Butterflies and Barbarians: Swiss Missionaries and Systems of Knowledge in South-East Africa

Abstract

Background:

The book is rich and dense in detail covering differing fields ranging from history, anthropology. role of Christianity in the creation of ethnicity and tribes in Africa, to the linguistic aspects colonialism as well the onset of unequal power relations among Africans based on formal (written) and oral versions of African languages. The book has old maps of South Eastern Africa as well as illustrative figures and photographs of butterf11cs. fauna and some of the most influential  Swiss missionaries to venture south of the Sahara in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Of particular interest is how the Missionaries tried and to some extent succeeded in changing the knowledge systems of the indigenous Africans in South­ East Africa through their writings, actions and practices. The book is also about how Africans undermined and adapted the European knowledge systems to suit their conditions. This did not always go well with the missionaries who saw their mission as to bring 'light' to the 'darkest" of Africa.