Open Collections

Time, space, and the people of God : Anglican colonialism in nineteenth-century British Columbia

University of British Columbia

Anglican missionaries began to arrive in British Columbia after the mainland had been accorded colonial status in 1858. Here they strove to provide for the spiritual needs of other white colonists, and to convert the territory's Native population to Christianity. In part one of this thesis I sketch out the central convictions of Anglican imperialism — its motivations, aspirations, and biases. I argue that these beliefs distinguished the mission enterprise from other elements of the imperial project. These divergent impulses, moreover, were reflected in different material practices. In its imperial imagining, and in its colonial enactment, missionization was a distinctive breed of nineteenth century British expansionism. In part two I turn to the physical engagements of Anglican colonialism. Here I focus on the work of one missionary in particular, an agent of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel named John Booth Good. Based first at Nanaimo and then at Lytton, Good devoted his mission career to working among Native people. His impact was wide-ranging. I examine the geography of his mission strategy, the structure of his pedagogic regime, and his supervision of Native subjects. As such, I try to locate this history of Anglican missionization within an expanding literature concerned with questions of power, knowledge, and space.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-01-27

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/3939

Geography

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace