Missionary Work in Africa in Eugène Casalis’s Time and Beyond

Missionary Work in Africa in Eugène Casalis’s Time and Beyond
Author: Jamary Molumeli
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 115
Release: 2015-09-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1443881872

British influence on what was to become the British Empire and French influence on French speaking Africa have been extensively explored so far, but few books focus on French missions in Britain’s sphere of influence. The French missionary Eugène Casalis represents a perhaps unique experience of a man taking part in the nation-building process in an African country, Lesotho, which belonged to London’s ‘reserve’. Casalis was to become the King’s special advisor and is still hailed today as one of the few men who built the country. Based on the research of a dozen African and European academics who convened in Morija in 2012 to commemorate the bicentenary of that great Protestant humanist and to analyse “Missionary Work in Africa in Eugene Casalis’s Time and Beyond”, this book will provide fresh and stimulating material for readers interested in colonial and post-colonial studies, missions and religion, and cultural and historical exchanges between the Southern part of the African continent and Great Britain.

From Béarn to Southern Africa or The Amazing Destiny of Eugène Casalis

From Béarn to Southern Africa or The Amazing Destiny of Eugène Casalis
Author: Marie-Claude Mosimann-Barbier
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2014-06-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1443860816

The end of the 20th century was a time of post-colonial repentance in the Western world. On 23rd February 2005, a law was passed in France, stressing “the positive role of the French presence overseas”, triggering considerable controversy. However, the fascinating history of the French missionary Eugène Casalis illustrates that there are some cases where “the French presence overseas” is still perceived positively, as shown by the commemorative stamps issued by the Kingdom of Lesotho in 1983, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first French missionaries in the country. Of course, the context was unique since France had no economic or political stakes in that part of the world, and therefore the French missionary presence was totally apostolic and disinterested. Eugène Casalis was born in Béarn at the foot of the Pyrénées in 1812, and remained deeply attached to his native land throughout his life. In 1832, he was sent to Southern Africa by the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society. Unexpected circumstances led him to Basutoland, present-day Lesotho, where he struck up an unfailing friendship, based on mutual trust and esteem, with the Sotho King Moshoeshoe. In addition to his missionary task, Casalis transcribed the language and contributed largely to the economic development of the country, while concurrently supporting the King in his efforts to convince the British to help him fight Boer expansionism. He gave invaluable diplomatic aid and advice to the King during the 23 years he spent in the country. Back in France in 1855, he became the director of the House of Missions where he trained a number of young men to become missionaries. His eldest son became a missionary to Lesotho and his eldest daughter married a missionary with whom she returned to Lesotho where she brought up a large family. All this has contributed to making the name of Casalis well-known in the Kingdom to this day. To a certain extent, Lesotho's accession to independence in 1966 can be perceived as a distant result of Casalis's work. The present King, Letsie 111, is a direct descendant of King Moshoeshoe.

Writing and Translating Francophone Discourse

Writing and Translating Francophone Discourse
Author: Paul F. Bandia
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2014-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9401211760

This book is a much needed contribution to interdisciplinary research on the intersection of French and Francophone Studies and Translation Studies. It highlights the symbiotic relationship between the two disciplines whereby theories and concepts developed in translation studies provide useful models and paradigms for studying francophone literature, while major concepts that hold sway in the francophone world provide a solid basis for elucidating and understanding translation phenomena. The book is at once a contribution to the growing field of postcolonial francophone studies and the sub-area of postcolonial translation theory. Contributors are experts from a variety of disciplines and hail from various regions across the globe. What unites them is their interest in translation and its conceptualization both as an interlinguistic practice and a metaphor for intercultural communication and transcultural relations. The contributions draw on literature, film, historical documents and critical theories by French and francophone thinkers, highlighting the significance of translation for African, Caribbean and migrant francophone discourse.

Missionary Travels

Missionary Travels
Author: David Livingstone
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-06-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781387892617

This book is the full personal account of Dr. Livingstone's historic travels across the continent of Africa based on his personal journals. While Livingstone is looked upon as an explorer in an age of explosive geographical and cultural discovery, the fact is often overlooked that Livingstone was first and foremost a Missionary of the Gospel, and his travels were missionary journeys. As Livingstone himself puts it in his introduction to this work, "The perfect freeness with which the pardon of all our guilt is offered in God's book drew forth feelings of affectionate love to Him who bought us with His blood, and a sense of deep obligation to Him for His mercy has influenced, in some small measure, my conduct ever since." This is the heart of the man whom God sent. "This book will speak, not so much of what has been done, as of what still remains to be performed, before the Gospel can be said to have been preached to all nations." After 150 years this statement is still true of all true Gospel outreach. This is the story of the labors to which the Love of Jesus compelled a great man. This is the story of first contact with African tribes, and first charting into the interior of the great Dark Continent. This is, first and foremost, the story of the Gospel reaching into Africa.

Power in Colonial Africa

Power in Colonial Africa
Author: Elizabeth Eldredge
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN:

Even in its heyday European rule of Africa had limits. Whether through complacency or denial, many colonial officials ignored the signs of African dissent. Displays of opposition by Africans, too indirect to counter or quash, percolated throughout the colonial era and kept alive a spirit of sovereignty that would find full expression only decades later. In Power in Colonial Africa: Conflict and Discourse in Lesotho, 1870–1960, Elizabeth A. Eldredge analyzes a panoply of archival and oral resources, visual signs and symbols, and public and private actions to show how power may be exercised not only by rulers but also by the ruled. The BaSotho—best known for their consolidation of a kingdom from the 1820s to 1850s through primarily peaceful means, and for bringing colonial forces to a standstill in the Gun War of 1880–1881—struggled to maintain sovereignty over their internal affairs during their years under the colonial rule of the Cape Colony (now part of South Africa) and Britain from 1868 to 1966. Eldredge explores instances of BaSotho resistance, resilience, and resourcefulness in forms of expression both verbal and non-verbal. Skillfully navigating episodes of conflict, the BaSotho matched wits with the British in diplomatic brinksmanship, negotiation, compromise, circumvention, and persuasion, revealing the capacity of a subordinate population to influence the course of events as it selectively absorbs, employs, and subverts elements of the colonial culture. “A refreshing, readable and lucid account of one in an array of compositions of power during colonialism in southern Africa.”—David Gordon, Journal of African History “Elegantly written.”—Sean Redding, Sub-Saharan Africa “Eldredge writes clearly and attractively, and her studies of the war between Lerotholi and Masupha and of the conflicts over the succession to the paramountcy are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand those crises.”—Peter Sanders, Journal of Southern African Studies