The Missionaries’ Engagement with Science and Technology in Colonial Kenya, 1887–1963

Abstract

The missionaries’ engagement with science and technology in colonial Kenya (1887–1963) is evidentially seen through the use of the post-industrial revolution’s breakthroughs of the eighteenth century, which included: advancement in science and mass production, steam engines, and the rise of digital technology. The tendency to rely heavily on post-industrial innovations and inventions were critical in fast-tracking their missiological discourses, which included scriptural translations, publishing, and the use of printing machines. These were critical in generating instructional materials and especially the Bible, which was produced in the local indigenous languages by 1952, and by encouraging technical-science education after primary school, among other methods. Although the concept of science and technology is largely attributed to the scientific breakthroughs of the twenty-first century, we argue that this concept was also evident in both the African indigenous society and in the missionary era. The widespread use of the phrase ‘science and technology’ is further seen in the missionary enterprises since they founded or supported the establishment of technical schools that offered electrical engineering, plumbing, carpentry, masonry, mechanical engineering, and training in medicine and the establishment of dispensaries and hospitals, among other relevant activities. Methodologically, the research article endeavours to review the European missionary societies, especially the Protestant wing, in its aim to understand their engagement with science and technology, and to determine if there conflict between Western science and the indigenous systems. The data was gathered through a review of existing literature, archival sources, unpublished materials and other oral sources.