Missionary masculinity, 1870-1930 : the Norwegian missionaries in South-East Africa / Kristin Fjelde Tjelle, Director, School of Mission and Theology, Stavanger, Norway.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tjelle, Kristin Fjelde, 1965-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Norske misjonsselskap.

Missions, Norwegian--Africa, Southern.

Missions, Norwegian.

Missions, Norwegian--Africa, East.

Missions--Africa, Southern.

Missions.

Missions--Africa, East.

Norske misjonsselskap--History.

History.

Africa, East.

Southern Africa.

Physical Description:

xii, 325 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Summary:

What kind of men were missionaries? What kind of masculinity did they represent, in ideology as well as in practice? Presupposing masculinity to be a cluster of cultural ideas and social practices that change over time and space, and not a stable entity with a natural, inherent and given meaning, Kristin Fjelde Tjelle seeks to answer such questions. Using case studies of Norwegian Mission Society members, the author argues that missionary masculinity was the result of a complex dialogue between the ideals of male 'self-making' associated with the late nineteenth century and the Christian ideal of self-denial. This masculinity was also the product of the tension between male missionaries' identity as modern professional breadwinners and 'pre-modern' patriarchs whose calling demanded the integration of their private lives and their public roles. Missionary manliness (or appropriate mission masculinity) supported the upward social mobility of Norwegian men from fairly humble backgrounds and, more importantly, gave them power - but power that was always threatened by the dangers of inappropriate mission masculinity - or unmanliness. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Missionaries and Masculinities 1

The case and the context: Norwegian missionaries in south-east Africa 2

Missions and gender 7

Masculinities and power 9

Masculinities and subjectivity 11

Christian masculinity and modernity 13

Sources 15

Mission magazines 15

Mission literature 17

Imprinted sources 20

Outline 21

Part I The Construction of Norwegian Lutheran Missionary Masculinity

2 Missionary Self-Making 27

Introduction 27

The case of Hans Paludan Smith Schreuder 30

The self-making spirit of the Norwegian mission movement 32

Subjective missionary self-making 37

Self-making as a mission strategy and theory 41

Conclusion 43

3 Proper Missionary Masculinity 44

Introduction 44

The case of Christian Oftebro 46

'By word or by plough?': contested theories on mission 50

The missionary caught between the spiritual and the secular 55

Missionary masculinity: a paradox of modernity? 60

Conclusion 63

4 Confessional Missionary Masculinity 66

Introduction 66

The denominational context of a Norwegian Lutheran mission in south-east Africa 68

Denominational disturbances 71

A Scandinavian 'free mission' in Durban 72

Denominational disturbances at home 76

'Heroic soldiers' and 'faitxiful sons': re-confessionalisation and re-masculinisation in the NMS 77

Conclusion 83

5 Norwegian Missionary Masculinity and 'Other' Zulu Masculinity 85

Introduction 85

The ambivalent understanding of the Zulu man 88

How to Christianise the Zulu man: gendered mission strategies in the NMS 92

A feminised Lutheran Zulu Church? 92

Troublesome traditional Zulu masculinity 95

Ideal Christian masculinity 97

Dangerous urban black masculinity 101

The case of Simon Ndlela 102

Recruitment of Zulu men to mission work 103

The ordination of Simon Ndlela in 1893 106

The suspension.of Simon Ndlela in 1903 108

Conclusion 111

6 Missionary Masculinity versus Missionary Femininity 113

Introduction 113

The missionary and his wife 116

The issue of missionaries' marriages 116

The missionary wife: wife or missionary? 120

Female assistance in missionary households 124

The challenge of professional missionary femininity 128

Female evangelists 129

Female missionary teachers 131

Female medical missionaries 133

How missionary femininity affected missionary masculinity 135

Conclusion 137

Part II Missionary Masculinity between Professionalism and Privacy

7 Missionary Men 141

Introduction 141

The Titlestad men across three generations 142

The missionary calling 145

The missionary service 150

The missionary character: missionary or man? 159

Conclusion 164

8 Family Men 166

Introduction 166

The family man Karl Larsen Titlestad 167

The family man Lars Martin Titlestad 174

The family man Karl Michael Titlestad 179

The missionary home: a man's place 184

Conclusion 187

9 Men in the World 189

Introduction 189

White men in Zululand 190

The chief's subordinates 190

Colonial landholders 193

'Friends of the Zulus' 196

Norwegian men in a British colony 198

Missionary men: in the world, but not of the world 204

Conclusion 210.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781137336354

1137336358

OCLC:

852225063