The Bauernmission and the ironies of colonialism : the religio-cultural legacy of the Bauernsiedlung Philippi

Abstract

The German immigrants who formed the three “waves” of Germans to settle at Philippi in the Western Cape (South Africa) in the 19th century, and their descendants, contributed not only to the agricultural well-being of the Western Cape by providing the growing population with fresh produce, but also to the diversity of the region with their German cultural heritage. The arrival in the Western Cape of specifically the last two “waves” of German immigrants was both the result of the Hermannsburg “Bauernmission” – “agricultural missionary society” – as well as a specifi c immigration drive by the British colonial government to recruit specifi cally Germans to populate various areas of the Western and Eastern Cape colonies, which coincided. This article discusses the history of the resultant Philippi German farming community – a typical “Bauernsiedlung” – and the irony of their religio-cultural legacy and a new generation of (im)migrants to the Western Cape. Translations of the German quotations are provided as footnotes. Key words: agri/culture, German immigrants, Hermannsburg Missionary Society, Philippi, religion, Western Cape.