Mujeres evangelizadoras en el sur de Chile. El caso de las misioneras de la Misión The Christian and Missionary Alliance, 1897 – 1925

Abstract

This article explores the female experiences in religious practices in south Chile, between the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, in the evangelical experience of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. We chose this case since it developed the particularity of sending single women on missionary commissions, to whom they gave recognition to preach and preside over religious ceremonies. We explore the existing documentary sources related to women in ecclesiastical duties observing who were given a place for the written word, or simply a voice in the cultural experience. We recognize that, despite this progressiveness, the very structure denies the autonomy that the practice installs by locating women in places of subalternity, which are aggravated when the sources are evaluated through an intersection with colonialism.