Events and Activities
Current and Forthcoming events
- Lecture course “Perspectives to the Relationship between Finland and Namibia“, at the University of Turku 2.9.-14.10.2025. [Teaching partly in Finnish and in English]
- Our project takes part in the lecture course “Colonialism’s Many Histories“, at the University of Turku 13.1.-3.3.2025 [Teaching partly in Finnish and in English].
- Our project takes part in the lecture course “Lapset yhteisöissään. Kasvatus ja sosialisaatio pitkässä jatkumossa” (Children in their communities. Education and Socialization in the Long Continuum), at the University of Turku 27.10.-17.12.2025 [Teaching partly in Finnish and in English]
Previously
Events
- Napandulwe Shiweda took part in Special Panel by Historians without Borders: Dialogue between European and African historians in the era of Geopolitical Upheavals. The opening ceremony of the Finnish Southern Africa Cooperation Institute, in collaboration with Historians without Borders, the Embassy of Finland and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. 9 October 2025 at the Namibian Scientific Society.
- The FinNamKnow project met Marjo Kaartinen, the Rector of the University of Turku, 22.9.2025 [In Finnish, in university Intranet]
- A poster “Owambo and Finnish Children at Mission Stations in Namibia” by Leila Koivunen and Raita Merivirta as part of poster exhibition ‘Modern’ Mothering, Childhood & Child Healthcare: Gendered & Scientised Ideas, Material Cultures & Experiences, Turku City Library 2.-29.6.2025.
- EMHI100-juhlaseminaari “Maailma ja historia liikkeessä” Pub3-luentosalissa Turun yliopistolla 9.5.2025. [In Finnish]
- Julkaisutilaisuus: Keisarin holokausti — Saksan unohdettu kansanmurha ja natsismin siirtomaajuuret. 3.4.2025 klo 17-19, Kaisaniemenkatu 5, Helsinki [In Finnish]
- Dissertation defence: Essi Huuhka, MA. “Kaukaiselle lähimmäiselle. Humanitaarisuus Suomen lähetysseuran Lounais-Afrikan-toiminnassa 1890-luvulta 1910-luvulle” 13.12.2024 [In Finnish]
- Dissertation defence: Raita Merivirta, PhD. “Kulttuurinen kolonialismi ja rodullistaminen näkyi 1900-luvun suomalaisessa lastenkirjallisuudessa” 13.9.2024 [In Finnish]
- Publication event: new information on the history of the Finland-Namibia relationship, Helsinki 22.08.2024
Presentations
- Session “Dekolonisoivia näkökulmia kolonialistiseen menneisyyteen: Sukelluksia suomalaisten ja namibialaisten yhteiseen historiaan” at the 7th Finnish Conference of History Research (Jyväskylä, Finland 16.-18.10.2025). [In Finnish], consisting of the following presentations:
- Leila Koivunen & Raita Merivirta: Kasvattilapsia Ambomaalla ja Suomessa 1800-luvun loppupuolella
- Raita Merivirta & Leila Koivunen: ”Ambomaasta” Suomen siirtomaa?
- Jerkko Holmi & Olli Löytty: Namibian itsenäisyystaistelun kokemukset suomalaisten lähetystyöntekijöiden muistikuvissa
- Decolonising Finnish-Namibian History seminar as part of Black History Month 2025 events in Helsinki 15-16 September, organised in collaboration with AfriStadi, Historians without Borders and the Finnish-Namibian Society, consisting of the following presentations:
- Leila Koivunen: New Approaches to Intertwined Histories
- Napandulwe Shiweda: Reclaiming Narratives: Ovawambo Material Culture and Knowledge Production
- Maria Caley: Decolonising Knowledge: Kavango Children Play and Toymaking
- Lovisa Tegelela Nampala: Outeku and Finnish Curriculum: The Impact of the Two Education Systems on Aawambo Communities
- Ndapewoshali Ndahafa, Omukwaanime kepata, Omukwaniilya kootate: Decolonisation* of Academic Spaces
- Jerkko Holmi: Finnish Missionary Remembrance on Namibian Independence Struggle
- Additionally, as part of the program Napandulwe Shiweda introduced the movie Measures of Men (2023)
- Session “Decolonising Knowledge Production: Collaborative Global North-South Reappraisals of Finnish-Namibian relations” at the 8th European Congress on World and Global History (Växjö, Sweden 10.-12.9.2025), consisting of the following four presentations:
- Napandulwe Shiweda: Reclaiming Narratives: Ovawambo material culture and knowledge production
- Leila Koivunen: Two Perspectives on Eva Maria Nanguloshi’s (ca. 1863–1929) Life between Two Worlds
- Jerkko Holmi: Finnish missionaries recalling Namibia’s struggle for independence 1966–1990
- Lovisa Tegelela Nampala: The critical analysis of Aawambo care and health system in the late-nineteenth century
- Additionally:
- Jerkko Holmi took part in Roundtable/Book Discussion “Globalizing the Nordic Model. From Exceptionalism to Entanglement”
- Raita Merivirta took part in “Plenary Session Nordic Colonialism”
- Raita Merivirta attended the conference Englishes in a Multipolar World (the 20th Triennial Conference of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, ACLALS, 1.-5.7.2025, University of Nairobi) and presented her paper Transcultural and English in the Service of Nordic Settler Colonialism: Karen Blixen and Out of Africa.
Teaching
- Course “Perspectives on External Relations of Independent African States”, 17.10.2024 – 12.12.2024 [in Finnish]
Media appearances
- Yle Kulttuuriykkönen 18.8.2025, Olemmeko syyttömiä? Suomalaiset ja Afrikan kolonialismin varjo. Harri Englund & Leila Koivunen [In Finnish]
- Turun Sanomat 11.4.2025, Alio Jerkko Holmi: Shell-boikotti 1980-luvulla – bensapumppuja valeltiin verellä, töhrittiin maalilla tai saatettiin epäkuntoon [In Finnish]
- Press release: New book sheds light on the history of Finland–Namibia relations in colonial world 29.8.2024
Other
- Call for Papers: Modern challenges in decolonial historical research between the Nordics and Southern Africa Proposal [deadline for proposals ended 30.9.2025]