The Cultural, Didactic, and Physical Spaces of Mission Schools in the 19th Century

Abstract

Nineteenth century Protestant Mission schools were dynamic spaces, constantly reacting and adapting to hierarchic and hegemonic demands, whether of political, religious or societal nature. They were also ideological spaces, which through their form and function, articulated notions of the ‘proper’ place of non-Europeans in colonial society. This article examines the interconnected cultural, didactic and physical ‘spaces’ of mission schools in which a variety of competing ideologies and expectations were negotiated. The general conclusions demonstrate both the uniformity of missionary spaces, and simultaneously reveal spaces where, and times when, these generalities became disrupted.