The Colonial State and the Church of the Nazarene in Medical Evangelisation and the Consolidation of Colonial Presence in Swaziland, 1903–1968

Unlike the situation in other African countries where Christian missionaries contributed towards the establishment of colonial rule, in Swaziland, colonisation was not facilitated by Christian missionaries. Instead, it was the establishment of the British colonial presence in Swaziland which facilitated evangelisation especially by the Church of the Nazarene (CON) medical missionaries. Coming to Swaziland in the 1920s – 17 years after the British colonisation of Swaziland – the CON medical missionaries served to heighten the Swazi cultural subjugation by consolidating and legitimising colonial authority through introducing western biomedicine as one of the benefits of civilisation, thus undermining the power and influence of traditional healers, while ensuring British dominance. This paper advances the argument by historians of empire – which states that missionaries were agents of empire – by adding the fact that not all missionaries were involved in initiating colonisation. Instead, in some parts of Africa, colonisation was successfully attained without any missionary assistance. However, medical missionaries became very useful to colonising powers after colonisation, when they fortified and legitimised colonial authority. Furthermore, the paper attempts to demonstrate how the state assisted the CON medical missionaries in evangelisation and how these medical missionaries augmented British colonial authority in Swaziland

Ancient history · Archaeology · British Empire · Civilization · Colonialism · Colonisation · Colonization · Consolidation (business · Dominance (genetics · Empire · Ethnology · Sociology · State (computer science · African cultural and philosophical studies · Christian Theology and Mission · History · South African History and Culture

• Medical Missions and Proselytisation

  Shokahle R Dlamini•African Historical Review•2022

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