Pemba, Plantations, Power: A Critical Evaluation of Britain Yearly Meeting's First African Mission

In 1897 British Friends established the first African mission corporately endorsed by Britain Yearly Meeting—a commercial clove plantation employing freed slaves on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania. Rather than following existing missionary models which focused on conversion, education...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dando, Charlotte (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2014
In: Quaker studies
Year: 2014, Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Pages: 157-171
Further subjects:B Slavery
B industrial mission
B Pemba
B Commerce
B Philanthropy
B Power
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Summary:In 1897 British Friends established the first African mission corporately endorsed by Britain Yearly Meeting—a commercial clove plantation employing freed slaves on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania. Rather than following existing missionary models which focused on conversion, education, and health, Quakers attempted an enterprising approach, developing an ‘industrial mission’ which could become financially self-sustaining. However, lacking experience on the African continent, with ambivalent support from Friends in Britain, and little engagement with the needs and desires of the freed slaves, meant that Quaker missionaries were not successful in winning converts nor in creating a sustainable plantation. This paper argues that the possibility for Quakers to bring something new and beneficial to the missionary field was mostly unachieved. Further, Friends may even have contributed to the power structures which stopped freed slaves from becoming truly liberated.
ISSN:2397-1770
Contains:Enthalten in: Quaker studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3828/quaker.19.1.157