In 1841, the Welsh sent their first missionary, Thomas Jones, to evangelise the tribal peoples of the Khasi Hills of north-east India. This book follows Jones from rural Wales to Cherrapunji, the wettest place on earth and now one of the most Christianised parts of India. As colonised colonisers, the Welsh were to have a profound impact on the culture and beliefs of the Khasis. The book also foregrounds broader political, scientific, racial and military ideologies that mobilised the Khasi Hills into an interconnected network of imperial control. Its themes are universal: crises of authority, the loneliness of geographical isolation, sexual scandal, greed and exploitation, personal and institutional dogma, individual and group morality. Written by a direct descendant of Thomas Jones, it makes a significant contribution in orienting the scholarship of imperialism to a much-neglected corner of India, and will appeal to students of the British imperial experience more broadly.
Inhoudsopgave
General editor’s introduction
Prologue
Introduction
Part I Preparations
1. Some kind of preacher
2. Voyaging: two places at once
3. Networks and precursors
Part II The flag on the mountain
4. Drawing the frontier
5. The tranquillity of the borders
6. The richest collections
7. Creatures of a day: Christian soldiers
Part III The work on the Hills
8. The banner of the cross
9. Cultural transactions: the letter and the gift
10. Intimacy and transgression
Part IV The borderlands of law and belief
11. The pen and the sabre
12. The refulgent cross and the heathen carnival
13. The country is ours
Conclusion
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
Over de auteur
Andrew J. May is Professor of History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne
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