Journal Ennen ja nyt seeks papers in three categories: Research Papers, Reflections and Essays, and Reviews for upcoming thematic issue about challenges in historical research between the Nordics and Southern African states, which is to be published in Autumn 2026. The guest editor of the issue is Jerkko Holmi (javhol@utu.fi).
Several recent approaches on researching themes like decolonial turn (Maldonado-Torres & Cavooris 2017), anticolonialism, and reconciliation of the relations between Global North and Global South have raised the discussion on methods, approaches and challenges of historical research. Scholars interested in themes like Nordic entanglements in colonial encounters often face the recurring problem – written and pictorial primary research materials are mainly available from the source of Global North based actors.
Current historical knowledge fortifies the colonial mindset and impacts on knowledge constructions on and about Africa. In the recent years the debate over colonial knowledge that Europeans utilised, pinpointed the ignored role of the colonized as passive informants and activities of European production of the knowledge. Indigenous people likewise contributed to the process, and the colonial knowledge was a result of collaboration between the two sides, an epistemic confrontation between two knowledge systems. This approach increasingly defines the broader history of colonialism and contributes to understanding of Global North action. (Wagoner 2003, Leibowitz 2017) The concept of decolonial praxis (Lordan & Dei 2016) has been introduced into the historical research to describe and provide tools for more unbiased approaches where (formerly) oppressed groups of people have been prioritised. It is also about giving a voice to those silenced by the colonial system, showcasing their interpretations of the past and parallel realities. Alternatives for classical historical research are often sought from new perspectives for preceding research questions, pursuing to provide alternative outlook and new primary sources for the same subjects and allow interpretation of this recent historical reality constituting dimensions of this thematic issue.
Decoloniality can also be seen to bear different meaning in different situations. Decolonisation can for example be interpreted as 1) theory used as a tool to engage into critical arguments (Govender & Naidoo 2023) as 2) movement or mission moving away from colonial infrastructures (Tuck & Yang 2012; Sultana 2019) and as 3) process of healing colonial wounds (Mignolo & Walsh 2018).
This thematic issue welcomes papers on empirical or conceptual research approaches that examine the intersection of decolonial research tradition and challenges the researchers pursue to overcome, to divert from the Global North dominantly orientated approach on the research subject in the modern era (from late 19th Century to late 20th Century). Papers may consider, for example, but are not limited to, different conceptions of decolonial historical research, questions of power and dominance, or ethics of research within the theme. This issue invites scholars also to reflect on methodological and critical perspectives that can challenge and advance our ways of thinking, encouraging the transcendence of disciplinary boundaries.
Papers will be selected based on proposals, i.e. short abstracts (maximum 250 words). Please send your proposal to the guest editor of the issue by September 30th 2025. Remember to specify the category (research paper, reflection/essay, or review) of your proposal and it can be written in either Finnish or English. Decisions will be announced by October 12th 2025. Full manuscripts should be submitted to the Guest Editor for comments by 28 February 2026. Only research papers are peer-revied and should be at maximum 55 000 characters including spaces and citations. For more information on the journal's writing guidelines and publication policies, see https://journal.fi/ennenjanyt/about/submissions.
Inquiries and abstracts for the call for papers can be sent to Jerkko Holmi (javhol@utu.fi), who will be the guest editor of the issue. Olli Kleemola (owklee@utu.fi) is the editor-in-chief of the journal.
Ennen ja nyt: Historian tietosanomat is a non-profit historical journal founded in 2001 that publishes peer-reviewed scholarly articles, reflections, essays, and book reviews. It is published in Finnish and English and, by agreement, in other languages. For more information about the journal, please visit https://journal.fi/ennenjanyt/index. Ennen ja nyt is a fully open access publication, the content of which is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY 4.0). Ennen ja nyt is at level 1 in Finnish Publication Forum, which classifies publication channels to support the quality assessment of academic research in Finland (more: https://julkaisufoorumi.fi/en)
Any expenses on the language checking or other expenses of the manuscripts are responsible of their authors.