Mission, Race and Colonialism

The Ecclesiastical History Society kindly invited me to blog about my biography of Alexander Hetherwick so I include the post here.

Alexander Hetherwick was a Scottish missionary who served with Blantyre Mission in Malawi from 1883 to 1928 and was its Head from 1898 until his retirement in 1928. He was deeply involved in the beginnings of Christianity in southern Malawi while also playing an influential role in the establishment of the British Protectorate. He was a significant focal point for the forces that were shaping Malawi’s history at this decisive time. In particular, his life was marked by constant interplay between mission, racism and colonialism. At a time of renewed interest in decolonization, resurgence of racism and rethinking of the meaning of mission, it seemed to me that the time was ripe for a fresh examination of Hetherwick’s life and thought.

The biographical project was also provoked by my sense that history has not done justice to Hetherwick. The definitive studies of the early period of Blantyre Mission are Andrew C. Ross’s Blantyre Mission and the Making of Modern Malawi (Blantyre: CLAIM-Kachere, 1996) and Harri Englund’s Visions for Racial Equality: David Clement Scott and the Struggle for Justice in Nineteenth Century Malawi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). Both contrast Hetherwick very unfavourably with his colleague and predecessor David Clement Scott. The gist of the critique is that whereas Scott’s leadership was marked by an anti-racist and pro-African approach, after his departure Hetherwick sold out to the incoming forces of colonialism and racism as the British Protectorate established itself. The new biography contests this interpretation by attempting a more nuanced account where Hetherwick indeed is influenced by the changing times through which he lived yet continues to fight for the ideals that inspired Blantyre Mission in its early period.

Changes at Blantyre Mission around the turn of the century appear to indicate that it was accommodating itself to the mores of a colonial society. During the 1890s there had been one congregation at Blantyre where Europeans and Africans worshipped together. Now it divided on racial lines. During the 1890s Scott had entrusted much of the leadership of the nascent church to emerging African leaders. Now the Mission was firmly under the control of a white-only Mission Council. Hetherwick was in charge when these changes were introduced so it is understandable that he would be held responsible for such compromise with colonialism.

The biography, however, reveals a more complex picture. For one thing, there was such a close relationship between Scott and Hetherwick that it is implausible that the latter would abruptly change direction on the departure of the former. During the 15 years from 1883 to 1898 when the two men operated as a “double act,” there is no evidence that there was ever any serious difference between them. The harmony and common mind that they enjoyed stands out because these were stormy years at Blantyre Mission, particularly in the 1890s when it had tense relationships both with the new British administration at the political level and with the Church of Scotland authorities at the ecclesiastical level. In 2001, when Scott still entertained hopes of returning to Blantyre, he proposed to Hetherwick that they, “dance together, you concave and I convex. In spite of our mutual convexity, yea rather because of it, let us still pirouette Africa together old man.” Such confidence belies the idea that there was any fundamental difference between the two when it came to the guiding philosophy of the Mission.

Another important consideration is that, while Hetherwick became a prominent figure in the emergent colonial society, he was also deeply concerned that the Mission should keep its distance from it. He warned strongly about the danger posed by the European settler community to the integrity of the Mission. He was grateful that there was one mile between the Mission and the European township that was developing at Blantyre. He resented the eclipse of Domasi Mission by the presence nearby of the headquarters of the British administration at Zomba. Far from comfortably compromising with colonial society he insisted on keeping a distance from it and maintaining the ideals that had guided the Mission from the outset. He also called out the racism prevailing among the Europeans and fiercely resisted it.

There is no denying that elements of paternalism and stadialism crept into Hetherwick’s thinking in the new context that came with colonial rule. Yet his entire project continued to revolve around the preparation of African leaders, and he was responsible for the training of the first African ordained ministers. On issues of land and labour, he consistently took the side of the African community and had many bruising confrontations with the Government and the settlers. In the Croall Lectures that he gave after he retired to Scotland, on sensitive or difficult issues he had the humility to admit that he did not have the answer but expressed his confidence that the answer would come in due time from the African Church.

Was Alexander Hetherwick immune from the prevailing colonialism and racism of his time? No, he absorbed colonialist presuppositions that held sway at the time and, in some cases, reluctantly accommodated racist arrangements even when he knew they ran counter to the ultimate aims of Blantyre Mission. Did Alexander Hetherwick resist colonialism and racism? Yes, he fought many battles to secure justice for the African community at a time when it was subject to much discrimination and exploitation. For the sake of mission among the black community he kept his distance from the white one, and his hopes for the future were invested in the contribution he expected to come from the African church. He accommodated the racist and imperialist framework that came into place during the early years of the 20th century. Yet he also did much to defend ideals of Blantyre Mission that ran in an entirely different direction and would find their fulfilment in independent Malawi a generation after his death in 1939.

Kenneth R. Ross, Mission, Race and Colonialism in Malawi: Alexander Hetherwick of Blantyre, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023.