Civilizing Habits

Women Missionaries and the Revival of French Empire
Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-19-992284-0
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 384 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 582 g

Civilizing Habits explores the life stories of three French women missionaries--Philippine Duchesne, Emilie de Vialar, and Anne-Marie Javouhey--who crossed boundaries, both real and imagined, to evangelize far from France's shores. In so doing, they helped France reestablish a global empire after the dislocation of the Revolution and the fall of Napoleon. They also pioneered a new missionary era in which the educational, charity, and health care services provided by women became valuable tools for spreading Catholic influence across the globe.

Philippine Duchesne traveled to former French territory in Missouri in 1818 to proselytize among Native Americans. Thwarted by the American policy of removing tribes even further west, she turned her attention to girls' education on the frontier. Emilie de Vialar followed French troops to Algeria after its conquest and opened missions throughout the Mediterranean basin in the mid-nineteenth century. Prevented from direct evangelization, she developed strategies and subterfuges for working among Muslim populations. Anne-Marie Javouhey evangelized among Africans in the French slave colonies, including a utopian settlement in the wilds of French Guiana. She became a rare Catholic proponent of the abolition of slavery and a woman designated a "great man" by the French king.

Paradoxically, through embracing religious institutions designed to shield their femininity, these women gained increased authority to travel outside France, challenge church power, and evangelize among non-Christians, all roles more commonly ascribed to male missionaries. Their stories teach us about the life paths open to religious women in the nineteenth century and how both church and state benefitted from their initiative and energy to expand the boundaries of faith and nation.

Zielgruppe

Academics and undergraduates studying French history, imperial history, gender history, women's biographies, history of Catholicism, history of slavery and abolitionism

Autoren/Hrsg.

Curtis, Sarah A.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Missionswissenschaft, Missionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Christliche Orden und Vereinigungen, Ordensgeschichte, Mönchstum
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Feministische Theologie, Gender Studies

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I The Limits of Enclosure: Philippine Duchesne
Chapter 1 From Old Worlds to New
Chapter 2 Foothold on the Frontier
Chapter 3 "We shall need Jesuits to bring them to us"
Part II Saving Souls: Emilie de Vialar
Chapter 4 Rehearsal in Algeria
Chapter 5 Refuge in Tunisia and Malta
Chapter 6 Expansion in the Ottoman Empire
Part III Missionary Utopias: Anne-Marie Javouhey
Chapter 7 French Origins and African Experiments
Chapter 8 The Mana Colony
Chapter 9 Catholics and Abolitionists
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Curtis, Sarah A.
Sarah A. Curtis is professor of history at San Francisco State University. Her previous books are Educating the Faithful: Religion, Society, and Schooling in Nineteenth-Century France and Views from the Margins: Creating Identities in Modern France, co-edited with Kevin J. Callahan.

Sarah A. Curtis is professor of history at San Francisco State University. Her previous books are Educating the Faithful: Religion, Society, and Schooling in Nineteenth-Century France and Views from the Margins: Creating Identities in Modern France, co-edited with Kevin J. Callahan.