Applying sensitivity for Missionary Profiles

Question

Some of us Wikitree members are starting to focus on a more sensitive treatment in profiles for our family tree members who were notable as religious missionaries. While years ago these "leaders" may have been heralded as "civilizers," we've come across many sources with racial tones that make us cringe and we also don't want to completely dishonor the well-intended work of the family member. We'd love to get feedback on this effort from anyone interested in sharing good profile examples or recommending any groups with this focus.

Answer 1

There does seem to almost be an epidemic of "presentism."

We should always evaluate people by the standards of their time and not ours. That can be very difficult to do. At the same time we do need to acknowledge that some of the things that were done were not "civilizing" anything but I don't think that belongs in their biography. 

The Board for Certification of Genealogists "Genealogy Standard" asks genealogists to try and avoid personal biases and presentism. https://bcgcertification.org/skillbuilding-standards-prevent-bias-presentism/ discusses some of this.

https://www.legacytree.com/blog/social-historical-context is another article on the topic.

There is a place for looking at people through the lens of the present, but I don't think that is something WT should be doing. 

Comments

I found this really helpful in our consideration of avoiding charged language and remaining unbiased in reporting history, while at the same not using WT as a platform for getting on a soap box. Thank you for the input!

Answer 2

It's a delicate subject, applying our own current beliefs retrospectively to what was considered normal one or two hundred years ago.

Complicated by the fact that these missionaries weren't just (stereotypically) being sent from Britain to "darkest Africa". I've found missionaries being sent from Edinburgh to "darkest Canada" and more local places like North Uist. Where the almost-pagan island folk still clung to speaking the Gaelic, despite all attempts by the missionaries to get them to speak "civilised" English.

Answer 3

In many cases the people the missionaries met did not have a written language so pretty much all we know about them at that time is what outsiders wrote down.  Many missionaries had a very little understanding of the people they were trying to convert and often had a very low opinion of people they called heathens and savages because they did not look or live like Europeans or Euro-Americans. I would recommend using caution when including links to or transcripts of remarks the missionaries made about the people they encountered.

Comments

Thinking of the point Doug made, I feel like reference to "transcripts of remarks missionaries made" is totally appropriate.  Leaving out their ʻrealʻ attitudes seems to be an example of "presentism".

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I don’t see any genealogical value in reproducing racist or insulting remarks about anyone in a Wikitree profile.  It’s perfectly OK to point out exactly what I stated, that the person being profiled, along with his or her contemporaries, had a low opinion of the people he or she was attempting to convert, discounted people’s cultures as inferior, and/or referred to them using terms that are no longer acceptable if that’s true. I see no reason to actually quote the things that they wrote or said.  If a person’s writings are that important they can be linked to the profile.  Those of us whose ancestors were on the receiving end don’t need to see them here.

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I agree with Kathie. I'm speaking generally here, not only of missionaries. If "presentism" is evaluating past people by the standards of our time, it does not have a coherent opposite, because in the past there was not one single standard: there were alternatives. Oppressed people did not endorse the standards of the oppressor. What we have now is the choice of which side we will take. In doing so we have to remember as Kathie indicates that history was often written by the oppressor, with the views of their victims suppressed and lost. Repeating insulting words the oppressors recorded is taking the wrong side.

Answer 4

I don't think these are exactly on point with what you are talking about, but they might help.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Burgert-78

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bogard-256

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Turner-46516