Onandjokue hospital. Collection of Finnish Missionary Society. Finnish Heritage Agency.
Organised by AfriStadi in collaboration with Historians without Borders, FinNamKnow project (Kone Foundation, University of Turku) and the Finnish-Namiban Society. All of the events will be held in English.
Programme:
Monday, 15/9/2025
17:00, Cinema Orion (Eerikinkatu 15, Helsinki)
Film screening: Measures of Men (2023) and discussion
Directed by Lars Kraume and filmed in Berlin and Namibia, the film follows a young German ethnologist who travels to German Southwest Africa to collect artefacts and skulls, only to witnesses the brutal and racist treatment of the Herero and Nama people during the genocide perpetrated by the German colonial power between 1904 and 1908.
Tuesday, 16/9/2025
12:30-16:30, Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies, Common room (Fabianinkatu 24, Helsinki), to be streamed
Decolonising Finnish-Namibian History
This scholarly seminar presents ongoing research conducted within the Finnish-Namibian project Decolonizing History-Writing: Transcultural Production, Mobilization and Transformations of Knowledge in Finnish-Namibian Relations 1870–1990 (Kone Foundation 2024-2027). Professor Leila Koivunen will introduce the project, which seeks to explore the intertwined histories of the two countries from new and collaborative perspectives. Following this, project researchers (including Napandulwe Shiweda, Lovisa Tegelela Nampala, Maria Caley and Ndapewoshali Ndahafa Ilunga) will present their individual subprojects.
17:00-19:00, Tiedekulma Stage (Yliopistonkatu 4, Helsinki), to be streamed
Book launch and panel discussion
Professor Christian A. Williams (University of the Free State, South Africa) presents his new book Christian Faith and Namibian Liberation: An Ethnographic Biography of Salatiel Ailonga (James Currey, forthcoming).
The book explores the interplay between mission Christianity and anti-colonial nationalism through tracing the life of a Namibian exile pastor. Based on research conducted in Namibia, Tanzania, Finland, and Germany over sixteen years, the book offers insight into how personal religious experience has impacted on politics of liberation and reconciliation across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The book presentation will be followed by a panel discussion organized by Finnish-Namibian Society. The panelists have either personally known the Ailongas or have been involved in the Namibian struggle for independence.
Organisers: AfriStadi, FinNamKnow project (Kone Foundation, University of Turku), Historians without Borders, Finnish-Namibian Society.
Additional information:
