oa Zending en imperiale cultuur

Mission and imperial culture. Three Khoekhoe Christians as colonial spectacles in the early nineteenth century

In 1803 three converted Khoekhoe Christians named Johannes, Maria, and Martha travelled with the Dutch missionary Johannes Jacobus Kicherer from the Cape Colony to Europe, where they were presented to the Dutch public as the first missionary success of the Dutch Missionary Society. The promotional tour of the three Khoekhoen through the Netherlands was part of a broader attempt by the missionary society to mobilize public support for their ‘civilizing mission’ among the Khoekhoen. The case study of Kicherer, Johannes, Maria, and Martha sheds new light upon the role of missionary societies in informing and engaging a wider public in Dutch colonialism. This article examines the role of the Dutch Missionary Society in creating a Dutch imperial culture in the early nineteenth century, focusing on how they informed the Dutch public about their missions, disseminated representations of the colonial other, and created a public that was interested in and felt connected to their mission in the Cape Colony.