Some reflections on anthropology's missionary positions

Burton, John W.; Burton, Orsolya Arva

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00421.x

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In their provocative aforementioned article ‘Some reflections on anthropology's missionary positions’, John and Orsolya Burton offer the following conclusion: ‘In the end, one wonders whether, if missionaries had never taken to the field, an ethnographically‐based anthropology would have ever emerged. Surely it is clear that missionaries led and guided most of the famous anthropological ancestors in that direction’ (2007: 215).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, accounts of the development of anthropology which ignore such topics have come under increasingly probing scrutiny. For example, in their 2007 article ‘Some reflections on anthropology's missionary positions’, John and Orsolya Burton meditated upon the conventional tendency within anthropology either to ignore or to dismiss the work of missionaries, a stance which ensures that ‘a highly critical attitude towards missionaries of all devotions’ has become a kind of ‘moral imperative’ (2007: 209). However, in response to this conventional claim, the Burtons are prompted to suggest that ‘future historians of anthropology, in revisiting its embryonic transformation from evolutionism to synchrony between the 1870s and the 1920s, would do well to make it clearer how missionary writings and research deeply influenced the more recent “tradition” of anthropological authority in the form of professional ethnography’ (2007: 210).…”

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confidence: 99%

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‘No connection or cooperation’? Missionaries and anthropologists on the Pacific Northwest Coast

Tomalin

2009

Royal Anthropological Inst

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This article examines the collaborative research that was accomplished by certain missionaries and anthropologists who were based on the Pacific Northwest Coast during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although it is still sometimes suggested that these interactions were minimal, this article reveals their depth and extent. In particular, the way in which prominent researchers such as Franz Boas made use of linguistic analyses that had been produced by priests is reconsidered, and it is shown that missionaries such as Charles Harrison followed the anthropologists' lead in describing and preserving the indigenous cultures they encountered. Such facts reinforce revisionist historiographical accounts of the development of anthropology which give greater emphasis to the role of missionaries.During the past twenty years or so, there has been a revival of interest in the work accomplished by successive generations of missionaries who laboured in many countries around the world from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. In particular, missionary linguistics has gradually emerged as a mature, independent field of academic inquiry, and publications such as Nowak (1999), Zimmermann (1997), Zwartjes and Altman (2005), Zwartjes and Hovdhaugen (2004), and Zwartjes, James, and Ridruejo (2007) have certainly demonstrated the current range and scope of the field. As a result of this kind of explorative research, it is now generally accepted that a careful analysis of the linguistic notes, grammar textbooks, and translations produced by the ordained clergy and lay ministers who worked as missionaries can provide profound insights into the intricate cultural encounters that often resulted as part of the complex processes of colonization. For various reasons, however, such studies have so far focused primarily on missionary activities in continents and countries such as Mexico,

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

‘No connection or cooperation’? Missionaries and anthropologists on the Pacific Northwest Coast

Tomalin

2009

Royal Anthropological Inst

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“…Many missionaries provided early anthropologists with valuable data, some have written now classic ethnographic monographs, a few had fruitful academic careers as anthropologists. Today, many continue to provide crucial support for anthropologists as they conduct their fieldwork (Burton and Burton 2007;Higham 2003;Pels 1990;Whiteman 2003). Van der Geest has further argued that missionaries are not actually much different from anthropologists in that they are both interested in cultural difference "by understanding it in terms of their own beliefs" (1990,593).…”

Section: Anthropology and Christianitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking Anthropologically for the Theologically and Missiologically Engaged

Merz

2019

On Knowing Humanity Journal

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The attitude and ability to think anthropologically is both the most basic and most sophisticated aspect of contemporary anthropology. Thinking anthropologically is putting humans at the center by asking what it is to be human in different places and relationships, and in how we engage with the world around us. Thinking anthropologically is keeping human commonality and cultural and social diversity in balance. Thinking anthropologically is learning to be reflexive by thinking about ourselves and others, as well as thinking about the way we think. Thinking anthropologically is a great asset whenever we are faced with other humans, and thus provides the starting point for those who are theologically and missiologically engaged by providing a basis for all anthropological, theological and missiological reflection and activity.

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“…I suspect that there has always been potential or actual ambivalence between anthropologists and missionaries because of our competitive positions in terms of local status as well as ethnographic expertise, extending to the status of published findings and memoirs (see e.g. Stipe 1980; van der Geest 1990; Burton and Burton 2007; cf. Hann 2007).…”

Section: Background: the Work Of Christian Missionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is charity a gift? Northern Irish supporters of Christian missions overseas

Tonkin¹

2009

Social Anthropology

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In Northern Ireland, as elsewhere in the British Isles, mainline church denominations support their own mission societies. A small study of their attitudes and objectives was conducted with society officials, and with leading supporters in different denominations. Working in solidarity with others in their congregation, supporters were often more interested in helping to relieve suffering than to learn about the cultures and politics of the ‘missionised’. The sociality and disinterestedness of such charitable activities is contrary to some common assumptions about Western individualistic giving, deserves anthropological analysis and is relatable to Maussian theories of ‘the gift’.

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Some reflections on anthropology's missionary positions

Cited by 6 publications

References 20 publications

‘No connection or cooperation’? Missionaries and anthropologists on the Pacific Northwest Coast

‘No connection or cooperation’? Missionaries and anthropologists on the Pacific Northwest Coast

Thinking Anthropologically for the Theologically and Missiologically Engaged

Is charity a gift? Northern Irish supporters of Christian missions overseas

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