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Organised by AfriStadi in collaboration with Historians without borders, FinNamKnow project (Kone Foundation, University of Turku) and the Finnish-Namibian Society. All of the events will be held in English.Monday, 15 September 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.
Trailer:
Before the screening, Associate Professor Napandulwe Shiweda will briefly introduce the movie. After it, she will tell about the response and feedback the movie has received in Southern Africa.
🎟️Tickets for Measures of Men: 12 €
🎟️Reduced price: €9.50 for members of Historians without Borders in Finland and the Finnish-Namibian Society and other discount groups.
🎟️Purchase your tickets in Cinema Orion’s webshop: https://cinemaorion.fi/en/elokuvat/measures-of-men/
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Tuesday, 16 September 2025
🖊️Registration is only needed for catering purposes for the coffee break or for remote participation via live stream. If you are participating in person and you will not join us for the coffee break, registration is not needed. Registration: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=x5SpdYkstUqqZpjPVv5xXj6qlI_LQ-tBonmyK-3ML5FUQjNNMEk5OFJCTk1LMzg2RUdVVk8xMkpWTy4u
12:30-16:15, 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 will present their individual subprojects.
12:30 Opening words by the organisers
12:45 Prof. Leila Koivunen: New Approaches to Intertwined Histories
In her presentation Koivunen outlines Finnish-Namibian history and introduces the FinNamKnow project. She also describes her own recent attempts to combine different materials and perspectives to trace the story of Eva Maria Nanguloshi, a foster girl of a Finnish missionary family who was of Ombadja origin and visited Finland in the 1870s.
13:00 Prof. Napandulwe Shiweda: Reclaiming Narratives: Ovawambo Material Culture and Knowledge Production
Shiweda’s presentation will argue that archives and museum collections of the Ovawambo created by the Finnish missionaries as historical sources, need to be understood in the context of wider contemporary historical processes. These are specific and located dynamics of the relationship between the Finnish missionaries, their translators, research assistants, brokers and mediators.
13:30 MA Maria Caley: Decolonising Knowledge: Kavango Children Play and Toymaking
Caley’s presentation will cover traditional games and toy making as sources of knowledge and agents of creativity, child training and development. Caley weaves through narratives from the communities and archival material through a decolonised lens for in-depth knowledge on traditional games and toymaking.
14:00-14:30 Coffee break
14:30 Dr. Lovisa Tegelela Nampala: Outeku and Finnish Curriculum: The Impact of the Two Education Systems on Aawambo Communities
Nampala’s presentation compares outeku (ancestral informal education instituted with an intention of guiding as well as preparing young ones on how to face life usually done at oxungi kolupale) and Finnish mission education exploring what were the two education systems curricula, their learning objectives, how their outcomes measured and the impact they have on the contemporary Aawambo communities.
15:00 Ndapewoshali Ndahafa, Omukwaanime kepata, Omukwaniilya kootate: Decolonisation* of Academic Spaces
“Mokaxwa (omu) wa dina omo mu na ndiba” – The rabbit is in the bush you least expect. Like “still waters run deep”, this proverb guides research that values overlooked voices. The presentation examines how decolonial work in African history and culture requires seeing communities as intellectual equals, challenging entrenched colonial academic norms.
15:30 MSSc Jerkko Holmi: Finnish Missionary Remembrance on Namibian Independence Struggle
This presentation showcases the ongoing study examining the recollective remembrance of the Finnish Lutheran mission amidst the Namibian struggle for independence during the Cold War period. For Finnish missionaries operating in northern Namibia, and situated on the frontline of this struggle, the setting posed numerous moral and practical dilemmas in their everyday lives.
16:00 Closing words
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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 2025).
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 the Finnish-Namibian Society. The panelists Jimmy Amupala, Olle Eriksson and Pekka Peltola have either personally known the Ailongas or have been involved in the Namibian struggle for independence. The panel is chaired by Dr. Martti Eirola.
More information and speaker presentations: https://historianswithoutborders.fi/tapahtumat/black-history-month-2025-helsinki
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Cinema Orion & University of Helsinki, Eerikinkatu 17, FI-00100 Helsinki, Suomi, Helsinki, Finland
Tickets
