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Conversion and school at Chikuni, 1905–39

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Brendan Carmody
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Extract

Religious conversion, a concept central to missionary activity and to the influence that Christianity has exerted in a variety of fields, embodies a wide range of meanings (Lonergan, 1971: 105–7). In the African context it has generally meant a change from a traditional to a universal religion, entailing a psychological transformation through which the convert's underlying assumptions about the world are reconstructed, accompanied by a socially recognised display of change (Jules-Rosette, 1976: 132–3). Robin Horton, among others, has devoted scholarly attention to the conversion process from the viewpoint of the Africans undergoing conversion but the missionaries, the advocates of conversion, have received no comparable attention (Beidelman, 1974: 235; cf. Beidelman, 1982).

Résumé

Conversion et école à Chikuni, 1905–39

La conversion religieuse a été l'un des objectifs principaux du mouvement missionnaire chrétien en Afrique. Robin Horton, entre autres, s'est penché sur la question, d'une façon érudite, et tira la conclusion que plus les individus s'engagent dans le processus macrocosmique et plus ils deviennent inconsciemment réceptifs à la puissance explicative des religions mondiales, en particulier le Christianisme et l'Islam. Bien que cela soit peut-être vrai, il faut cependant bien reconnaître que les peuples africains choisissent, souvent sciemment, de devenir chrétiens en raison des gains matériels et sociaux offerts par le Christianisme.

L'article étudie le phénomène de conversion dans une mission jésuite au sud de la Zambie. Il conteste l'influence de la puissance explicative du Catholicisme chez les Tonga. En fait, avec l'apparition du capitalisme colonial, la mission de Chikuni devint pour eux, peu à peu, un moyen d'accéder au système économique, d'abord par l'intermédiaire d'emplois salariés à la mission et plus tard, grâce au programme éducatif offert par la mission, permettant aux jeunes d'acquérir des emplois salariés dans les échelons inférieurs de l'economie du pays, qui était à cette époque la Rhodésie du Nord.

Si les Jésuites offraient aux Zambiens le moyen d'accéder vers une économie moderne, c'était contre paiement. Les missionnaires respectaient, en théorie, la liberté de choix des individus, mais ils s'attendaient cependant à ce que la majorité de leurs employés et élèves se convertissent au Catholicisme. L'accession au Catholicisme, pour les missionnaires, signifie en général une cassure complète avec les croyances et pratiques locales, avec la reconnaissance d'un message religieux qui, pour de nombreux Zambiens, semblait posséder une efficacité douteuse durant les périodes difficiles et était déconcertant et étranger à leur culture. La conversion au Catholicisme à Chikuni se présente done sous des formes variées, de l'acceptation nominate de la foi à une conviction sincère, avec une variété de croyances mixtes ou syncrétistiques. Avec le passage des générations, les missionnaires espéraient qu'une branche de l'église réelle pourrait un jour émerger de ces convertis.

Type
Charisma, converts and cults
Information
Africa , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , April 1988 , pp. 193 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1988

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