Gender, Religion, and the Heathen Lands: American Missionary Women in South Asia, 1860s-1940s (Gender, Culture, and Global Politics)

Seeking to extend existing scholarship on gender and colonialism and on women and American religion, this cross-cultural study examines the work of American missionary women in South Asia at several levels. A primary concern of the study is to historicize the interventions of these women and situate them within the dual contexts of the sending society and the receiving culture. It focuses on missionaries Isabella Thoburn and Ida Scudder, who founded some of the premier women's colleges and hospitals in British colonial India. The book also draws upon the narratives and reminiscences of South Asian women, now in their seventies, who attended such institutions in the 1940s, and whose voices texture our understanding of American women's missionary work in "Other" cultures. Introduction 1 Ch. 1 The Missionary Scenario 39 Ch. 2 Biblical Helpmeet And Evangelical Worker: The Missionary Wife 77 Ch. 3 Darkness, Disease, The Zenana, And The Heathen Woman: Constructing Discourses And Saving Souls 105 Ch. 4 Documenting Knowledge And Producing Texts: An Analysis Of Missionary Literature 137 Ch. 5 Shifting Paradigms: Facing The Twentieth Century 171 Ch. 6 Feminists, Philanthropists, Matriarchs, And Managers: The Single-women Missionaries 203 Ch. 7 Isabella Thoburn (1840-1901): The Lal Bagh School And The Isabella Thoburn College 245 Ch. 8 Making Women Physicians And Christ-filled Doctors: Ida Scudder (1870-1960) And The Christian Medical College, Vellore 281 Ch. 9 Living Voices: Missionary Legacies And Indian Daughters 313 Afterword 343 App. 1 Biographical Sketches Of Single Women Missionaries 347 App. 2 Questionairre For Alumnae Of Women's Missionary Colleges 361 App. 3 Maps 365 Bibliography 369 Index. By Maina Chawla Singh. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 369-385) And Index. Dedication Contents Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction Part I 1 The Missionary Scenario 2 Biblical Helpmeet and Evangelical Worker: The Missionary Wife 3 “Darkness,” “Disease,” the Zenana, and the “Heathen Woman”: Constructing Discourses and Saving Souls 4 Documenting “Knowledge” and Producing Texts: An Analysis of Missionary Literature Part II 5 Shifting Paradigms: Facing the Twentieth Century 6 Feminists, Philanthropists, Matriarchs, and Managers: The Single-Women Missionaries 7 Isabella Thobum (1840–1901): The Lal Bagh School and the Isabella Thobum College 8 Making Women Physicians and “Chlist-FiIled” Doctors: Ida Scudder ( 1870–1960) and the Christian Medical College, Vellore 9 “Living Voices”: Missionary Legacies and “Indian Daughters” Afterword Appendix I: Biographical Sketches of Single Women Missionaries Appendix 2: Questionairre for Alumnae of Women’s Missionary Colleges Appendix 3: Maps Bibliography Index When William Carey, inspired by zeal to do something about the "degraded state of heathen lands" arrived in Calcutta an November 11, 1793, aboard the Princess Maria, he was denied entry as a missionary and told that restrictions by the East India Company did not permit religious teaching to the colonized people.