In the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, the main character, deals with a set of missionaries that come into his mother’s tribe. They tell him, along with his community, that their beliefs and religion are wrong and that they should convert over to Christianity that only worships one God.
This book is set in the late 19th century, around the 1890s, in Nigeria. During this time, many European countries were in a scramble to take control of Africa, known as the Conquest of Africa, or the Rape of Africa. While many power-elite countries were in a hurry to seize as much land as possible, they were also trying to spread as much of their culture and beliefs as possible as well. This became known as the “Revival” movement of the Protestant and Catholic church whose goal was to give a “new lease of life and expected them to proclaim the good news of Salvation by Christ throughout the world” (Zorn, “The Missionary Movement”).
The Revival was a crucial part of the colonization of Africa and contributed to the feelings of superiority that many missionaries and European intellectuals had, according to J.D. Fage. The supremacy they felt caused them to push their denomination onto many African tribes and alienate them in their own homes by denouncing their faiths. Their practices, as seen from the perspective of a missionary, were seen as “witchcraft, devil-worship, and a thousand other foolish things” that they wouldn’t follow or succumb to “because the light of Heaven shines upon us” (84, Flickinger).
The idea was that converting African tribes to Christianity, or the main religion of a European nation looking to colonize, would aid in a “regeneration” of African people (97, Achebe). Their goal was to overtake the culture of the area they wanted to control and convert the people native to that land in order to make it more their own. As Robin Horton wrote in “African Conversion,” European countries were unstoppable forces that Christianity became tied to. Along with that, “the push of Western education, colonial administration, commerce, and industry… These changes created a much more favorable climate for conversion” (90, Horton).
Works Cited
Zorn, Jean-François. “The Missionary Movement.” Musée Protestant, Fondation Pasteur Eugène Bersier, 14 Jan. 2015, museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-missionary-movement/.
J.D. Fage, A History of Africa Third Edition, 1995 11 New Fetter Lane London.
Flickinger, D. K. Ethiopia, Or, Twenty Years of Missionary Life in Western Africa. Kessinger
Pub., 1873.
Achebe, Nwando, Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, Joe Alie, Hassoum Ceesay, Toby Green, Vincent Hiribarren, Ben Kye-Ampadu, History Textbook: West African Senior School Certificate Examination (2018), https://wasscehistorytextbook.com/
Horton, Robin. “African Conversion.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, vol. 41, no. 2, [Cambridge University Press, International African Institute], 1971, pp. 85–108, https://doi.org/10.2307/1159421.
The use of education, new judicial systems, and markets were examples in the book of how the colonizers tried to change the Nigerian society to make a better “climate,” as you said, for conversion. We also saw in the book two different approaches to conversion between the first man, Mr. Brown, and the second, Mr. Smith. Brown was very tolerant and tried to accept everyone while Smith condemned the non-Christians and only wanted those who were passionately dedicated to be a part of the church. While one seems on the surface to be less evil, they both had the sentiments of superiority you mentioned that came with the protestant Revival and they both viewed the Nigerians as participating in foolish witchcraft and devil worship. Despite the various methods, they both were colonizers forcing their culture and beliefs onto a group that didn’t ask for their interference which is the common denominator across the history of all missionaries.
I like how in depth you went with your post. You did a great job introducing and explaining different aspects of colonization that I wasn’t familiar with before. It’s interesting to see how the colonizers made the native people’s ideas out to be evil instead of just simply different. It shows how they were trying to demoralize them and make them out to be awful human beings, when in reality, they were the ones in the wrong for trying to take land that isn’t theirs.
Something I found interesting while reading your post was the revival. I find it intriguing that they needed to feel supremacy and how that supremacy lead them to push their beliefs onto African tribes. I think this can apply in many situations but is often associated with religion and forcing one’s religious beliefs onto someone or another group.
While reading the book I did not think much about what else was happening in the world. The revival movement is insane for me to really think about. The people in Africa were seen as less of people just because they did not follow the same religion and that they needed ‘regeneration’. The sense of superiority that missionaries brought with them just because they were born somewhere else. In Things Fall Apart I think Mr. Brown was an essential character to include in order to represent how it was possible for missionaries to take control. Mr. Brown is portrayed as an intelligent and caring missionary that respects the culture that is already there. Even though he is trying to be ‘respectful’, he’s still acting as a white savior in a place that doesn’t need him to be there.
Your quote from Horton is a great point. Colonization from European countries brought the western industry with them. Missionaries forcing change onto natives made them partake in an economy that didn’t already exist in Africa.
You did an amazing job going in depth about each part. I would have to agree with everyone else that thinking about the revival part is insane. It is interesting to think that they wanted to feel preferable. Because they wanted to feel this way it lead them to push their beliefs onto African tribes. When I think about a situation like this I think about how it relates to when other people with strong beliefs about a religion try and push that onto people that believe in a different religion than them.
You have great supporting evidence on your post. It’s interesting to see how the effect of a mission that is positive in ones eyes can be viewed as negative in another’s eyes. The missionaries were convicted that there perspective and purpose was for the better but it ultimately drowned the culture of the Native Africans. This makes me wonder how many times in our own lives have we pushing our view, norms and culture onto someone only to drown out their individualism. How can we share our beliefs and views yet still not force out other perspectives and cultures?
I like that you mention the superiority that missionaries and European intellectuals felt that they had. Differences in religion can make one group feel better or more intelligent than another group. This power dynamic was a key tool that missionaries used to attempt to make African tribes feel inferior and colonize them.
Hello! You summarized Things Fall Apart really well and touched on all the topics that were especially crucial. Reading the book and seeing all of the situation Okonkwo suffered through made me really sad. It’s like I have this hope that humanity isn’t that bad, and yet learning about everything that happened in the past proves that not to be true at all. Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t good people out there. This colonization of Africa changed those people lives forever, and the people who would continue to live there in the future. Having another country take complete control of you and tell you how to live will never be okay. Okonkwo and his tribe quite literally had everything snatched away from them, and not just the materialistic things. The most important is their personal traditions and culture, the things that made them who they were. Then insert the missionaries who forced them into another culture and stole part of their identities. Shouldn’t religion and its traditions be something you grow to love? If you force anything on someone, they most likely will end up hating it. But most importantly, they end up hating themselves and no matter the religion, nothing and no one should wish someone to hate themselves over religion.