Documents from the Berlin Mission as important media of communication to disseminate transcultural knowledge on South Africa. - Investigation and Edition of the manuscripts of Albert Kropf and Johannes Winter

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Feldtkeller
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2014 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 251000939

The contribution of European missionaries to the generation of knowledge on other regions of the world and on their cultures has been subject to research in the context of globalization of knowledge. Especially the importance of German missionaries and among them Berlin missionaries for academic research on ethnic communities and on cultures has been highlighted. The current project connects research on the contribution of Christian missionaries as cultural brokers with the edition and publication of their original academic work. During the previous period of funding the first part of the project has been completed: the critical edition of the book by Albert Kropf, “Das Volk der Xosa Kaffern”. The final version of the work as edited by the author in handwriting has been published as a printed book; a critical edition allowing the reconstruction of Kropf’s work on the book is available as a web resource. The second part of the project, the edition of the writings by Berlin missionary Johannes Winter (1847– 1921) cannot be completed during the prolongation of the project that has been granted so far, as it has been reduced in comparison to our application. For details see part 2 of this application. Johannes Winter has left a voluminous oeuvre of manuscript papers on the ethnic communities among which he has lived, and on the causes and characteristics of the movement of African Christian autonomy, in which he was actively involved. There papers are situated at different location in Germany, South Africa and Simbabwe. The manuscript papers by Johannes Winter are unique for their original contribution to the foundation of ethnology in South Africa in combination with his active participation in the establishment of one of the oldest churches independent from mission agencies. Therefore, they enable us to understand how a personality of this important period in South African history related academic work to agency.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants