Kirsten Alnæs

Kirsten Alnæs
Born	Kirsten Elizabeth Alnæs (1927-05-08)May 8, 1927 Hattfjelldal Municipality, Norway[1]
Died	February 4, 2021(2021-02-04) (aged 93)
Other names	Kirsten Alnaes, Kirsten Sommerfelt
Occupation	Social anthropologist
Known for	Namibian & Herero people studies,[2] Religious cosmology[3]

Kirsten Elisabeth Alnæs (also known as Kirsten Alnaes, Kirsten Sommerfelt) (May 8, 1927 - February 4, 2021) was a Norwegian social anthropologist.[4]

Her academic education started at University of Oslo from 1951 to 1957 where she graduated with a B.A./M.A. in social anthropology.
During her academic years she spent three years (1957-1960) living among the Konzo in Uganda, she also did fieldwork in Botswana. She and her husband moved on to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where they lived until they got expelled in 1966 alongside other academics. After her expulsion Alnæs moved to Tanzania where she worked as a research associate at University of Dar es Salaam from 1966 to 1968. She then moved on to London where she worked first at University College London as a research associate and later on took her PhD based on the research gathered during three fieldwork studies in Uganda (1958-1960, 1964, 1967) about the Konzolian cosmology Singing with the Spirits: A Study of Konzo Ritual and Song (1995).[1][5][6][7]

Her work among the Herero people in Botswana was some of the first written accounts of survival after the Herero Wars in 1904-1908. Through audio tapes and interviews she was able to obtain first hand accounts from survivors that had been present in the genocides. Her work highlighted their struggles and how the memories of the war were kept alive through music and song.[5][8]

In 1978 Alnæs published her first and only children's book Pio, for which she was awarded the debutant-award by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Equality.[9]
The book has later been translated into both Danish and Swedish.

She was married to the anthropologist Axel Sommerfelt who she met while studying in Oslo, they have three children together.[10][1]

References

1. https://neweralive.na/posts/opinion-in-remembrance-of-kirsten-alnaes Access date 2022-03-05
2. "Living with the past of the genocide".
3. "Kirsten Alnaes collection - Archives Hub".
4. "Orbituary". Lorenskog Funeralhome. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
5. Tisdel, Michelle A. (21 April 2021). "Norske Kirsten Alnæs støttet frihet og antirasisme i det sørlige Afrika | Michelle Tisdel". Utrop. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
6. "Kirsten Alnaes collection - Archives Hub".
7. Alnaes, Kirsten Elisabeth. "Singing with the spirits: A study of Konzo ritual and song". ProQuest. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
8. Alnaes, Kirsten (1989). "Living with the past: The Songs of the Herero in Botswana". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 59 (3): 267–299. doi:10.2307/1160229. ISSN 0001-9720. JSTOR 1160229. S2CID 143939978.
9. «Kulturdepartementets premiering av barne- og ungdomslitteratur » Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, Bærum bibliotek. Lest 24. oktober 2015.
10. Intervju med Axel Sommerfelt Archived 2015-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, Norsk antropologisk forening. Lest 24. oktober 2015.