Missions, Management and Effects

The first volume of its kind, Missions, Management and Effects combines colonial-era documents and contemporary theoretical reflection to consider the complex relationship between religion and colonialism. While an important aim of colonialisms sponsoring or condoning missionary activity was the conversion of subject populations, colonialisms of management often aimed - consciously or not - at transforming these populations through legal, educational, administrative, economic and social reforms. Focusing on European colonialisms in South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East and the Americas, the volume differentiates between colonialisms with a strong missionary content and colonialisms of management, focusing attention on the continuing effects of the latter on contemporary 'religions' and on present-day life across the globe. Missions, Management and Effects also considers theoretical and methodological questions with bearing on central issues in the study of religion and its place in colonial and postcolonial studies.