Embroiled

Apartheid posed profound challenges to the conceptions of humanity and development that dominated the world stage after World War II. Embroiled analyses the manner in which international religious organisations dealt with the formulation and implementation of apartheid. It studies this question through an examination of the Swiss Mission in South Africa (SMSA), an institution that acted in South Africa, Switzerland and the international ecumenical community. As socially embedded institution, the SMSA mirrored divisions present within Swiss and South African societies on the issue of apartheid.

"Embroiled brings out the complex, even turbulent, nature of a missionary society: at once political intermediary, spiritual guide and non-government organisation. Caught between different communities and discrete continents, missionaries discussed and debated their role in South Africa and attempted, however fitfully, to respond to the changes that swept through the country, particularly as opposing nationalisms fought to seize hold of it." From the preface by Patrick Harries, University of Basle

Caroline Jeannerat, University of Johannesburg

Eric Morier-Genoud, Queen´s University Belfast

Didier Péclard, Swiss Peace Foundation and University of Basel