The
Missionaries
A
Direct Material Influence
It is obvious,
from the foregoing, therefore, that changes to the indigenous built
environment did not rank high on
the list of missionary priorities. Yet, despite their preoccupation
with "heathen" social practices, their concerns for local
architecture were never hidden too far below the surface. The writings
of early missionaries such as Campbell, Mackenzie, Casalis, Arbousset
and Daumas make frequent references to the dwelling forms and building
technologies they encountered. None of them however formulated any
kind of philosophical response to vernacular structures, choosing
instead to view them as some kind of barometer against which to measure
progress of a larger social and cultural nature. Thus we find that
Cape Government Reports from about the 1870s onwards begin to equate
the use of square-plan dwellings with the degree of civilization
achieved in any one particular region. The magistrate for Gatberg,
Griqualand East, reported in 1879 that:
"I am happy to say that as far as can be seen there is a marked
advance in many ways. The square house and substantially-walled round
hut, is superseding the old grass huts, and the use of European clothing
is more generally adopted." (Blue Book on Native Affairs
1880)
This was echoed by the United
Missionary Conference of 1884, which grouped this return for Mount
Arthur (Transkei) under the heading
of "Moral Statistics":
"Mount Arthur gives the fullest report. 306 square houses,
9000 acres cultivated land, 419 ploughs, 2 carts, 160 waggons; £700
taxes, 93 brick makers, 37 carpenters, 41 masons, 25 sewing mistresses." (United
Missionary Conference 1889)
It was left for an outsider to express local missionary policy on
the question of architecture. The German academic and theologian,
Gustav Warneck, wrote in 1879 that:
"It is not only that the requirement of modesty necessitates
the providing of some sort of clothing, however simple; but Christian
morality desires also a dwelling corresponding to human dignity,
decency and purity. Building plays an important part in the mission.
First the missionary builds a simple small house for himself, to
which he soon adds a school and a church. Generally he must himself
superintend this work; often enough, indeed, he must execute it with
his own hand, and it stands him in good stead to have been a tradesman
at home. But he induces the natives also to help him, and, much patience
as it requires on his part, he undertakes to instruct them. Gradually
his word and his example produce their effect, and the converts from
heathenism begin to build new and more decent dwellings for themselves." (1888)
It is doubtful that many
of the early missionaries were well, if at all, prepared for this
aspect of their mission. The Glasgow Missionary
Society pamphlet of 1796, "Report on the Character of a
Missionary, etc." lays considerable stress upon "piety,
prudence and aptitude to teach" but not once mentions the need for craft
skills (Williams 1959). The London Missionary Society was a little
more realistic on this point and in 1800 recommended that missionaries:
"... should carry with them some acquaintance with agriculture
or those branches of mechanics which admit of an useful application
in uncivilized countries" (Williams 1959)
It was left for the French
to take the initiative in this field. When Casalis and Arbousset
were chosen to be sent out to southern
Africa by the Paris Missionary Society, they were given basic training
in the skills of drawing, building and architecture. Not only that,
they were also joined by Gosselin who, as "missionary artisan",
was sent out to assist them erect their first dwellings (Germond
1967). Casalis wrote at Moriah in 1833 that:
"The next day we began to think about constructing some kind
of shelter. The box of tools that we had brought from Europe was
opened, and my two fellow-workers and myself took each of us a hatchet
and a saw ... Our excellent friend, Mr. Gosselin, who had joined
us in the capacity of a missionary artisan, handled with equal skill
the hammer of the stone-cutter and the mattock of the husbandman." (1861)
The "box
of tools" brought
from Europe included, among other items, agricultural implements
and tools for the trades of
stone quarrying and cutting, masonry, carpentry, joinery, coopering,
shoe-making and surveying (Germond 1967). The attachment of Gosselin
to the party was an inspired piece of fore-planning on the part of
the French. Once his task of building mission houses for his colleagues
was completed, his brief was also:
"... to train the (South Sotho) to erect proper and comfortable
