Book contents
- Visions for Racial Equality
- Visions for Racial Equality
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Maps
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Among the Wild Scotsmen
- 3 Champagne and Slaves
- 4 The Universal Vernacular
- 5 Frightful Libel upon Humanity
- 6 Rhodes Must Not Rise
- 7 A Future Foreclosed
- 8 Grief Never Wears Out
- 9 Liberal Translations
- 10 The Rest Is History
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - Liberal Translations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2022
- Visions for Racial Equality
- Visions for Racial Equality
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Maps
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Among the Wild Scotsmen
- 3 Champagne and Slaves
- 4 The Universal Vernacular
- 5 Frightful Libel upon Humanity
- 6 Rhodes Must Not Rise
- 7 A Future Foreclosed
- 8 Grief Never Wears Out
- 9 Liberal Translations
- 10 The Rest Is History
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Alexander Hetherwick became the head of the Blantyre Mission after Scott’s departure. Where Scott has been described as a visionary, Hetherwick was a liberal paternalist. He oversaw several initiatives to regulate both church and family life, and the divide between White and Black became entrenched through, for example, racially separated congregations and the slower pace with which Africans acquired responsibilities in the Church. Hetherwick’s approach to the vernacular language was integral to his racial thought. Where the vernacular gave Scott a vantage point on the universal, for Hetherwick it was associated with peoplehood in an ethnic sense. He also saw Chimang’anja / Chinyanja as considerably less resourceful in translating the Bible than Scott did. Hetherwick convened a committee to translate the Bible and introduced new terms where the vernacular was seen to lack them. Malawi’s first anti-colonial uprising in 1915 revealed further the liberal paternalism in Hetherwick’s approach. Joseph Booth, an early missionary advocate of African independence, had arranged John Chilembwe to study at an African-American college. After his return, Chilembwe led the revolt partly because of grievances over White settlers. Hetherwick’s response was liberal and rejected White supremacist views, but his concern for ‘pacifying’ Africans supported a racialized order whose foundations he was not prepared to question.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Visions for Racial EqualityDavid Clement Scott and the Struggle for Justice in Nineteenth-Century Malawi, pp. 233 - 264Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022