Visions for Racial Equality
David Clement Scott and the Struggle for Justice in Nineteenth-Century Malawi

A rich and innovative look at the rise and demise of a unique vision for racial equality in nineteenth-century Africa.

Harri Englund (Author)

9781316514009, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 February 2022

294 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.62 kg

'Recommended.' D. Jacobsen, Choice

Focusing on David Clement Scott, the head of the Church of Scotland mission in Malawi, who came to see Europeans as learners in Africa, this innovative book narrates the rise and demise of a unique vision for racial equality in nineteenth-century Africa. By immersing himself in the vernacular language and institutions, Scott developed a theology of reversals to pursue justice in race relations. It set him on a collision course with the Church, colonial government and the White commercial interests spearheaded by Cecil Rhodes. Harri Englund shows how Scott's struggle for justice was as much epistemic as political and spiritual - a vision for the future in which White and Black would thrive in their mutual recognition as co-knowers. From linguistic translation to conflicts over land and taxation, from slave trade to personal intimacies, Visions for Racial Equality weaves a rich tapestry of themes in the life and times of a little-known visionary.

1. Introduction
2. Among the wild Scotsmen
3. Champagne and slaves
4. The universal vernacular
5. Frightful libel upon humanity
6. Rhodes must not rise
7. A future foreclosed
8. Grief never wears out
9. Liberal translations
10. The rest is history.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX], Social & cultural history [HBTB], African history [HBJH]