Heinrich, J. C. The Psychology of a Suppressed People. London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1937. First Edition. [9326]
Gold cloth, somewhat soiled, no dust jacket, 5 x 7 1/4 inches, former owner's signature inside front cover. viii., 148 generally clean pp., top corner bumped. Fair. Hardcover.
The "suppressed people" of this study are the lower classes of India and the American Negro.
The manuscript end notes indicate that the author offers an excuse for formerly suppressed people turning to crime - he treats with the depressed classes of India. Also, it is stated in the notes that the author blames missionary efforts for some of the psychological problems of the lower classes, and that the book was written as a thesis for a degree and therefore did not expand into the benefits gained from missionary work, especially among the higher classes.
Rev. John Charles Heinrich (1884-1945), American missionary in British India (now Pakistan) with the Sailkot Mission of the United Presbyterian Church of North America (1915-1940). The beginnings of this book was written while on furlough as his master's thesis at Oberlin College. It begins with describing "deep seated unsocial behavior patterns" found among two groups of oppressed people: American Negros and Indian untouchables. He treats of these problems as a result of a deep-seated psychological problems as a result of systematic oppression and humiliation. The book focuses then on this problem among the lower classes of India.
"Missionaries, who either were autocrats or just had a robust desire for power and status within an autocratic system, were virtually guaranteed to elicit the indirect reaction from those they worked with, and so they too became emotionally drained and frustrated. The most obvious check against such tendencies and their negative consequences was to put missionaries and their placement under the control of the Indian church." - John C. B. Webster, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, The Legacy of John Charles Heinrich, January, 2013.
