Missionary Families: Studies in Imperialism

Bringing together cultural, postcolonial and gendered approaches to history, Manktelow explores missionary marriage, parenting and childhood; issues such as life-cycle, life-stage and generation; and the interplay between discourses of difference mediated by both everyday interaction and complex cultural ideologies. Focusing on gendered identities of both male and female missionaries and how these impacted upon such things as professionalism on the one hand, and personal interaction on the other, overall this volume reflects upon the ways in which the institutional hub of the enterprise in London reacted to and dealt with the formal consequences of private lives. It concludes that missionary families had a profound impact upon the ideology and practice of Christian mission - and that mission history can no longer be written without attention to the personal, the intimate, and the affective aspects of missionary lives.

Attractive to academics and students alike, this book brings a fresh perspective to the history of Christian mission, and contributes to debates in the history of religion, imperialism and gender.