Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Missionary Work and the Sotho in the Gold Mine Compounds, 1920-1940
Author:Maloka, TshidisoISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:South African Historical Journal
Issue:31
Pages:28-54
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:missions
Sotho
miners
History and Exploration
Labor and Employment
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Religion and Witchcraft
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582479408671796
Abstract:This article focuses on the activities of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS) among Sotho miners in the mine compounds on the Rand, South Africa, and examines the role that religion and the church played in instilling an industrial ethic among workers. The PEMS arrived on the Reef in the 1920s. Its strategies included visiting compounds, selling books, especially the Bible, visiting hospitals, and holding literary classes. The work of the PEMS cannot adequately be understood without looking at the role played by Sotho evangelists and volunteers. Their activities in the spread of the gospel in the compounds were important. All the same, the PEMS mission on the Rand failed. The main reason was the Society's difficult financial position. The Rand mission was supposed to be financed from the coffers of the Lesotho branch of the Society. Other factors included the lack of cooperation on the part of compound managers, and the missionaries' intolerance of practices such as beer drinking, prostitution and dancing, which were intrinsic to Sotho society. Notes, ref.
Views
Cover