Amal Shahid is in residence at Iméra for 2025-2026, in the Necessary Utopias programme (Postdoctoral Residency – This is not another fellowship). Her research examines the intersection of religion and economy in the context of colonial capitalism.
The Basel mission as an economic actor
Her project looks at how the Basel German Evangelical Mission, a pietous missionary society, was not only a religious actor but also an economic actor deeply tied to colonial capitalism. Through its industrial mission and trading company, the mission employed many converts and non-converts in various industries such as weaving, tile making, carpentry, and mechanical establishment. The profits from these industries went into expanding missionary work, highlighting the complex relationship between religion and economy.
Trans-imperial actors and colonial India
The Basel missionaries were trans-imperial actors who connected the spaces between Switzerland, Germany, and South India. They benefited from land, labour, and legal systems put in place by the colonial state in India. The majority of converts for the Basel mission were Dalits, a marginalized group outside the fold of the caste system in India. Through the mission's educational and economic activities, they gained access to different employment conditions and literacy.
Methodology and sources
Amal uses sources in various languages, including German, French, English, Kannada, and Malayalam, with the help of colleagues in India. This approach allows her to understand how trans-imperial actors converged in India and how they were connected through colonial capitalism. By combining missionary history, political economy, and postcolonial studies, her project provides a nuanced understanding of this complex historical context.
Further reading
Amal Shahid's page on the Iméra website
Transcript generated by artificial intelligence (Whisper speech recognition model), not yet checked by a human. It may contain errors, particularly in proper nouns, specialised terminology and passages in other languages. Where there is any doubt, the recording prevails.
Video transcript (spoken in English)
0:09 My name is Amal Shahid and I'm a historian of capitalism, imperialism and political economy in South Asia with an interest in looking at subaltern subjects such as Dalits, women and labourers. Currently, I'm a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne and in 2022 I finished my PhD at the Geneva Graduate Institut français International History. In my current position, I am looking at the history of the Basel German Evangelical Mission in South India during the 19th century. It's part of a larger Swiss National Science Foundation project that looks at the global
0:44 history of Switzerland, focusing on its colonial links to the rest of the world. The Basel Mission was a pietous missionary society that was present in South India from 1834 onwards. It was created in 1815 in Basel where men came together from Basel and surrounding German speaking areas from south of Germany. Once they were in South India, the Southwest coast of India, which is the Malabar coast, they set up various mission stations where they converted indigenous populations to Protestant Christianity. And they also set up industries, which is what is peculiar to the Basel mission.
1:20 In 1852, they had their own industrial mission as part of the larger evangelical activities. And in 1859, this culminated into the Basel German Evangelical Missions Trading Company, where the mission held 5 -6 % shares. And the profits of this company went into expanding missionary work. So as part of its industrial mission and through the trading company, the Basel mission was involved in various industries such as weaving, tile making, carpentry, mechanical establishment. And through this, they employed many converts but also sometimes non-converts who were
2:00 part of these industries. My research shows that the Basel mission was not only a religious actor but also an economic actor that was deeply tied to colonial capitalism. I studied the ways in which through the Basel mission and missionaries being trans-imperial actors, the spaces between Swiss, Germany and South India were connected. In colonial India, missionaries benefited from land, labour and legal systems that were put in place by the colonial state. As most missionary societies, the majority of the converts for the Basel mission were
2:34 Dalits that are a marginalised group of people outside the fold of the caste system in India. And through the mission's educational and economic activities, they were able to gain access to different employment conditions and also literacy. in stands for My project combines missionary history, political economy and postcolonial studies to understand how trans-imperial actors such as the Basel missionaries converged in India. I use sources in various languages, German that requires transcription, French and English and with the help of colleagues in India I use sources also in Kannada and Malayalam.
3:10 At Iméra I was able to expand my understanding and conceptualisation of the link between religion and economy. Given that various researchers here work on different time periods, geographies as well as they come from different disciplines, it helped me to strengthen my understanding of this intellect. I have learned a great deal from economists, philosophers and artists so that I'm able to visualise my project as connected to other disciplines. The city of Marseille with its diversity and various cultural events has enabled me to
3:42 gain an insight into how a port city can bring together various religions, cultures and alongside a vibrant economy. During my time here I have been writing an article on the Basel Mission Trading Company which hopefully should be out by next year. I have also been working on various grant and job applications and I will continue to work on this project by expanding it into more case studies and plan that as part of my second book proposal.
