Ancestral cites: Citation politics and canonical figures in Protestant communities

Abstract

This article puts Protestant Christian communal practices that identify canonical figures in conversation with academic efforts to decolonize canons. It examines the enigmatic life of Malagasy Lutheran pastor and anticolonial activist Eugene Rateaver (1884–1962). Rateaver was controversially excommunicated from the Lutheran mission church in Madagascar in 1937 after being found guilty of unethical conduct. However, competing stories of him circulate today among retired white American missionaries and Rateaver’s US-based descendants. I take Rateaver’s case as an entry point to closely examine what it means to “cite” or reclaim previously overlooked ancestors in canonical traditions or histories. Highlighting important differences in what ancestors are culturally can illuminate the potentials and limits for transforming canonical conversations in both academic and religious communities.