Saving Bodies, Saving Souls

This talk will critically examine the intricate dynamics of missionary education for poor, 'untouchable caste' girls in colonial Kerala. The analysis sheds light on how British Protestant missionaries shaped educational experiences that reinforced existing caste and gender hierarchies. Far from being a straightforward narrative of upliftment, missionary education often confined these marginalised girls to roles centered around domestic labour, moral discipline, and religious conformity, while simultaneously exploiting their labour to sustain the missionary enterprise. The discussion will also highlight the contradictions within this educational framework, revealing how the evangelical missionary rhetoric of benevolence and upliftment was frequently undermined by practices that maintained the subordination of poor, 'untouchable caste' girls within colonial and caste-based structures. Moreover,  moments of resistance and negotiation will also be explored, where young girls navigated the limitations of missionary control to assert agency within constrained circumstances. This examination of missionary education will engage broader scholarly debates about the intersections of caste, gender, and imperial power, and their role in shaping the educational and social trajectories of marginalised populations in colonial south India.