The advent of colonialism and its associated developments has been characterized as one of the most defining moments in the history of South Asia. The arrival of Christian missionaries has not only been coeval to colonial rule, but also associated with development in the region. Their encounter, critique, endeavour and intervention have been very critical in shaping South Asian society and culture, even where they did not succeed in converting people. Yet, there is precious little space spared for studying the role and impact of missionary enterprises than the space allotted to colonialism. Isolated individual efforts have focused on Bengal, Madras, Punjab and much remains to be addressed in the context of the unique region of the North East India. In North East India, for example, by the time the British left, a majority of the tribals had abandoned their own faith and adopted Christianity. It was a socio-cultural revolution. Yet, this aspect has remained outside the scope of history books. Whatever reading material is available is pro-Christian, mainly because they are either sponsored by the church authorities or written by ecclesiastical scholars. Very little secular research was conducted for the hundred years of missionary endeavour in the region. The interpretations, which have emerged out of the little material available, are largely simplistic and devoid of nuances. This book is an effort to decenter such explanations by providing an informed historical and cultural appreciation of the role and contribution of missionary endeavors in British India.
Edited by:
Sajal Nag,
M. Satish Kumar
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781032545875
ISBN 10: 1032545879
Pages: 646
Publication Date: 18 December 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Preface Introduction Sajal Nag 1. Christianity and Cultural Changes among the Lotha Nagas Adani Ngullie 2. Christian Missionaries in the Plains of Barak Valley Amol Sinha 3. Missionaries as Stimulus: Interrogating Political Mobilization in Colonial North-East India Binayak Dutta 4. The Coming of the Grace of the Christ: The Christian Baptist Missionaries and the Construction of Hindu Identity in Assam: c. 1840-1900 Bipul Chaudhury 5. Colonialism and Christian Missions in North-East India David Reid Syiemlieh 6. Reading the Open Book: Missionary Print as Hermeneutical and Material Texts David Vumlallian Zou 7. Christian Missionaries among the Karbis Donald Teron 8. Nationalist Discourse, Christianity and Tribal Religion: The Tani Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh Jagdish Lal Dawar 9. Straying beyond Conquest and Emancipation: Exploring the Fault Lines of Missionary Education in North-East India Hoineilhing Sitlhou 10. Health, a Gift of God at Sanatorium and Missionary Activities in Madras Presidency B. Eswara Rao 11. Coloniser or Anthropologist?: Locating the Identity of the Christian Missionary vis-à-vis the Tea Garden ‘Coolie’ in Colonial Assam Anisha Bordoloi 12. Romance of the Wild, the Natural, and the Savage: Glimpses of Evangelism in North-East India, 1836-1900 M. Satish Kumar 13. Welsh Missionaries and the Transformation of Mizo Women Lalhmingliani Ralte 14. Society, Culture and Conversion: The Jesuit Madurai Mission in Tamil Nadu, 1650-1700 CE Jangkhomang Guite 15. Introduction of New Literature under the Aegis of Christian Missions in Mizoram J.V. Hluna 16. Evangelization among the Bodos Luke Daimary 17. Cultural Hegemony, First World War and the German Salvatorians in North-East India (1890-1915 ce) Meeta Deka 18. Christianity vs Indigeneity: Colonial State, Mission and Laipianism in Chin Hills Pum Khan Pau 19. American Baptists in Colonial Assam: The Tale of Oscar Levi Swanson Nabanipa Bhattacharjee 20. Early Response to Christianity in Mizoram Rohmingmawii 21. Tribulations of the Catholic Mission in Mizoram, 1925-1946 Sangkima 22. Colonial State, Christian Missionaries and the Politics of Persuasion in Early Nineteenth-Century Bengal Santanu Sarkar 23. Sociocultural Re-Invention: A Study of Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh Sarah Hilaly 24. An Analysis of the American Baptist Missionary Sources for the Construction of Gender History in North-East India Shiela Bora 25. Naga Conversions to Christianity in Manipur in the Twentieth Century Th. R. Tiba 26. Gendered Mission: The Zenana Work of the American Baptist Mission in Assam (1836-1950) Tejimala Gurung Contributors
Sajal Nag is currently a Senior Professor and Head, Department of History and Dean, School of Social Sciences, Assam University, Silchar. He is the author of The Beleaguered Nation: Making and Unmaking of the Assamese Nationality (2016); and Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Insurgency and Sub Nationalism in North East India (2002); among others. M. Satish Kumar is in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Paleoecology, in Queens University, Belfast Northern Ireland. His publications include Colonial and Postcolonial Geographies of India (co-edited with Saraswati Raju and Stuart Corbridge).
