The Abandoned Mother’
Ageing, Old Age and Missionaries in Early and Mid Nineteenth-Century South-East Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8979460 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andreas Sagner (0000-0001-5698-8191, Institut für Urheber- und Medienrecht, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 173-198 |
| Publication date | 2001-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of African History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0021853701007848 |
| PMID | 18634189 |
| OpenAlex | W2162501475 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This essay examines issues of ageing and old age in Xhosa-speaking communities to c . 1860. Drawing primarily on records of the Wesleyan Methodist and London Missionary societies, the article examines the construction of Xhosa ageing, old age and death in missionary writings. The primary medium of missionary reflection was the figure of the ‘Abandoned Mother’, modelled on contemporary British metaphors, that represented yet another atrocity story for legitimating the mission enterprise and the emerging colonial regime. It also argues that there were fundamental contrasts in the images of ageing and dying between those of the Xhosa and those of the missionaries. Though older persons found certain themes in the Christian message attractive, they preferred the local cultural model of ageing, old age and death
Ageing · Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Ethnology · Linguistics · Sociology · Xhosa · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Historical Education Studies Worldwide · History · Medicine · Philosophy · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment · South African History and Culture
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2019 (18) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |