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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: June 13, 2020 at 6:18:25 PM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Africa]: Mohr on Prichard, 'Sisters in Spirit: > Christianity, Affect, and Community Building in East Africa, 1860-1970' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Andreana C. Prichard. Sisters in Spirit: Christianity, Affect, and > Community Building in East Africa, 1860-1970. African History and > Culture Series. East Lansing Michigan State University Press, 2017. > 360 pp. $39.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-61186-240-9. > > Reviewed by Adam H. Mohr (University of Pennsylvania) > Published on H-Africa (June, 2020) > Commissioned by David D. Hurlbut > > In one of the most incisive gendered histories of African > Christianity, Andreana C. Prichard, with her incredibly engaging > prose, takes her readers on a journey--by relying on narratives > especially--of the female evangelists in the Universities' Mission to > Central Africa (UMCA) mission across East Africa over the span of one > hundred years. While most women are frequently excluded from the very > male-centered histories of African missions--mostly due to a lack of > primary sources written by and written about them--Prichard has found > significant materials outside of the standard archives in "shadow > archives" and has conducted oral histories to produce this fantastic > monograph. In this book, Prichard explains the creation of what she > deems an "affective spiritual community" of women within the mission > composed of a diverse, multigenerational network of African UMCA > congregants that spread from Zanzibar to mainland Tanzania and Malawi > between 1860 and 1970. This community of unofficial female > evangelists was produced and sustained by a circuit of emotional > feeling and spiritual connection. > > Chapter 1 details the beginning of the UMCA missions in Britain and > its Tractarian theology, which emphasized an embodied, emotional > spirituality and focus on building a native church. Furthermore, this > chapter documents the initial failure of the UMCA mission in > modern-day Malawi, followed by its reestablishment, under new > leadership, in Zanzibar. Chapter 2 focuses on the UMCA rescue of > young female slaves to build its mission and the ways these young > women were refashioned by the mission into "Christian mothers." > Single, female British missionaries worked with these young women > creating affective fictive kinship relationships and created a sense > of fellow feeling among members of the congregation. Chapter 3 > details the early years of the central missionary institution called > the Mbweni Girls' School, which trained former slave girls to become > either teachers or domestics, with two tracts: one for "school girls" > and one for "industrials." Interestingly, we learn in this chapter > that the industrial tract provided much of the daily labor that kept > the schoolhouse running and the school girls free for more > intellectual pursuits. Chapter 4 examines the first generation of > female evangelists trained at Mbweni and sent to the mainland from > Zanzibar as well as their networks of affective spirituality created > via networks of professional guilds as well as intergenerational > fosterage and friendship. Chapter 5 interrogates how women in the > UMCA community controlled their own reproduction--in the context of a > patriarchal mission--via securing means to abortion and brokering > marriages while relying on their affective relationships during the > interwar period. Chapter 6 examines the creation and maintenance of a > celibate religious order among African women in the UMCA, which > offered a viable and respected alternative to marriage and an > alternative path toward adult womanhood. Finally, chapter 7 analyzes > an archive of personal letters exchanged between two lovers within > the UMCA between 1960 and 1970, to demonstrate how community building > via marriage was constructed in newly independent Tanzania. > > What struck me most while reading this monograph is the excellent > writing and incorporation of intimate personal narratives of African > women, which really bring Prichard's book to life. Unique among > histories of African Christianity, these case studies read more like > ethnography in their detail, which make for an incredibly engaging > read, particularly chapter 7. Beyond the use of narrative, Prichard > strongly engages many secondary literatures, including but not > limited to the history of literacy in colonial Africa and the history > of slavery in East Africa. _Sisters in Spirit_ is quite an important > monograph and should be read broadly by scholars in East African > history, African Christianity, gender studies, and more particularly, > the intellectual histories of African women. > > Citation: Adam H. Mohr. Review of Prichard, Andreana C., _Sisters in > Spirit: Christianity, Affect, and Community Building in East Africa, > 1860-1970_. H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. June, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55151 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
