Beschreibung
Apartheid posed profound challenges to the conceptions of humanity and
development that dominated the world stage after World War II. Embroiled
analyses the manner in which international religious organisations dealt
with the formulation and implementation of apartheid. It studies this
question through an examination of the Swiss Mission in South Africa
(SMSA), an institution that acted in South Africa, Switzerland and the
international ecumenical community. As socially embedded institution, the
SMSA mirrored divisions present within Swiss and South African societies
on the issue of apartheid.
“Embroiled brings out the complex, even turbulent, nature of a missionary
society: at once political intermediary, spiritual guide and
non-government organisation. Caught between different communities and
discrete continents, missionaries discussed and debated their role in
South Africa and attempted, however fitfully, to respond to the changes
that swept through the country, particularly as opposing nationalisms
fought to seize hold of it.” From the preface by Patrick Harries,
University of Basle
Caroline Jeannerat, University of Johannesburg
Eric Morier-Genoud, Queen´s University Belfast
Didier Péclard, Swiss Peace Foundation and University of Basel
