Conversion, Civilisation, Development? Catholic Missionaries between Germany and East Africa 1880 to 1945

殖民遭遇、随之而来的政治和宗教冲突以及弥合分歧的方法是近代史上的关键问题。尽管如此，关于德国与非欧洲社会的纠葛，特别是在宗教领域的研究，仍然很少。我的项目从这里开始。初步的想法是：(1)跨国政治史应该比21世纪初的视角更多地关注宗教行为者；(2)这样的历史能够检验殖民接触区和欧洲空间与殖民遭遇产生共鸣的关键领域；(3)这种对纠缠的审查必须基于对帝国沟通的新理解。我的项目考察了1880年至1945年期间德国和东非的宗教行为者，重点关注牧师、世俗兄弟姐妹、教师、学生、工人、信徒和慈善家，以及德国和东非的殖民官员、政要和宗教领袖。该项目有两个目标：在经验层面上，它将证明皇室统治既不是主要的世俗统治，也不主要是殖民地或大都会的世俗化影响。相反，宗教行为者在殖民统治的关键岗位上工作，例如在教育和保健方面。他们领导着关于欧洲殖民主义合法性的辩论，在殖民地的宗教冲突中坚持自己的立场，并促进了新基督教的出现，这种情况往往是无意和不为人知的。他们制造了一种据称温和的公民殖民主义，这在很大程度上解释了殖民计划对新殖民精英的吸引力以及大都市的公众支持。第二，理论目的可以概括为：帝国就是沟通。目前分析接触区的文化翻译、知识流通和社会机构的方法将发展成为一门历史媒体人类学。在欧洲议会和媒体(例如殖民地的法治、军事镇压抵抗或性暴力)和殖民地(例如税收、招募劳工、新出现的非洲精英对技能、知识和关键职位的侵占)中辩论殖民主义是一个多层次的循环过程，对涉及各种行为者创造性挪用的信息进行编码和解码。传教士是最合适的研究对象，因为他们努力与被殖民者进行长期接触，并冒险远远超出德国殖民主义的地理和临时限制。宗教和文化转变的热情本身就提供了这一点。此外，传教团还在欧洲举办了一次超越宣传运动的课程。在筹集资金的同时，他们还瞄准了一个所谓的去基督教和物质主义的欧洲，具有强大的道德吸引力。最后，基督教传教的历史涉及对信仰、知识和生活方式的创造性分配，以及一个新的非欧洲知识分子阶层的出现。

Colonial encounters, ensuing political and religious conflicts as well as ways to bridge differences are key issues of modern history. Still, studies on Germany's entanglements with non-European societies, especially in the field of religion, are scarce. My project takes a start from here. Preliminary ideas are: (1) that transnational political history ought to bring religious actors much more into focus than an early 21th century perspective may suggest; (2) that such a history affords to examine key areas of entanglement of colonial contact zones and European spaces resonating colonial encounters; (3) that such an examination of entanglement has to be based on a new understanding of imperial communication. My project examines German and East African religious actors from 1880 to 1945 focusing on priests, lay brothers and sisters, teachers, pupils, workers, believers and philanthropists, on colonial officers, dignitaries and religious leaders in Germany and East Africa. The project has two aims: On an empirical level it will demonstrate that imperial rule was neither primarily secular, nor did it have mainly secularizing effects in colony or metropole. On the contrary, religious actors worked in key positions of colonial rule, e.g. in education and health care. They lead debates on the legitimacy of colonialism in Europe, stood their ground in religious conflict in the colonies and facilitated, often unintended and unnoticed, the emergence of new Christianities. They produced an allegedly benign and civil colonialism that explains much of the attraction of the colonial project for new colonial elites and the public support in the metropoles. The second, theoretical aim can be summed up in the formula: empire is communication. Current approaches to analyse cultural translation, circulation of knowledge, and social agency in contact zones are to be developed into a historical media anthropology. Debating colonialism in European parliaments and media (e.g. the rule of law in colonies, military suppression of resistance, or sexual violence) and in the colonies (e.g. taxation, recruiting labour, the appropriation of skills, knowledge and key positions by emerging African elites) is a multi-level, circular process of encoding and decoding information involving creative appropriation of a variety of actors. Missions are a most appropriate object of study, because they endeavoured a long-term engagement with the colonized and ventured far beyond the geographical and temporary confinements of German colonialism. The zeal of religious and cultural conversion as such afforded this. In addition, missions conducted a class transcending propaganda crusade in Europe. While raising funds, they also targeted a allegedly de-Christianized and materialistic Europe with a strong moral appeal. Finally, the history of Christian missions refers to creative appropriations of faith, knowledge and life styles and the emergence of a new non-European intellectual class.