Michael Chanda Chiseni

Michael Chanda Chiseni, PhD candidate from Lund University will present his article: Lead Us Besides Still Waters: Missionary Expansion in Northern Rhodesia 1924-1953.

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Abstract:
In this paper, I analyze the determinants of missionary expansion in Northern Rhodesia from 1924 to 1953. I construct two spatial panel datasets from newly collected information on mission stations and missionary hospitals that capture the expansion of mission stations from 1924-1948 and missionary hospitals from 1933-1953. Using these data, I show that the expansion of missionary stations and hospitals was not arbitrary; the selection of locations for missionary stations and hospitals was significantly driven by various economic, geographic and agricultural factors. I also argue in this paper that because missionary stations were established earlier than hospitals, and hospitals required more financial and human resource investments than mission stations, some of the factors that were important for the initial expansion of mission stations were not significant for the later expansion of missionary hospitals. The results
presented in this paper show that proximity to the railway line and mines, urbanization and soil productivity were important for the initial expansion of missionary stations and did not significantly influence the expansion of missionary hospitals.