Mission Education in Early Sierra Leone, 1793-1820

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorLovejoy, Paul E.
dc.creatorKeefer, Katrina Harriett Beatrice
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-20T16:28:42Z
dc.date.available2016-09-20T16:28:42Z
dc.date.copyright2015-09-18
dc.date.issued2016-09-20
dc.date.updated2016-09-20T16:28:42Z
dc.degree.disciplineHistory
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractMission education helped to transform the small colony at Freetown and mission outposts at Rio Pongo, the Bullom Shore and elsewhere on the upper Guinea coast into a center of regional development. Freetown was a focal point of migration from North America, England and various parts of Africa that provided an early model of a multicultural society in a colonial context. The activities of the various Christian missions enhanced the educational opportunities for the nascent British colony, especially with the arrival of people taken off slave ships by the British navy after 1808. People in the area of Sierra Leone already had access to education before the establishment of the British colony in 1808. Muslims attended Quranic school wherever Muslims formed communities, and Islamic education was especially associated with Fuuta Jalon in the interior. Moreover, the Poro and Sande secret societies provided initiation training that amounted to an educational system. Finally, the children of prominent coastal traders and local officials sometimes were educated in Europe, and in this period, especially in Britain. The schools opened by the Christian missionaries, especially the Church Missionary Society (CMS) intensified the access to education. The efforts of the CMS missions introduced a new approach to instruction that was revolutionary for the region. Importantly, these early CMS missionaries were German-speaking Lutherans. As a result of their work, Freetown became a center of culturally diverse learning. This thesis examines mission records for the period 1808-1820 in order to analyze the cultural diversity of the Freetown population. Children came from a variety of backgrounds which reflect early settlement and the arrival of the first wave of Liberated Africans. It is argued here that mission education was well established during this period, which was before the arrival of large numbers of Yoruba and other Africans after 1820. The subsequent activities of the children who studied in the mission schools make it clear that the impact of mission education was dramatic, since many of the children became missionaries, teachers or merchants who provided leadership in the consolidation of Freetown as a center of education and cultural plurality before the landscape of the colony was altered after 1820.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/32117
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectEuropean history
dc.subject.keywordsSierra Leone
dc.subject.keywordsColonial history
dc.subject.keywordsMission education
dc.subject.keywordsAbolition
dc.subject.keywordsCultural history
dc.subject.keywordsAnthropology
dc.subject.keywordsCentral Europe
dc.subject.keywordsBritish empire
dc.titleMission Education in Early Sierra Leone, 1793-1820
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Keefer_Katrina_HB_2015_PhD.pdf
Size:
4.05 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.83 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
YorkU_ETDlicense.txt
Size:
3.38 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

History

All items in the YorkSpace institutional repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved except where explicitly noted.