The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)

This article proposes an economic/political interpretation of two missionary Diaries drafted in Rwanda in the first decade of the last century. The events recorded in these documents aid the reader in understanding how the missions were, in that period, centers of power that interacted with the loca...

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Main Author: Silvia Cristofori
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Viella Editrice 2012-11-01
Series:Storicamente
Subjects:
Online Access:http://storicamente.org/cristofori_1
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author Silvia Cristofori
author_facet Silvia Cristofori
author_sort Silvia Cristofori
collection DOAJ
description This article proposes an economic/political interpretation of two missionary Diaries drafted in Rwanda in the first decade of the last century. The events recorded in these documents aid the reader in understanding how the missions were, in that period, centers of power that interacted with the local environment in a manner which was relatively independent of a colonial administration that was still weak. As a result, while the missionaries learned and incorporated certain Rwandan socio-political logics, they also introduced embryonic forms of capitalism. From this paper the reader can understand how, thogether with these elements of capitalism in the daily life of mission, a policy of ethnicization and feudalization of rwandan society started to take shape. A policy, with was to be fully realized twenty years later under Belgian colonial rule.
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spelling doaj.art-c8aae62ee1da4f3980e4b032a9add5eb2023-09-02T15:14:29ZengViella EditriceStoricamente1825-411X2012-11-018110.1473/stor421The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)Silvia Cristofori0Istituto per le scienze religiose, Via San Vitale 114, Bologna, I-40125, ItalyThis article proposes an economic/political interpretation of two missionary Diaries drafted in Rwanda in the first decade of the last century. The events recorded in these documents aid the reader in understanding how the missions were, in that period, centers of power that interacted with the local environment in a manner which was relatively independent of a colonial administration that was still weak. As a result, while the missionaries learned and incorporated certain Rwandan socio-political logics, they also introduced embryonic forms of capitalism. From this paper the reader can understand how, thogether with these elements of capitalism in the daily life of mission, a policy of ethnicization and feudalization of rwandan society started to take shape. A policy, with was to be fully realized twenty years later under Belgian colonial rule.http://storicamente.org/cristofori_1TransculturationColonialismRwandaMissionary
spellingShingle Silvia Cristofori
The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)
Storicamente
Transculturation
Colonialism
Rwanda
Missionary
title The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)
title_full The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)
title_fullStr The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)
title_full_unstemmed The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)
title_short The Gift and the Theft: an Economic-Political Interpretation of Rwandan Missionary Diaries of White Fathers (1900-1910)
title_sort gift and the theft an economic political interpretation of rwandan missionary diaries of white fathers 1900 1910
topic Transculturation
Colonialism
Rwanda
Missionary
url http://storicamente.org/cristofori_1
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