Building Missionary Stations in Southeast Asia: Nias Islanders Deploy Adzes

Abstract

In their determination to proselytize, Christian missionaries from Europe and North America built outposts in many parts of the world. Based on sources from the islands of Nias and Sumatra in today’s Indonesia, Chap. 2 demonstrates that the construction of missionary stations in the decades around 1900 relied on locally available expertise, labor, and building materials, just as daily life at the stations relied on a locally available labor force and locally produced foodstuff. Although missionaries brought with them to the islands drawing and tools (e.g., saws), indigenous carpenters often preferred their own tools (e.g., adzes); they used architectural solutions indigenous to the islands and incorporated local style elements in their structures. During construction, missionaries and local artisans exchanged technical knowledge and skills, turning the missionary station into a low-tech “trading zone.”