Slavery, Colonialism and the Pursuit of Community Life: Anglican Mission Education in Zanzibar and Northern Rhodesia 1864–1940

Abstract

Education became the central focus of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) following a disastrous and unsuccessful attempt to settle in Nyasaland (now Malawi). The aim of this article is to trace the UMCA educational policy from Zanzibar, where the mission became established in 1864, to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). From their earliest experiences in Africa UMCA missionaries were confronted with the reality and horror of slavery. In Nyasaland missionaries fought slave raiders and in Zanzibar the first UMCA schools catered entirely for ex‐slaves. This article analyses the education developed for former slaves and shows how, as the mission expanded, missionaries continued to attempt to build communities and provide what they considered to be the best spiritual and educational opportunities for indigenous populations while facing considerable external constraints, including the expectations of a colonial power.

Notes

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² Achebe, C. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann, 1996.

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⁴ Anderson‐Morshead, A. E. M. The History of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa 1859–1898. London: UMCA Press, 1955.

⁵ Listowel, J. The Other Livingstone. Sussex: Julian Friedmann, 1974.

⁶ Universities' Mission to Central Africa Annual Report. UMCA Press, 1871: 16–17.

⁷ Hennell, M. “The Oxford Movement.” In The History of Christianity, edited by T. Dowley. Hong Kong: Lion, 1990.

⁸ Anderson‐Morshead, History of the UMCA, 5.

⁹ Jeal, T. Livingstone. London: Pimlico, 1993.

¹⁰ Listowel, The Other Livingstone, 198.

¹¹ Moriyama, J. “Building a Home Grown Church.” In Three Centuries of Mission: The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, edited by D. O'Connor. London: Continuum, 2000.

¹² Tozer, W. G. 24 September 1864. In Bishop Tozer's Letters, edited by G. Ward. London: UMCA Press, 1902.

¹³ Tozer, 14 September 1864, Bishop Tozer's Letters, 83.

¹⁴ Anderson‐Morshead, History of the UMCA, 464.

¹⁵ Ibid., 188.

¹⁶ Tozer, 20 March 1865, Bishop Tozer's Letters, 89

¹⁷ Central Africa, April (1883), 63.

¹⁸ Anderson‐Morshead, History of the UMCA, 184–185.

¹⁹ Ibid., 465.

²⁰ Tozer, 7 January 1865, Bishop Tozer's Letters, 103.

²¹ Universities' Mission to Central Africa Annual Report, 1875, 12.

²² Anderson‐Morshead, History of the UMCA, 469.

²³ Tozer, 2 March 1869, Bishop Tozer's Letters, 220.

²⁴ Wilson, G. H. The History of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, New York: Freeport, 1935.

²⁵ Snelson P. D. Educational Development in Northern Rhodesia 1883–1945. Ndola: Falcon Press, 1970.

²⁶ Jeanes teachers were trained to demonstrate new methods of teaching to teachers in village schools.

²⁷ Hine, J. E. Days Gone By. London: John Murray, 1924.

²⁸ Ibid., 264.

²⁹ Central Africa, January (1918): 26.

³⁰ Central Africa, April (1910): 20. Pupils had the opportunity to become hearers if they attended school regularly, which was a sign that they were being taught about the Christian faith.

³¹ Ibid., 91.

³² Central Africa, October (1911): 346.

³³ Wilson, The History of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, 210.

³⁴ Central Africa, March (1915): 291.

³⁵ Ibid., 294.

³⁶ Chipili Station Logbook, April, 31 (1918). In the Rhodes House Library, University of Oxford, Oxford.

³⁷ Chipili Station Logbook, March (1919).

³⁸ Chipili Station Annual Report (1920). In Chipili Station Logbook (1920).

³⁹ Chipili Station Logbook (1926).

⁴⁰ Chipili Station Logbook (1927).

⁴¹ Central Africa, June (1927): 124.

⁴² Central Africa, April (1932): 135.

⁴³ Fiwila Station Logbook, January (1926). In Rhodes House Library, Oxford University, Oxford.

⁴⁴ Ranger, T. J. Weller. Themes in the Christian History of Central Africa. Berkeley–Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975. Ranger describes the Central African Watch Tower as a loose organisation united by the use of teachings of the International Tract and Bible Society. The message of the Watch Tower varied according to individual pastors.

⁴⁵ Universities' Mission to Central Africa Annual Report, 1924.

⁴⁶ Whitehead, C. “The Historiography of British Imperial Education Policy, Part 11: Africa and the Rest of the Colonial Empire.” History of Education 7, no. 4 (2005): 441–54.

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⁴⁸ Ragsdale, J. Protestant Mission Education in Zambia 1880–1955. London–Toronto: Associated University Press, 1986.

⁴⁹ Central Africa, September (1912): 357.

⁵⁰ Chipili Station Logbook, May (1919).

⁵¹ Central Africa, May (1912): 353.

⁵² Msoro Station Annual Report (1918). In Msoro Station Logbook (1918), Rhodes House Library, Oxford University, Oxford.

⁵³ Chipili Station Logbook, August (1918).

⁵⁴ Chipili Station Logbook, July (1918).

⁵⁵ Chilikwa Station Logbook, Fort Roseberry, later Chipili, September (1916), Rhodes House Library, Oxford University, Oxford.

⁵⁶ Ragsdale, Protestant Mission Education in Zambia, 80.

⁵⁷ Ibid.

⁵⁸ Ranger and Weller, Themes in the Christian History of Central Africa, 86.

⁵⁹ Carmody, B. “The Nature and Role of Christian Conversion in Zambia.” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 7, no. 2 (2007): 109–33.

⁶⁰ Colonial Office Annual Report, No. 1292. Quoted in Snelson, Educational Development in Northern Rhodesia 1883–1945, 52.

⁶¹ Fiwila Station Logbook (1929).

⁶² Central Africa, January (1926): 11.

⁶³ Central Africa, January (1934): 8.

⁶⁴ Report of the General Missionary Conference of Northern Rhodesia, Kafue, 1922: 90.

⁶⁵ Central Africa, April (1936): 22.

⁶⁶ Central Africa, January (1936): 23.

⁶⁷ Central Africa, September (1928): 198.

⁶⁸ Central Africa, July (1931): 136.

⁶⁹ Ibid.

⁷⁰ Central Africa, July (1931): 137.

⁷¹ Central Africa, January (1931): 26.

⁷² Murray, V. The School in the Bush. London: Longmans, 1938.

⁷³ Central Africa, May (1936): 93.

⁷⁴ Central Africa, October (1937): 183.

⁷⁵ Ibid.

⁷⁶ Central Africa, April (1932): 63.

⁷⁷ Ibid.

⁷⁸ Central Africa, April (1936): 24.

⁷⁹ Central Africa, October (1937): 206.

⁸⁰ Tozer, 25 October 1871, in Bishop Tozer's Letters, 222.

⁸¹ Anderson‐Morshead, History of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, 271.

⁸² See for example: Baldridge, William. “Reclaiming Our Histories.” In The Post‐Colonial Studies Reader, by B. Ashcroft. London–New York: Routledge, 2006.

⁸³ Head, Bessie: for example, When Rain Clouds Gather. Oxford: Heinemann, 1987, and Maru. Oxford: Heineman, 1987.

⁸⁴ Anderson‐Morshead, History of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, 143.