CONTEMPORARY SWEDISH MISSION : A COMPARATIVE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN THE LIGHT OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY

Swedish Christian mission has a long tradition of sending missionaries abroad. The missionaryaim has been to spread the word of God, start congregations and fight poverty in the so-calledthird world. With the post-colonial awakening that has shed light on the hegemony that theglobal West has applied to the global South, critical voices have been raised against this typeof aid. This study wants to apply a post-colonial perspective which aimed to examine themission documents of the three denominations; Svenska alliansmissionen, Equmeniakyrkanand the Evangeliska frikyrkan, in order to examine how the views of each denomination on thephenomena of mission differ. This study also aimsto illustrate possible hidden power structuresin the texts of the communities. By applying a critical comparative discourse analysis in relationto a postcolonial theory, the content of the ecumenical documents was nuanced has been foundthat all three denominations base their missionary views on the same biblical quote and thusshare a consensus regarding the phenomenon. Further, three themes were disclosed within thetexts: Mission positivity, Colonial reflection and Eurocentrism. The only denomination thatmediated a colonial consciousness in relation to missions was Svenska alliansmissionen.Mission positivity and Eurocentrism were found in all three denominations. The result of thestudy is that all denominations carried out a form of a neo-colonial mindset through the notionsthat write about the missionaries in the global West the recipients in the global South. Thismakes visible a characteristic colonial discourse of all three communities in which they have aview of themselves as socio-culturally and socio-economically superior.