Thora Wedel Jarlsberg (1863–1930): Tro og transnasjonale gjerninger

This article focuses on the Norwegian missionary and nurse Thora Wedel Jarlsberg (1863–1930) and her transnational career in Sumatra, Indonesia, and Kurdish regions in the Ottoman Empire from c. 1890 to 1915. Wedel Jarlsberg’s transnational experience began early in life. She was trained as a deaconess in Germany, where she worked for German missions and developed and maintained deep personal ties to Germany throughout her life. As a Protestant missionary, her working life was characterized by many years living in non-Western cultures, learning local languages and depending on interaction with the local population, while and at the same time relying on funding and spiritual support from Christians in Norway. The article looks at how her religious calling and training as a deaconess influenced interactions with cultures as different as colonial Indonesia and Ottoman Kurdistan. Vitally important here is Wedel Jarlsberg’s capacity for cultural interaction and change within various contexts and cultural (and gendered) hierarchies. This in addition to the roles of evangelical (German and Norwegian) transnational networks in cultural translations and global communication streams. The article also looks at Wedel Jarlsberg as a return migrant to Norway and her strategies for cultural and religious influence in the newly independent Norwegian nation.