Namibiana Resources in Finland: Two Finding Aids
These finding aids were given to me by Dr. Harri Siiskonen at Yliopisto Itä-Suomi, Joensuu. These document various resources on Namibian studies available throughout Finland. There are microfilms of the Emil Liljeblad collection, the German government records, the German Colonial Society, Namibian newspapers (colonial), microfiche copies of some documents from the National Archives of Namibia, the German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wuppertal, and many printed documents and journals. Some may find this difficult to read, because it schizophrenically switches between Finnish and English, but if you take your time, you can find good files. Note that, like most Finnish Research on Namibia, these largely deal with Ovamboland and the North.
Harri Siiskonen, Kari Miettinen
Self produced by Harri Siiskonen, University of Joensuu
unclear
Bernard C. Moore
PDF
English, Finnish, German
Namibiana in Finland: Guide to the Finnish Archival Sources Concerning Namibia before 1938
"The project, 'Namibiana in Finland' was divided into two branches. The first of these, being the proper documentation part of the project, consists of the inventory and cataloging of the Finnish archival records and literature on Namibia. The other branch includes the transfer of the information concerning Namibia from Finland to the UNIN in Lusaka, Zambia. This is possible through microfilming the material for the Institute, fro both that part of the archival material as well as the older literature." "This guide is aimed at being a practical tool for researchers when using Finnish sources on Namibia. This favours both Finnish and foreign users since the work has been compiled bilingually, in Finnish and English."
Martti Eirola
University of Joensuu
1985
PDF
English and Finnish
THE RHENISH MISSION AND THE COLONIAL WAR IN GERMAN SOUTHWEST AFRICA
"Mission operations often found themselves in an ambiguous situation during a war of colonial conquest. On the one hand, the missionaries wanted to protect the people among whom they were working and keep the door open for the preaching of the gospel. On the other hand, they were expected to conform to the demands of the colonial authorities, and as nationals of the metropolitan power they might even welcome colonial rule from a purely selfish, nationalistic standpoint. An excellent example of this dilemma was that faced by the Rhenish or Rhine Mission in its field in Southwest Africa"
Richard V. Pierard
http://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/Resources/NAMP-CWC/PositionPapers101-155/139%20PIERARD.PDF
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE FACULTY OF DIVINITY CENTRE FOR ADVANCED RELIGIOUS AND THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Currents in World Christianity
2000
© Richard V. Pierard, 2000
PDF
English
Charles John Anderson: Trade and Politics in Central Namibia 1860-1864
Charles John Andersson Papers, vol. 2 - "The author of the present record, Charles John Andersson, is not unknown among students of Namibian history, or Africana book collectors. He was born in Vanersborg (Sweden) to a Swedish mother (Kajsa Andersdotter) and an English father (Llewellyn Lloyd) in 1827. His papers record at least six siblings: Marie, Sophie, Henrietta, Joseph, Wilhelm and Philip. After a short spell at the University of Lund in 1847, he left to hunt and trade with his father. In 1849 he sailed to England from where he planned to take up a life of hunting and exploration In Iceland. However, meeting Galton and being Invited to accompany him to South Africa. Andersson changed his plans, and in early 1850 the two sailed for Cape Town. For a decade, interrupted only by two years In England and one year as manager of the Matchless copper mine, he travelled and hunted for Ivory in south-western Africa, visiting King Nangolo in Ondonga, exploring Lake Ngami and even reaching the Okavango River. By 1860 he had set himself up as the principal trader in central Namibia, purchasing the WBMC's assets in Otjimbingwe and fitting out a number of hunter/traders to bring in oxen and ivory. His financial situation - probably in many aspects similar to that of other European traders - remains obscure. No doubt he returned from his explorations of Lake Ngami with a fortune in ivory, stock and other saleable goods. Furthermore, the publication of his book, 'Lake Ngami', was an immense success; there were intimations of Cape civil service posts offered him until at least I860, and he was courted by British officials and scientists for his then highly interesting and precious map of the interior of southern Africa. Between 1856 and 1860 Wallis records a series of major cash outlays for fitting out hunters and traders and especially his partner Green; however, no details concerning the exact nature of these 'partnerships', nor the returns of these outlays, could be traced. Wallis claims that the establishment in Otjimbingwe, set up only five years after his return from Lake Ngami, was based partly on credit and in spite of the fact that Andersson recorded the huge sum of £20.000 as due to him in April and May 1864, by September of that year he was in financial difficulties and a few months later seems to have been a pauper. For reasons which this editor could not exact it seems that the Cape-Namaland cattle and ivory trade held the constant promise of immense profits to be made; yet it was precarious enough to ruin a trader's fortunes within months. The next four years are traced in detail by the present record; Andersson's trading activities in the early 1860s, marred by the spreading lungsickness epidemic, soon brought him into direct conflict with the Namaland chiefs and especially the sovereign, Jonker Afrikaner (succeeded by his sons, Christian and then Jan Jonker, following Jonker's death in 1861). By 1864, immobilised by a nasty leg wound received in battle against the Oorlam Afrikaners, Andersson's career as a trader came to a near standstill. [...]"
