Das Königliche Ethnographische Museum zu Copenhagen

Steinhauer, Carl Ludvig

Anthropos, 94.1999

Bibliographische Daten

Monographie

Strukturtyp:: Monographie

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-713990

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-713990

Persistenter Identifier:: BV047657564

Titel:: Das Königliche Ethnographische Museum zu Copenhagen

Untertitel:: Handcatalog für die Besuchenden

Herausgeber:: Steinhauer, Carl Ludvig

Erscheinungsort:: Copenhagen

Verlag:: Bianco Lunos Königl. Hof-Buchdruckerei

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1886

Signatur:: 2021 A 206

Lizenz:: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sammlung:: Allgemeiner Bestand

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Ethnologie in der Praxis

Vorderer Einband

Strukturtyp:: Vorderer Einband

Sammlung:: Allgemeiner Bestand

360 Henk J. van Rinsum Anthropos 94.1999 This early period was characterized by the nega tion of a religious system of “the Other.” More than once Smith describes the Ila as thoroughly indifferent to things spiritual: Ten years ago not a soul at Nanzela had heard the Gospel. They had not the slightest notice of a Supreme Being, paid no worship to Him, and did not allow Him any influence over their lives. At first it was, of course, impossible to proclaim the Gospel, for the language was not known. Preaching was commenced through interpreters, but it must have been long before any correct idea of Christianity took hold of the people. Now for years the Gospel has been preached in the language of the people themselves. Correct ideas have spread abroad, in very many cases, the obligations of the Gospel are known and approved, but rejected. Many are merely indifferent (Microfiche no. 77, The Herald. 1905 - [H-2741] V.II. 1906 [April], nos. 1-6, p. 59). In The Records of 1903 Smith recalls a service he held in one of the villages around his mission post: A downright heathen congregation: only one professing Christian in the lot and that is Mooba whom we brought from Nanzela. How to touch their hearts is the problem: to put the truth in such simple and striking form that they will understand and retain it: to arouse them from their awful apathy to spiritual things and put a desire for something better within them - who is sufficient for these things? ... In the afternoon Mr. Chapman and I take our homeward ways. I ask Mooba whether he thinks the people have understood today and he replies “Yes, they understood well.” I asked some of them and they are being troubled by their consciences. They say they see they are altogether lost and want help and they grieve. Well, that may mean much or it may mean nothing: it generally means nothing, merely words, words, words (Microfiche no. 71, The Records. 1893 - [H-2741] V. 1903 [May], p. 135, 138). In “A Letter from Nanzela,” published in 1903 in The Records, Smith looks back to his first coming to Nanzela: Meanwhile, we do not hide from ourselves, and have no desire to hide from you the real position of affairs and the difficulties awaiting us. We represent neither to ourselves nor to you, that this is a people crying out for the Gospel. A missionary who once travelled about the Zambesi said: - “I have come across millions of men who need but to hear our Lord’s words and deeds to become so many good and happy Christians!” Would that it were so, but it is not. We have found neither the millions of men nor any great willingness to become good and happy Christians. The bulk of the people are simply indifferent (Microfiche no. 72, The Records. 1893 - [H-2741] V. 1903 [October], p. 189— 190). It is not only the indifference of the Ila that strikes Smith in this period. He sometimes put his ideas about the Ila in very strongly negative terms: ... but I fear some effects are likely to be more perma nent amid all this letting loose of the worst passions of heathenism. I fear some of our Catechumens have fallen away. Heathenism at any time is the very vilest of all the vile things on earth. Do not talk of “noble savages,: and “the simple child-like African”; at such times as these, passions are allowed to run wild, with fearful results. The fruit of years of patient toil is swept away, and one is left saddened and disheartened (Microfiche no. 73, The Records. 1893 - [H-2741] V. 1904 [April], p. 66). How can we interpret this negative representation of the Ila by Smith? We should realize that Smith came to the Ila as a stranger. There is a photograph showing the Smith family in a covered wagon, drawn by six pairs of oxen on their way to the Ila territory in 1902. They only knew that the Ila, the Mashukulumbwe as they were called at that time, were known to be a savage and vicious people. Re ferring to an article by Eric Cohen (1990) on “The Missionary as Stranger,” we can safely assume that Smith felt like a stranger at two levels in his first mission post. 18 The first level is that of cognitive strangeness, defined by Cohen as “an absence of understanding on the part of the stranger of the world view, the categories, thought patterns, values, norms and customary meanings prevalent in the host environment” (Cohen 1990: 338). The second level is that of normative strangeness, defined by Cohen as an absence of identification with, or internalization of the values, norms, and customary meanings prevalent in the host environ ment (Cohen 1990: 338). Cohen suggests that in many cases (e.g., with missionaries) there is a development in terms of a partial transition: “namely, a successful cog nitive transition, accompanied by an absence of a normative transition.” Cohen calls this pattern “interpretative, since those who practice it, usual ly seek to understand the host environment, but interpret the significance of what they understood in terms of normative relevances, derived from their own culture of origin, or from their specific professional subculture, and not from that of their host” (Cohen 1990: 338). This interpretative pat tern comes near to what Clifford has labelled “an 18 In an article “Nanzela: Some Personal Experiences in Central Africa,” written by Edwin W. Smith and published in the Centenary Series No. 12, Smith recalls his first experiences: “Everything was strange to us” (H-2723 Box no. 610 [3] African Papers - Edwin W. Smith, 1924).

Zugriffsbeschränkung

Nutzungslizenz

Objekt: Anthropos, 94.1999

Monographie

Vorderer Einband

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Downloads

Ganzer Datensatz

Diese Seite

Bildfragment

Formate und Verlinkungen

Links

Zitieren

Ganzer Datensatz

Diese Seite

Zitierempfehlung