homes for their own families, while gaining their affection by teaching
them divers handicrafts" (Germond 1967)
This policy foreshadowed events in the region by nearly half a century
and paved the way for the subsequent establishment of Industrial
Training Institutions in southern Africa. The first of these was
founded, naturally enough, by the Paris Missionary Society at Morija,
Lesotho, in 1841, but others soon followed this example. Lovedale
in 1857, St Matthews in 1876, Leloaleng in 1879, Amanzimtoti in 1883
and Blythswood in 1884 were but a few (Dennis 1902). The report for
Leloaleng in 1910 stated that:
"Instruction is given in stone and brick building, carpentry,
blacksmith work, wagon repairing, shoe making and saddlery." (Paris
Evangelical Missionary Society c1913)
while the Lovedale report for 1895 commented that:
"The work during the year has been the woodwork on one two-storied
house; erecting and finishing two new dormitories 117 feet long -
joisting of two-storied technical workshop now in process of erection;
a great variety of alterations on buildings - new bakery, Post Office,
and some outhouses." (Lovedale Missionary Institution 1896)
Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of the Cape Colony, made the official
position regarding industrial training clear when, in a message to
Parliament in c 1884 he stated that:
"Nothing can more surely prevent future (border) wars than
the multiplication of Institutions like those of Lovedale and Blythswood,
especially if they extend their industrial training so as to include
agriculture." (Warneck 1888)
Charles Brownlee, Secretary for Native Affairs, issued a circular
in 1873, in which he proclaimed that:
"It is a matter of great importance that the young men brought
up at and near Mission Stations should be ... trained to take their
proper position in society" (Office of the Secretary for
Native Affairs 1873)
while Matthew Blyth, Chief Magistrate for the Division of Transkei,
reported to the Cape Parliament in 1879 that:
"More large schools with European masters, where trades could
be learnt and discipline enforced, are wanted in every district,
so that there may be more thoroughness about the education. The expense
would be large, but it is a matter of vital importance to the Colony
that the young may be so trained that they can take their places
worthily as members of a civilized and industrious community." (Blue
Books on Native Affairs 1880)
It is not an easy matter
to assess the results of these missionary efforts. We know that in
such matters as initiation and teenage sexual
morality they had little impact. This however does not appear to
have been the case with building technology where some considerable
influence seems to have been wielded through the medium of education.
In 1879 some 173 "special apprentices" were undergoing
training in various industrial institutions in the Cape (Report of
the Superintendent-General of Education, CGH, 1880), approximately
60% of whom were engaged in the building trades. Most appear to have
originated from the Eastern Cape and Transkei region (Lovedale Missionary
Institution 1896), where they also subsequently plied their trades
(Blue Books on Native Affairs 1880), but it is not impossible that,
with time, they spread further afield. Certainly the missionaries
themselves were not slow in proclaiming the fruits of their labours,
as seen from this report from Leloaleng, made in 1910:
"Since its foundation the work of the school has had a marked
influence in improving the class of (South Sotho) houses, as in almost
every village of importance are to be found neat stone buildings
which reflect great credit on the intelligence and enterprise of
their builders." (Paris Evangelical Missionary Society c1913)
In the case of some specialised
areas of construction such as roof carpentry, stone masonry and brick
making, the effects of missionary
education remain evident to the present day. Despite this obvious
element of technological transposition however, the nature of the
indigenous rural environment has remained essentially vernacular.
Dwelling plans have, in most cases, retained their traditional circular
form, materials have remained local and “found” and the
technologies concerned, although new, have been harnessed to fulfill
the same social roles as the ones they have replaced. Most important,
this missionary input does not appear to have had a direct effect
upon the nature and form of indigenous settlement patterns which
are a more direct manifestation of local "culture" than
the dwelling form itself. (Frescura 1987)
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Role of Missionaries / An Indirect
Material Influence >
