Edvard Masoni

by Jon Todal

Biography of a Sami turned Christian missionary, who went to China in 1898. He reported on the Boxer Rebellion with an anti-Western and anti-Colonial point of view. He became an indigenous rights activist in Norway and Sweden, before he went to medical school in the US and consequently returned to China as a missionary and a doctor.

282 pages, Hardcover

Reviews

[Lene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am utterly fascinated. The life story of Edvard Masoni is so unlikely, I wonder why he is not more widely known! It is clear from the notes, references, and bibliography, that the two authors have worked hard to piece this together. Sometimes I wonder why more effort has not been put in (like, "we will here use place names in China the way Masoni spelled them 100 years ago - because it is too difficult to find out what they are called and how that is spelled today"), and other times I feel like too much attention is given to details (like, "this was printed in Waren Sardne 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21"). But his political views on native people and on colonialism are peak, and I wish I had known about such criticism earlier in my own life. A missionary but not a power hungry colonialist? A Sami man writing against the English in China? The guy was a revolutionary, ahead of his time - and I am glad I have gotten to know his story.