Ch 1: Introduction: Imaginaries and Modernities
In this chapter we contextualize the West China mission field within the general history of West China in the late 19th and early 20th century, and within the evolution of Protestant missionary efforts, with particular attention to the tensions between evangelism and the pursuit of the social gospel in the Anglophone world. We introduce the concept of the theopolitical imaginary, with emphasis on social gospel theology and the cult of adventure. We will also explain how and why the concepts of microculture and transnationalism animate our work.
We reflect on how our positionality as gendered members of the descent community and as humanist social scientists impacts and informs our work. The introduction will also explain our approaches to temporal and spatial aspects of the work, including the organization around phases in a lifespan, as well as the transliteration of place names from Chinese to various systems of English orthography. Specific research questions we address in the book are:
1. Who were the West China missionaries, and what institutions made it possible for them to initiate and continue their work in West China?
2. What theopolitical imaginaries motivated the West China missionaries to take up their “calling” and to continue their missionary work? What modernization practices did this work involve?
3. What do stories of adventure and everyday life tell us about the embodied experiences of living in a missionary microculture and community?
4. What insights can we offer about the enduring impacts of the West China missionaries on descendant communities, their home nations and transnational culture?