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Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Prophetic Identities

Indigenous Missionaries on British Colonial Frontiers, 1850-75

Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Prophetic Identities

Indigenous Missionaries on British Colonial Frontiers, 1850-75

The presence of Indigenous people among the ranks of British missionaries in the nineteenth century complicates narratives of all-powerful missionaries and hapless Indigenous victims. What compelled these men to embrace Christianity? How did they reconcile being both Christian and Indigenous in an age of empire? Tolly Bradford finds answers to these questions in the lives of Henry Budd, a Cree missionary from western Canada, and Tiyo Soga, a Xhosa missionary from southern Africa. He portrays these men not as victims of colonialism but rather as individuals who drew on faith, family, and their ties to Britain to construct a new sense of indigeneity in a globalizing world.

236 pages | © 2012


Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: Indigenous Missionaries, Identity, and the Colonial Frontier

Part 1: Journeys to Ordination

1 From “Orphan” to “Settler”: The Making of the Reverend Henry Budd

2 From Wars to a Prophet: The Making of the Reverend Tiyo Soga

Part 2: Lives

3 Alienated and Connected: Finding Positions

4 “Placed in very special circumstances”: Defining Themselves

5 Advocate and Adviser: Spreading Their Word

Part 3: Legacies

6 Henry Budd’s “Great Transformation”: A Cree Village Community

7 “The Destiny of the Kaffir Race”: A Xhosa National Community

Conclusion: Indigeneity and Empire

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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