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British Protestant Missionaries in Interwar Egypt: Uneven Encounters in Imperial Contexts

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Abstract:
Scholars of mission history have explored and debated the connection between missionaries and empire. Some scholars have depicted missionaries as agents of imperialism; others have argued that missionaries’ ties to empire were more tenuous. This thesis explores these historiographical questions by examining British Protestant missionaries in interwar Egypt. Although Egypt gained its independence in 1922, Great Britain maintained its colonial position in the country throughout the interwar period, influencing Egyptian politics and protecting its imperial interests. In their interactions with Egyptian patients and students, local communities, native staff, and British and Egyptian government officials, missionaries operated within imperial contexts. Utilizing documents from the Church Missionary Society, the National Archives of the United Kingdom, and the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, this thesis examines three facets of missionary work in interwar Egypt: missionary discourses and ideology, missionary institutions, and mission-state relations. This thesis argues that British Protestant missionaries in interwar Egypt were neither formal agents of empire nor independent actors completely separate from British colonial power; rather, missionaries’ connections to empire were varied and inconsistent. While missionaries benefited from British imperial influence in Egypt and propagated colonial discourses of difference, they simultaneously faced resistance from the British state and revealed an understanding of local communities’ needs. By revealing the multifaceted encounters between missionaries and Egyptians on the ground, this history seeks to nuance the debates about missions and empire and provide insight into the uneven nature of imperial power in interwar Egypt.
Notes:
Senior thesis (AB)--Brown University, 2018
Concentration: History

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Collection is open for research.

Citation

Chu, Katherine, "British Protestant Missionaries in Interwar Egypt: Uneven Encounters in Imperial Contexts" (2018). History Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.26300/jbfe-z618

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