8/2024 Our Finnish-Namibian collaboration has begun

It is my great pleasure to announce that our new research project, FinNamKnow, funded by the Kone Foundation, commenced in August 2024 and will continue until 2027.

The history of our Finnish-Namibian collaboration dates back to 2018, when the University of Turku (Finland) and the University of Namibia signed a partnership agreement, bringing historians from Turku and Windhoek together. The following year, we compiled a popular festschrift entitled Intertwined Histories to celebrate the 150 years of Finnish-Namibian relations. The edited collection analysed existing historical knowledge on the topic from both perspectives.

This collaboration and the many joint discussions we have had highlighted the great potential of working together to approach, conceptualise, examine and (re)write our intertwined history. It has also deepened our understanding of the local circumstances in Finland and Owambo/Namibia that resulted in a unique relationship between two culturally and geographically distinct people.

Many team members also participated in a book project that culminated in an edited open-access volume entitled Colonial Aspects of Finnish-Namibian Relations, 1870–1990. Published earlier this year by the Finnish Literary Society in its peer-reviewed series, the volume was launched with two events, one for Finnish audiences and one for international attendees. The Ballroom of the Finnish Literature Society was filled with participants eager to learn more about the colonial aspects of this shared history.

Our previous collaboration, combined with the team’s diverse areas of specialisation, cultural backgrounds, and language skills, provides an excellent foundation for our new research initiative. We are excited to examine the processes of knowledge formation that the historical Finnish-Namibian relation has resulted in. At the same time, we are committed to challenging our previous ways of knowing and developing innovative collaborative methods that will generate new research questions and answers.

On the behalf of the whole research team,

Project leader Leila Koivunen