Foredrag: Images and stories – the swedish mission in Xinjiang 1892-1938

TID: Torsdag den 28. november kl. 19-21

STED: Københavns Universitet Amager (KUA), Njalsgade 120, 2300 København S (room 24.01.07)

TID: Torsdag den 28. november kl. 19-21

STED: Københavns Universitet Amager (KUA), Njalsgade 120, 2300 København S (room 24.01.07)

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, missionaries from the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden (MCCS) were active in Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang). During these years, they ran missionary stations in the oasis towns of Kashgar, Yengi-Hisar and Yarkand.

The missionaries were involved with a wide range of projects including schools, children’s homes and missionary hospitals. In Kashgar they also operated the region’s one and only working printing press.

Since the missionaries lived for extended periods in the same location, they obtained considerable knowledge about everyday life, language, culture, customs and religious practices. Books, articles and especially letters were important means to provide ongoing information about the work abroad to friends, family members and congregations in Sweden.

It was also common for those missionaries who had returned to Sweden on furlough, to travel around the country and share their experiences from abroad at church meetings and schools. At such meetings the missionaries would present the audiences with different ‘exotic’ artifacts brought home from the mission field as well as photographs and sometimes films.

In the following presentation Patrick Hällzon and Fredrik Fällman will provide a historical background to the Swedish missionary enterprise in Eastern Turkestan. They will also discuss two ongoing projects which aim to digitize parts of this unique material consisting of numerous missionary publications and photographs. During the lecture, a number of rare photographs will be presented to the audience.

Fredrik Fällman, Associate Professor of Sinology at University of Gothenburg, Distinguished Adjunct Researcher at Renmin University of China. Former Asia Secretary of the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden (MCCS), adviser to MCCS on archives and Asian matters.

Main research topic is religion in contemporary China, but also religious development during modern history, and the cultural encounters between the West and China. Has visited Xinjiang four times, and has a keen interest in Uyghur culture.

Patrick Hällzon is a research assistant at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. He holds a Master’s degree in Asian Languages and Cultures from Stockholm University (Central Asia) as well as a Master’s degree in Turkic Languages from Uppsala University.

His research has focused on Central Asia and Turkey. Main topics include Muslim shrine pilgrimage (mainly among the Uyghurs but also pilgrimage traditions in India and Turkey), and the Swedish Mission in Eastern Turkestan. Patrick has traveled to Xinjiang on three occasions.

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