Wed,
03/29/2023 – 10:43am | By: David Tisdale
In his new e-book Sacred Rivals: Catholic Missions and the Making of Islam in Nineteenth-Century France
and Algeria (Oxford College Press), College of Southern Mississippi (USM) Assistant Professor of Historical past Dr. Joseph
Peterson examines the historical past of Christian-Muslim encounters, particularly these
within the former French colony.
Sacred Rivals explores the methods Catholics talked about Islam in 19th-century France and colonial Algeria; about the advanced place of Catholic missionaries in French Algeria, who had been complicit
with the empire’s racism and violence, however who additionally generally had shut and respectful
relationships with Algerians; and about Algerian views, how they themselves—the missionaries’ college students and converts—engaged
with the French imperialists and missionaries, together with resistance to imposition
of French tradition, politics and spiritual values.
“The nineteenth century was a time of actually tense debates in regards to the place of faith in
the general public sq., after the French Revolution had weakened the facility of the Catholic
Church and granted civil rights to different religions,” Dr. Peterson stated. “It was additionally
a time of large European colonial and missionary growth, bringing France into
contact and battle with precise Muslims in locations like North Africa and Ottoman Syria.
So, individuals in France talked loads about ‘Islam,’ normally in stereotyped methods, as they
debated faith, politics, and colonial insurance policies.”
“Historians have achieved a lot of nice analysis on the connection between missionaries
and imperialists. On one hand, missionaries typically offered justification for imperial
violence and labored to “civilize” and erase indigenous cultures. However on the opposite
hand, missionaries generally realized to respect native cultures and tried to defend
their converts from colonial abuses.
The troubled relationship between missionaries and imperialists was maybe much more
difficult within the Muslim context of French Algeria, Dr. Peterson additional explains:
“I uncover and inform some fascinating tales of missionaries who tried to transform
Algerian Muslims to Christianity, and the sometimes-bitter outcomes of these makes an attempt;
and I attempt to perceive the experiences of Muslim Algerians who labored with the missionaries
and accepted their Christian affect, and why some got here to resent the missionaries
and see them as prejudiced.”
It’s Dr. Peterson’s hope that the takeaway for readers of Sacred Rivals is an understanding that of the damaging stereotypes individuals maintain of Islam and of
Arabs immediately, many had been non secular and colonial propaganda and must be handled with
suspicion.
“However there have additionally been individuals who tried to construct bridges of understanding between
Christianity and Islam, and so I additionally hope readers can be and touched
by the human tales I inform—for instance, tales of Algerian youngsters who needed to navigate
between loyalty to their households’ tradition and faith, the calls for of their missionary
academics, and the oppression of the colonial state,” he stated.
Sacred Rivals is open entry (free on-line) as a part of a program funded by the Mellon Basis.
*Click on right here for Open Entry.
*Click on right here to buy a print copy.
Dr. Peterson joined the USM Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ College of Humanities college in 2019. Study extra about his work at USM by visiting the web site and school listing.
Adblock check (Why?)