Overview

Ann Shaw (1788-1854), the author's ancestor, was hailed by both immigrant and indigenous South Africans as their spiritual mother, the 'Mother of Methodism in South Africa'. However, all accounts of early South African history have erased her influence, including those written by her husband, Rev. William Shaw, the 'Wesley of Africa'. Had something necessitated Ann's removal from the records? With tenacious scholarship, McAlpine-Black discovers Ann's letters, her poetry, and the female threads of the lives that surrounded her-and weaves a family history into an international narrative. Ann Shaw lived at a time when women were discouraged from taking part in church ministry. Despite this, Ann journeyed from the English fens to the African Cape, becoming the most significant female catalyst for Methodism and education in South Africa. Now Methodism is its largest denomination. In addition to the challenges of women's diseases, miscarriage, childbirth, family life, and patriarchy in the early nineteenth century, Ann's story unearths the female roots of Methodism, a fresh and compelling history of South Africa, and the high cost of motherhood.

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9780718898434

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Reviews

Short quote: A beautifully written biography told with wit and energy. What a triumph! Short title: Dr Midge Gillies, author of Atlantic Furies and Amy Johnson Long quote: What a triumph! In this painstakingly researched and beautifully written biography, Joy McAlpine-Black is rightly outraged at the way that such a significant figure as Ann Shaw has been written out of history. This is a compassionate account of a vocation most of us can't imagine today but which is told with wit and energy. This biography will be indispensable to future researchers and has succeeded in restoring Shaw to her rightful place in the history of Methodism. Long title: Dr Midge Gillies, historian, author of multiple biographies including Atlantic Furies and Amy Johnson, and former Director of the Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge. Short quote: History recalibrated to women. Outstanding! Shorter: Dr Ian Randall, Senior Research Associate, Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, and author of over twenty books on the history of Christianity. Long quote: This ground-breaking work on Ann Shaw means that the history of early Methodist mission in southern Africa has to be recalibrated. Joy McAlpine-Black's meticulous research and accessible writing has brought into vivid focus the remarkable life of a woman who has been systematically marginalised by previous authors. The book is vital reading for all those interested in women's contributions within societies and Christian environments in which what they achieved was seminal but often sidelined. Long title: Dr Ian Randall, Senior Research Associate, Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, and author of over twenty books and many articles on the history of Christianity, including Georgina Gollock: Pioneering Female Missiologist and Elizabeth Hewat: Historian, Missionary, Mould-Breaker. Short quote: Admirable research and warm sensibility Or Admirable research and warm sensibility - McAlpine-Black has done a splendid job in giving life and vigour to the marginalised Ann Shaw. Short title: Professor David Killingray, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London This is really the shortest title that David has - and the one he has selected. Long quote: I very much enjoyed reading this biography. It is well written and McAlpine-Black has done a splendid job in giving life and vigour to the marginalised Ann Shaw. I greatly admire her tenacious research and scholarship in recovering Ann's life and rescuing Ann from the condescension of 19th century men and some recent historians who foolishly overlooked the role of women. I also warm to McAlpine-Black's sensibility in giving primacy to African voices. Long title: Professor David Killingray, Emeritus Professor of Modern History at Goldsmiths; Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London; and former Chairman of the British Association of Local History.

What a triumph! In this painstakingly researched and beautifully written biography, Joy McAlpine-Black is rightly outraged at the way that such a significant figure as Ann Shaw has been written out of history. This is a compassionate account of a vocation most of us can't imagine today but which is told with wit and energy. This biography will be indispensable to future researchers and has succeeded in restoring Shaw to her rightful place in the history of Methodism. (Dr Midge Gillies, author of Atlantic Furies and Amy Johnson) This ground-breaking work on Ann Shaw means that the history of early Methodist mission in southern Africa has to be recalibrated. Joy McAlpine-Black's meticulous research and accessible writing has brought into vivid focus the remarkable life of a woman who has been systematically marginalised by previous authors. The book is vital reading for all those interested in women's contributions within societies and Christian environments in which what they achieved was seminal but often sidelined. (Dr Ian Randall, Senior Research Associate, Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide) I very much enjoyed reading this biography. It is well written and McAlpine-Black has done a splendid job in giving life and vigour to the marginalised Ann Shaw. I greatly admire her tenacious research and scholarship in recovering Ann's life and rescuing Ann from the condescension of 19th century men and some recent historians who foolishly overlooked the role of women. I also warm to McAlpine-Black's sensibility in giving primacy to African voices. (Professor David Killingray, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London)

Author Information

Joy McAlpine-Black is a Cambridge-based writer and creative writing teacher with postgraduate degrees in Museum & Gallery Education and Creative Writing. Her first love was art, and she has responded to the pull of blank canvases and pages ever since. She has been a lecturer at the University of Cambridge as well as access and learning advisor for museums, libraries, and archives in the southeast of England. She now teaches ekphrasis and writes about women sidelined by gatekeepers of the past.

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