Brigitte Lau (ed.)
National Archives of SWA/Namibia
1989
PDF
English
The Matchless Copper Mine in 1857: Correspondence
Charles John Andersson Papers, vol. 1 - "The present text documents a year's copper mining activity in Namaland, SWA/Namibia. The year is 1857 and the country ruled by groups of chiefs, the mine is called Matchless, the company exploiting the mine is the Walfisch Bay Mining Company, and the mine manager whose letters to the directors have been published here, is Charles John Andersson." (p.vi)
Brigitte Lau (ed.)
National Archives of SWA/Namibia
1987
PDF
English
Kernel [Pähkinänsydän]
"Kernel tells about the San (Bushmen) of the western Okavango region of Namibia in the late 1950s and early 1960s - a period when the education system was being extended to include these earliest indigenous inhabitants of southern Africa. As a young teacher in 1949, the author, Tuulikki Jantunen, had moved to Namibia (then known as South West Africa) from her home country, Finland, to teach in the Okavango mission fields - a stint of work which continued for over thirty years. In Kernel we are introduced to a small San community living according to its own rules of behaviour in the settlement of Mpungu in the Okavango region. These people, formerly hunter-gatherers, now face a new cultural phase. Following the example of their neighbours, they have become sedentary farmers and have sown their first seeds. However, they do not want to abandon their nomadic way of life entirely and cannot bear to remain in their fields for long. They have to get back to the forest now and then. Some also want to go to school and the mission station offers them the opportunity to do so. It is this stage in the history of the San community that the author describes. There is no other written information about the San at the applicable time and place, thus Kernel is a new and valuable source for research into the cultures of Namibia. The book is also a fine read. It provides a personal and expressive description of the life of the community and conveys a humane close-up picture of San culture. Through it also the San will lie able to obtain new knowledge about their own background and cultural heritage. The publication of the book in English by the Namibia Scientific Society is a commendable cultural deed."
Tuulikki Jantunen
Namibia Scientific Society
2004
PDF
English (translated from Finnish)
Life Among the Hereros in Africa: The Experiences of H. Beiderbecke, Lutheran Pastor
"These reminiscences refer particularly to the first years of my activity in Africa. To me, they are the most delightful, and I am sure that to the friends of missions they will be the most interesting."
Heinrich Beiderbecke
Ernst Kaufmann, New York
1922
Unclear, likely orphan
PDF
English (translated from the German)
The Ovambogefahr: The Ovamboland Reservation in the Making - Political Responses of the Kingdom of Ondonga to the German Colonial Power, 1884-1910
Martti Eirola
Pohjois-Suomen Historiallinen Yhdistys
1992
PDF
English
Oudosta Kulkijasta Ihmiseksi: Suomalainen bushmannilähetystyö ja sen välittämä kuva bushmanneista vuosina 1950–1985
Translation: From a Strange Wanderer to a Human Being: Finnish Missionary Work among Bushmen and the Image of Bushmen 1950-1985 - PhD Dissertation - "My study is focused on the Finnish missionary work among Bushmen in eastern Ovambo and Kavango in Namibia and on the image of Bushmen conveyed by it. The encounter of the cultures gave rise to new elements of the Bushman way of life that are partly based on the tradition of the encounter of cultures in the area and on the requirements of the local natural conditions. This helped to give the Bushmen the strength to resist acculturation, and the meeting of cultures brought regular elements, which I have called the borderline culture, to the outskirts of the missionary stations. Increased information reduces uncertainty. This fact began to come to surface in the 1950s in the descriptions of Bushmen by Finnish nurses in Kavango in which the emotions of fear, sympathy and care were present. The pressures for missionary work among the Bushmen towards the end of the 1950s broke the old image of Bushmen. In eastern Ovambo and Kavango, the missionary work among Bushmen which was expanding in the 1960s made the image of Bushmen a more everyday matter in the emerging borderline culture, in which it was typical to associate the image of the Bushman to work and success at work. The missionaries did not yet quite understand the life of the Bushmen, although they were clearly interested in it. They tried to dictate the conditions for the encounter in the 1960s in accordance with the old ideology of missionary work. Thus the 1960s was the era of a Bushman image that was controlled by the preachers who tried to defend the justification and methods of missionary work. The breaking of the language barrier was an important factor on the way to the next change in the image of Bushmen which was seen clearly in the borderline culture which was established in the 1970s. Language meant improved and more profound information and therefore confidential relationships between the missionaries and the Bushmen. The understanding of ethnic cultures improved in general. The new ideals were partly due to the strivings for independence in the area and to more general international pressures in which mission and colonialism were subjected to criticism. The borderline culture had been established, and the life of Bushmen was felt to be part of everyday life. The interest of the missionaries in the Bushmen’s way of life was increased. In the early 80s, the image of the Bushman had become much more diversified and uniform. The Bushman way of life was known quite well, although based on the description of a few missionaries only. As a consequence of the Namibian Civil War, the work of the Finnish missionaries ended in the stations in Ovambo, but the work continued in the form of developmental aid in Kavango. The last image of the Bushmen there was given by the quiet missionaries, the nurses, just like in the early stages in the early 1950s. The concerns over care and everyday nursing were common in their descriptions, but the Bushmen were not any longer strange wanderers in the forest but familiar people in a borderline culture."
