At a time of renewed awareness of issues of race and racism in many societies worldwide, a reassessment of the Western missionary movement is called for. It has long been acknowledged that the movement carried an equivocal character when it comes to the question of racism. On the one hand, it was built on a conviction that ‘black lives matter’. Otherwise, why would anyone risk their life to embark on a mission among black communities of the Global South? On the other hand, the missionary movement was an expression of the sense of superiority, not to say supremacy, of the white communities of the Global North and intimately connected with European colonial rule. Scholars and commentators have tended to latch on to one hand or the other. Some have understood the missionary movement as nothing but the religious wing of colonialism and imperialism, viewing everything through this lens. Others have focused on the sacrifice and solidarity that brought missionaries to devote their lives to service among black communities, often to transformational effect. There is therefore something of an unresolved polarity. This might be unlikely to be resolved by arguing in general terms since it is often the premise that determines the outcome. This book aims to interrogate the matter through a reassessment of one particular missionary: Alexander Hetherwick of Blantyre.

In the Malawi context, Hetherwick is an inviting choice since, on any reckoning, he is a major figure in Malawi history and certainly one of the most influential missionaries. Serving with Blantyre Mission for forty-five years (1883–1928) and the Head of the Mission for thirty years (1898–1928), he was a witness and a participant in the emergence of Malawi as a nation state. Based for most of the time in Blantyre, he played a part in the creation of Malawi's first urban community and was never far from the centre of political, economic and cultural affairs. ‘No name,’ opined Stephen Green, ‘is more closely identified with Blantyre than that of Alexander Hetherwick.’ When President Kamuzu Banda greeted visiting Church of Scotland Moderators with the words, ‘Had there been no Church of Scotland there would have been no Malawi’, it was the memory of Alexander Hetherwick as well as that of Robert Laws that he invoked.