A matter of cultural discourse: Religion, nation, gender

From 1890 to 1950 more than two hundred women from the Midwest went to China as missionaries. This study examines how these evangelical women engaged in diversified intercultural dialogues about gender identity and women's places in family and society. This study argues that the intercultural discourse was not in isolation from, but in the context of the Chinese local history in Henan province where the women missionaries resided. This intercultural discourse was also embedded in the context of the global impact of modernization which became a shared driving force for making social changes in China.; The study is composed of two parts. Part One examines the importance of both evangelical women and Chinese women's conceptualization of family and work in their respective evangelical and nationalist contexts. The evangelical women found a common ground in China's modernization that absorbed many Western ideas and values. They looked at their social reform in China's modern education and medicine as a means to reach the goal of Christian conversion. Chinese women embraced the ideas of modern education and professionalization of women in work places. But in theory and practice they related these efforts of social reform to what was considered a unique Chinese "family revolution" within China's modern, nationalist revolution.; Part Two focuses on four specific areas of the gender dialogues: the family, education, medicine, and individual politics. While the more conservative evangelical women did not find much meaning outside the issue of conversion, most other women acknowledged values of cultural differences, and experienced challenges about the separate spheres and women's gender identity. A few evangelical women became sympathizers for the Chinese revolution. Meanwhile, as cultural agents for social changes the women missionaries had a direct impact in Henan province by providing different or new ideas, values, and social services to the local Chinese in Henan province.; The thesis concludes that modern, international politics interplayed with positive gender and cultural exchanges between the Midwest women missionaries and the Chinese in rural Henan. It also suggests that the dynamics lay at the heart of modern cultural dialogues between East and West.