Prosjekt

Norwegian Missionaries

2006 - 2007-12

The aim of this project is to explore cultural and social transformations following the encounter between Norwegian protestant missions and the local communities where they worked. Much research done in the field of colonialism and post-colonialism mainly focus on the consequences of the European presence for the indigenous societies. In contrast, this project aims to broaden the perspective by taking into account the way the encounter between missionaries and local people also had a deep impact on the Norwegian society. As such, the project situates itself theoretically in line with recent developments in the field of colonial and postcolonial studies arguing for the need to pay more attention to the way the construction of the European ‘Other’ also was vital to the construction of the European ‘Self’. These processes need to be treated as highly interrelated processes. New social categories and cultural boundaries were constructed with implications for the formation of the nation, the national welfare and the modern state society, as well as for the relations to ethnic minorities and immigrants, and the further development of international relations in a post-colonial world (Cooper & Stoler 1997, Stoler 2002).

The European expansion was never an abstract process but involved active agents with an immense culture-defining capacity (Stoler 2002). This project will focus on the active role taken by the Norwegian missionaries in this process, through bringing together a series of different but interrelated case studies. Aiming to explore the formation of social categories and cultural boundaries and their implications in a larger context, the individual projects will centre on what we consider to be the most important issues, namely: race, gender and sexuality in the making of identity and difference, discourses and practices of medicine (health, hygiene, disease) and social work, practice and representation of religion and beliefs.

The picture is published with permission from NMS Archive, Stavanger

Project proposal

Seminar Solstrand Hotell 27.01-29.01.06: Fotografiet i historien – historien i fotografiet

Workshop Hotel Terminus, Bergen 11.-13. May 2006: Protestant Mission, Practice and Representation in the Formation of ’Self’ and ’Other’, ca. 1850-2000

Prosjektleder

Inger Marie Okkenhaug

Kontaktperson

Inger Marie Okkenhaug / Inger.Okkenhaug@smi.uib.no

Prosjektmedarbeidere

Årsmelding 2006

Prosjektet hadde sitt oppstartsseminar med Alle prosjektdeltagerne deltok med innlegg på det nasjonale seminaret «Fotografiet i historien - historien i fotografiet», 27. til 29. januar. Seminaret var organisert og ledet av Sigrid Lien, Institutt for kulturstudier og kunsthistorie, UiB, Anne Aune, Hordaland Fylkeskommune og Inger Marie Okkenhaug.
I mai arrangerte Okkenhaug en internasjonal workshop, Protestant Mission, Practice and Representation in the Formation of ’Self’ and ’Other’, ca. 1850-2000, (Hotel Terminus, Bergen 11 til 13. Mai) hvor prosjektdeltagerne deltok med innlegg.
I løpet av høsten 2006 kom finansiering av de planlagte utstillingene våren 2008 i orden. Vi har fått støtte fra ABM-utvikling, Fritt Ord, Bergen Universitetsfond og Bergen Museum. Forøvrig arbeidet vi med planleggingen av en artikkelsamling, skrevet på engelsk med arbeidstittel Norwegian Missionaries, Practice and Representation in the Formation of ’Self’ and ’Other’.