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IS-MOBIL-Mobilitetsprogr.f.utl.Ph.D-stu

The Single Woman Abroad: Female Missionaries from Scotland, Denmark and Ireland in Manchuria at the turn of the Nineteenth Century

Awarded: NOK 0.12 mill.

My project concerns the lives and work of Scottish, Danish and Irish female missionaries in Manchuria at the turn of the 19th century. I would like to investigate the changes of female missionaries' status in the mission society and their independence, th eir relations with male missionaries and Chinese women, the influence of the education on their self-awareness and whether their work and engagement in the Chinese society caused the building up of new social relations and new gender order. I will discuss the issues of the perception, representation and religious occupation (in context of colonialism) of Chinese women. Finally, I will define the gender order as a result of life and work beyond the mental and physical boundaries of their own culture. Infor mation about the missionaries' lives gives us a novel view on gender changes at the turn of the 19th century. I will gain important insight into issues of gender order, the development of feminism and the process of emancipation.

Funding scheme:

IS-MOBIL-Mobilitetsprogr.f.utl.Ph.D-stu