of masculinity and morality to be considered the ideal colonizer. His view of masculinity contradicted the racial and gender norms of British colonization. Livingstone believed that the “white man” is not the only subject of masculinity. But rather, Africans had the ability to embrace this concept by working hard and upholding a moral and righteous character. He even went as far as abominably (in the eyes of the British) stating that Africans could embrace masculinity by challenging/fighting the British for stripping them of their land and resources. Livingstone’s decision to support the Xhosa and KhoiKhoi against the British in 1852 was contradictory in the sense that he still upheld the idea of colonizing these Africans for the British, but he did it in a way where he treated these Africans as equals because he believed that they had the ability to commence to “the most civilized and cultured, regardless of their unusual political, Social, and spiritual lifestyle (in comparison the European lifestyle), and that the British and the Boers who had a ‘stupid prejudice against color,’ were the less civilized ones. In other words, Livingstone had a condescending, native respect that challenged Britain’s strategy of colonizing Africans and expansion of empire. Missionary John W. Colenso, Bishop of Natal, practiced and maintained a completely different ideological stance when it came to British colonization and expansion of empire. According to Fuze Magema’s, (an African Christian Convert) memoir of Colenso, he (Colenso) never forced anyone to come to his services. People would come voluntarily, and Colenso would set time aside for the natives to ask him questions. Colenso abided to his religious …show more content…
He became involved in a political conflict with Bishop Gray of Cape town, who argued that Colenso was revealing their secrets to the natives, and that these secrets were to be known only by them. Fuze discussed that Colenso was despised by Natal’s colonial whites for not discriminating against the blacks, and if anything, Colenso rather found the white man to be in the wrong and exonerated the black man. In doing so, Fuze alluded to the kind of political dilemma and conflicts that Colenso faced in his missionary career. In addition, Colenso challenged Imperial politics by defending the Hlubi chief Langalibalele, and by disagreeing with the 1879 invasion of the Zululand. Fuze rationalized Colenso’s sacrificing of his missionary career through involvement of Colonial and Zulu politics, and throwing himself into the blazing fire, knowing that his own would reject him, as a comparison to the nature of Christ. As seen through Fuze’s account of John W. Colenso, an understanding of Colenso’s role in challenging British Imperial politics is