Multilingual Sermons and Colonial Legacies in the Africa Evangelistic Band’s Sound Recordings

This project critically examines a small sample of the Africa Evangelistic Band’s (AEB) sound archive, focusing on sermons delivered in Afrikaans and Xhosa. Recorded and disseminated as part of mid-20th-century evangelical revival missions in Southern Africa, these sermons provide rich material for understanding the intersection of sound, faith, colonial power, and African agency. The AEB’s missionary efforts, much like other colonial expeditions, were deeply intertwined with ideologies of “civilization” and “salvation,” and their sermons reflect complex interactions between European, settler and African religious expressions.

To begin, a sample of 20 sermons—10 in Afrikaans and 10 in Xhosa—will be digitized, transcribed, and analyzed using machine learning tools, such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) and natural language processing (NLP). By exploring thematic content, emotional tones, and theological adaptations, this initial analysis will provide insights into how religious messages were tailored for different linguistic and cultural communities in colonial and post-colonial contexts.

This research also engages African perspectives by working collaboratively with communities in South Africa, where shared listening sessions will offer critical reflections on how these archives might be reinterpreted and repurposed today. The project aims to investigate not only the colonial legacies embedded in these recordings but also the possibilities for re-signifying this sound heritage through African theological and cultural lenses.

This study will contribute to broader discussions on the role of sound archives in understanding colonial and post-independence identity dynamics. By focusing on multilingual sermons, the project aims to highlight both the power and limitations of missionary archives, emphasizing the need for their critical re-examination and potential decolonization.