Teuvo Raiskio
http://jultika.oulu.fi/files/isbn9514246918.pdf
Acta Universitatis Ouluensis (Oulu University)
1997
PDF
Finnish
The Cultural and Social Change in Ovamboland, 1870-1915
"The starting point of this study were the discussions among the Finnish research-workers interested in Africa. On the basis of the above description, they felt it necessary to start an interdisciplinary program into the former South West Africa. Preparations continued in March 1981, when the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies organized a Seminar in Espoo on the topic "Namibia and the Nordic Countries". The next step was taken in May 1982, when the Institute of Developing Studies and the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies arranged in Hyytiälä a meeting of Africa research in Finland."
Martti Eirola, Seppo Rytkönen, Harri Siiskonen, Seppo Sivonen
University of Joensuu
1983
PDF
English and Finnish
Nakambale: The Life of Dr. Martin Rautanen
"Nakambale is a gripping description of SWA History (1869-1926) describing the life of Martin (Martti) Rautanen, a young Finnish man, come to work in the Northern part of the country as one of the first Finnish missionaries. He lived and worked in the country for 56 years. The book describes the meeting and interaction of two very different cultures. Life was hard and insecure in the days when people travelled with ox-wagons, tribal kings were suspicious of white people, tribal feuds were commonplace, and only some Germans had reached Hereroland." "Professor Matti Peltola paints us a picture of how the local kings took the poor 'teachers' under the administration of their kingdoms. Their lives were in danger many times and they finally learnt how to survive and become part of the country. The book is also an exciting and compelling description of the fate of the early Finnish Missionaries in SWA." "The book is a historical work and an exciting and interesting story of Martin Rautanen's life and career. It is a well researched biographical study which is based on Rautanen's diaries."
Matti Peltola
Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission
2002
© FELM, Peltola
PDF
English
Hate the Old and Follow the New: Khoekhoe and Missionaries in Early-Nineteenth Century Namibia
"The first comprehensive study of the interaction between the European missionaries and Africans in precolonial Namibia focusses on the expansion of the colonial frontier. Africans entered a new world of social relations where they faced the transformation of their societies in an ambivalent manner. Irrespective of the final, and unpredictable, outcome of the contest for power, many Africans encountered new challenges with initiative and determination."
Tilman Dedering
Franz Steiner Verlag
1997
© Franz Steiner Verlag, 1997
PDF
English
Mission, Church and State Relations in South West Africa under German Rule (1884-1915)
"The study examines the interaction of missionaries and clergymen with the colonial administration in South West Africa/Namibia under German rule (1884-1915). It seeks to put forward a new, more specific picture of members of religious societies often characterised as "advocates of the natives" or "collaborators of the colonial state". On the basis of detailed archival research of German, Namibian, Finnish, South African and English archival sources the study aims at providing sufficient evidence for the argument that it is not only misleading, but historically incorrect to characterise mission, church and state relations in a colonial society by general terms such as "collaboration" or "opposition", arguing against the assumption that the groups involved had homogeneous social and political structures. "...this is a well-researched and judicious piece of scholarship which will be of lasting value as a guide to the organization of religious life under German colonialism"
Nils Ole Oermann
Franz Steiner Verlag
1999
© Franz Steiner Verlag 1999
PDF
English
Studying the Northern Namibian Past
Research Seminar in Tvärminne, 2-4 December 1985
Harri Siiskonen (ed.)
Joensuun Yliopiston Offsetpaino, 1986
1986
© University of Joensuu (probably)
PDF
English
Evangelische Mission in Südwest-Afrika (Film)
Much of the film consists of footage from Church services and landscape surrounding a Swakopmund church. Narration is in German, though some scenes are in Afrikaans with Nama and Otjiherero translations. Some of the footage is dedicated to life in the kraal; other is taken in an Afrikaans-language primary school. Other footage is of mineworkers exiting shift, likely in Tsumeb. Gestaltung: Missioner Fritz Harre Kamera: Walter Umlauf
Institute für Film und Bild München
Institute für Film und Bild München & Basler Afrika Bibliographien.
Late 1950s
MOV Video File
German
Promotional Film