Belief, Scholarship and Cultural Heritage:
Paul Olav Bodding
And
The Making of a Scandinavian-Santal Legacy
November 3-5th. 2015
Programme
DAY 1 Tuesday 3trd November
Registration and coffee/tea: 8.30 – 9.00
Inauguration: 9.00 – 9.30
Session 1: The Nordic Santal Mission in a broader historical and contemporary context
(9.30 – 14.45)
This session will explore the Nordic Santal Mission, headed by Bodding from 1910 to 1922,
from perspectives of global and comparative history. Indo-Danish & Norwegian contacts
over a 400-year period form a grand Atlantic narrative about competition for colonial
possessions, trade and souls. After the decline of Denmark-Norway as a mini empire and
Sweden as a regional power, a number of conventional missionary societies and low-church
Scandinavian missions established their presence in British India and elsewhere in Asia.
Which domestic and regional conditions in Scandinavia and Asia may explain these
evangelization movements and their relative successes? How do their missiology,
organization and relative influence compare with missions in Africa and the Middle East?
Did the early missions to the Arctic Sami influence later external missions to Africa and Asia
Minor? Do current historical narratives of Indo-Scandinavian relations recognize the 150years history of people-to-people contract through evangelization movements? Through
which political and cultural lenses and narrative forms do indigenous communities in South
Asia review their longstanding contact with Protestant and Catholic missions?

Inger Marie Okkenhaug; Professor of History, Volda University College, Norway:
Bodil Bjørn and the Armenians: Norwegian Mission, Relief and Welfare in the Middle
East and Caucasus 1900-1940
 OPEN SLOT – WILL BE FILLED OR PROGRAM READJUSTED
 Dikka Storm, Associate Professor/Curator Tromsø Museum:
The Complex Religious Situation in the Mission District of Senja and Vesterålen in the
Early Eighteenth Century
 Leif Pareli and Karen Elle Gaup:
Sami cultural heritage in Norway -- collecting and repatriating
Lunch: 11.30 – 12.30




OPEN SLOT – WILL BE FILLED OR PROGRAM READJUSTED
Sanjeev Drong; President, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum:
Contemporary perspectives on the legacy of different missions in terms of the
struggle for human rights, livelihoods, education and self-rule
Nirmala Murmu, Community Organizer and Board Member of the Bodding Memorial
Foundation, Dumka, India:
The illegal mining in Tribal land and illegal grabbing of land property
Lawrence Besra; National Coordinator, World Vision Bangladesh:
The role of language and traditional social institutions for unity and nation-building: A
critical retrospective of Bodding’s work in British India.
(Coffee/tea)
Session 2: Revisiting Bodding as theologian, bible translator, hymnologist and
administrator (15.00 – 16.00)
This session will address theological, historical and anthropological perspectives on Bodding
as a controversial institutional reformer and his influential missiological writings; his bible
translations and popular hymns. We like to encourage papers both from indigenous
theologians and from theologians close to the successor missions.


Harald Tambs-Lycke, Professor, University of Picardie-Jules Verne, Amines, France:
Picking up where the adventures left: Bodding’s burden in normalizing the Santal
Mission
Rev. Timothey Hembrom, Kolkata, India: “An Indigenous theologian’s perspective on
the Bodding Era compared to the Pioneer Era. (online presentation)
Reception at Oslo Townhall: 16.30 (all registered welcome - invitation by
card)
Day 2 Wednesday 4th November
Session 3: Revisiting Bodding’s scholarship: the ethnographer, linguist and collector (8.30 –
12.00)
This session invites contributions about Bodding’s vast and diverse scholarship including his
legacy as a collector of ethnographic artifacts, prehistoric tools and manuscripts. We also
invite papers that explore his intellectual links to central contemporary European scholars
and Santal Gurus.



Marin Carrin, Rtd. Director of Research CNRS, Centre of Anthropology, Toulouse,
France:
The Making of an encyclopedic dictionary: how Bodding re-enchanted Santal words
Santosh Soren, Affiliate Univ. of Copenhagen:
Paul Olav Bodding and his helpers: an indigenous scholar’s perspective
Rubi Hembrom, Publishing Director Adivani and Creative Writer:
The Santals and the Bodding Paradox
(Coffee/tea)



Toshiki Osada, Professor Emeritus, Research Institute of Humanity and Nature,
Kyoto, Japan:
Bodding as Linguist
Peter Birkelund Andersen, Associate Professor University of Copenhagen:
Two generations of Scandinavian collectors in Assam compared: Halfdan Singer and
Paul Olav Bodding
Ajay Pratap, Professor Department of History, Benares Hindu University:
The “Lost Neolithic”: Reverend P.O. Bodding and the Archaeology of Santal Parganas
Lunch: 12.00 – 13.15
Session 4 (held at the National Library of Norway): Scholarship, access and collaboration
(13.30 – 15.30)




Johanne Ostad, National Library of Norway:
Digitizing the Santal material in the National Library of Norway
Shilpi Hembrom, Asst. Professor Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Management,
Central University of Jhakhand (Ranchi, India):
Bodding’s legacy and the Santal Literary and Cultural Society: past and future
Norwegian-Santal Cooperation
Joy Raj Eric Tudu, Activist and Consultant, Santal Parganas:
Aboak Aidari: Towards cooperation beyond barriers
Open forum: Informal discussion on possibilities for international collaboration
DAY 3 Thursday 5th November
Excursion to the Ethnographic Santal collection (transport offered) 9.00 – 11.00
Lunch: 11.15 – 12.30
Session 5: Towards a post-colonial and digital era of collection management (12.30 –
15.00)
The session addresses how the rise of indigenous movements, international conventions,
postcolonial critiques of “the colonial museum” and technological innovations are
challenging the collections to redefine their role in society. In which new ways are old
ethnographic, art, manuscript and photo archives be managed and activated to meet the
expectations of original indigenous custodians and owners? Can community involvement
through digital communication inform museological practices in new mutually constructive
ways?

Tone Bleie, Professor Public Policy and Cultural Understanding University of Tromsø:
The Bodding Collection: unearthing its history over a century and looking towards
the future
 Mohan Gautam, University of Leiden (Rtd.):
Politics of Tribal museums in India
 Boro Baski, Head Ghosaldanga Bishnubati Adivasi Trust, West Bengal, India:
The Museum of Santal Culture at Bishnubati : Its role in the education and
preservation of Santal culture and heritage
 Jørgen Nørgaard Pedersen, Former General Secretary Danish Santal Mission, Project
Manager Danmission Picture Archive:
Title to be confirmed
(Coffee/tea)
Panel session: Towards a foundation for collaborative management and knowledge
sharing (15.30 – 16.30)
Concluding session with light refreshments (16.30 – 17.15)