Orientalism and missionary Sinology, a study of W. A. P. Martin (Presbyterian, China)

While Edward Said's theory of Orientalism insightfully probes the production of knowledge in colonial settings, it has been criticized by other theories emphasizing more the voice of indigenous resistance, the independence of the agency from a dominating discourse of a historical period and the transformation of Orientalists in the Orient. Applying the concepts from both Said and his critics, this thesis examines the texts of American Presbyterian missionary W. A. P. Martin.; Three types of discourses are isolated from Martin's texts: colonial discourse, missionary discourse and academic discourse. It is demonstrated that Martin's Sinology was informed by the colonial culture and his texts did speak with a colonial voice. Martin was however concerned with promoting Western Christian civilization in China and most of his texts belonged to the missionary discourse. As a scholar, Martin could also suppress his colonial mentality and missionary prejudice to identify positive aspects of native intellectual tradition in his academic discourse. It is shown that these three discourses are in a complex relationship of reinforcement, contestation and subversion. The thesis also shows missionaries' sympathetic identification with native religiosity and values as a result of their contact with native intellectual tradition. Finally it is suggested that the study of missionary Sinology should consider the complexity of colonial enterprise and address the polyphonous nature of such discourse.