II. The Basel Women’s Mission In The European And The Basel Context

Abstract

The Basel Mission's project to propagate in West Africa what it considered proper Christian femininity formed part of a larger enterprise with, in many respects, a trans-national character. In the late 1830s, immediately before the Basel Mission decided to re-commence its activities on the Gold Coast, the topic of 'women's mission' began to appear in the discussions of the Basel home board, often with references to Britain and British India. The notions guiding women's mission in Basel, as well as its organisational templates, can be traced to two main sources: concepts of womanhood and organised forms of female agency in Basel, and the corresponding British discourse and organizations. The trans-national connections, in the broad sense of the term, of the Basel Mission brought it into contact with discussions about women's mission in Britain.Keywords: Basel Mission; British; Christian; West Africa; women