ABSTRACT
In 1902, a Catholic missionary sister based on the island of Tumleo, then part of the colony of German New Guinea, complained to the Superior General of her congregation in Europe how fellow nuns had reproached her for what they saw as her excessively heavy-handed educational methods. Building on this case, the chapter examines missionary acts of corporal punishment in education on Tumleo around 1900, and the surrounding debates on the benefits of its use or non-use, connecting it to the nature or motivation for ‘religious violence’ more generally. By asking not only how violence was legitimized but also against whom it was directed, the chapter sheds light on how factors of age, race, gender, and sexuality intersected and influenced standpoints. It shows that, while continuing a long-standing tradition of corporal punishment within (Catholic) educational practices in Europe that emphasized the importance of obedience, missionaries mainly legitimized violence against indigenous children by claiming they were racialized and sexualized human beings who were especially susceptible to sin.
