Thomas Cullen Young

Thomas Cullen Young (27 October 1880 – 14 June 1955) was a Scottish Presbyterian anthropologist and missionary, who first started his missionary work in Malawi at the Livingstonia Mission in 1904. During his missionary career, he emphasised learning the customs and wisdom of the local population to contribute towards a greater understanding of missionary work, as well as the importance of consideration of the African lifestyle.

He was influential in education, religion, and social aspects, eventually helping relieve tensions between anthropologists and missionaries residing in the region. Cullen Young had a broad range of interests, having passion in missionary work, but also education, ethnography, anthropology, and politics. The broader concerns with African culture included in his writing had political implications in both the pre- and post-independence eras. Later in his life, he developed an interest in African language, culture, and history, writing prolifically on these subjects. Young's studies on the Tumbuka-Kamanga peoples provided the first published record of the ethnography and history of northern Malawi. He also had a friendship with Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who became the first President of Malawi. Young is perceived as an important documentalist on this particular period of missionary history.

Young went to Britain to work as a second-rank colonial expert in 1931 and died in 1955 at the age of 74.

Early life and education Young was born on 27 October 1880 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Young first attended school in Edinburgh, then moved to Glasgow, starting attendance at the Glasgow Academy in 1891. All the boys in his family received the same school education. His school teachings involved classical subjects, but had a more modernised emphasis in comparison to other schools in the region. Young participated actively in sports and continued sporting links with the academy even after leaving the school. In 1899, Young began an apprenticeship with the firm of Moores, Carson, and Watson to become a charted accountant.

Missionary career Young began his journey to Malawi to officially begin his missionary work in 1904 for the Livingstonia Mission while the region was under British colonial rule.

Relationship with Hastings Banda While Banda was studying in Edinburgh with the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons, and while Young was a missionary in Malawi, Young managed to start and sustain a long-term friendship with Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who would later become the first President of Malawi.

Young's attempt to codify African tradition as an anthropologist missionary can be seen to have played a part in Kamuzu Banda's dictatorial style of rule and, as a result, the eventual authoritative nature of the Malawian political system. There is also evidence that Banda and Young's relationship may have led to subsequent collaborative work within the Malawian community, such as editing the collection of stories, Our African way of life, in 1946.

Young's previous records and writing also display some association with Clements Kadalie, the pioneer of black trade unionism in South Africa, although it is not made clear the extent of their relationship. Therefore, these writings truly show why he is perceived as an important documentalist on this particular period of missionary history.

Young was chosen as an editor for a writing competition organised by the International African Institute to encourage authorship about African culture. His writings were published in a collection called Our African way of life, and described the typical everyday occurrences in the life of the tribe and the family within African society. These essays also described traditional customs such as rituals and marriage traditions.

Young also sponsored publications of vernacular literature in an effort to promote African cultural understanding and acceptance. These writings show his desire to learn more knowledge and wisdom from the African people, and to further understand the people he is serving as a missionary.

Young also published a guide to anthropology for missionaries in Africa for beginner-level anthropologists in 1940. Some concepts include African ancestor worship, and other important aspects of the culture that Young presumed helpful for a missionary to know.

Young was also particularly interested in the African language, and sought to master it while doing missionary work.

In Britain from 1931 to 1955, Young served as a second rank colonial expert who provided his views on African culture and relations, in the midst of a period of decaying colonialism. The couple had two children including Margot Moffett (née Young), a member of The White Stag Group. Through his daughter Margot, Young was the former son-in-law of the Irish architect and educator Noel Moffett.

On 14 June 1955, Young died in Edinburgh aged 74.

Legacy Young's recordings of the Tumbaka people provided the first ever published record of the history and ethnography of the northern Malawi region. As one of the first to publish such historical records, he was a pioneer in his field. Young's vision for the future of African literature and historical conservation is especially crucial and novel, because this viewpoint was extremely rare in missionaries during this contextual period of time. His writings about the occurrences within northern Malawi showcase a talented historian who maintains a conservative missionary perspective.

However, this contribution may be viewed with a critical approach, as Young's dependence for data on multiple informants could be seen as invalid because many of his informants were educated and living outside of their own environment. Whereas Young generally succeeded in retaining his objective point of view within the restrictions of the procedures of his time, his missionary and ultimately outsider perspective could have easily contributed bias and blurred his vision.

Young's historical reports also brought up important social, political and historical issues. His writing challenged the common Western perspective on Africa as victims in need of rescue and targets of colonialism. He sought for Africa to be considered on its own grounds, and not only through the judgment and analysis of the West.

Overall, there is evidence that Young was an influential missionary whose work impacted many in the nation. The most important part of his legacy is likely his influence on the development modern Africa, his historical recordings of the Tumbaka people, and his impact on the future first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda.