Christiaan Hendrik "Hein" Eersel (9 June 1922 – 11 June 2022) was a Surinamese linguist and cultural researcher.Starnieuws
Hein Eersel is niet meer
11 juni 2022 He served as Minister of Education and Population Development in the cabinet of acting Prime Minister

Arthur Johan May Arthur Johan May (2 July 1903 – 8 February 1979) was a Surinamese and Dutch civil servant, and served as acting Prime Minister of Suriname in 1969. Biography May was born on 2 July 1903 in Paramaribo. He studied to become a civil servant. From ...

. He was also the first chancellor of the

University of Suriname Anton de Kom University ( nl, Anton de Kom Universiteit van Suriname) is the only university in Suriname. It is located in the capital, Paramaribo, and named for Anton de Kom, an anti-colonialist activist who was killed by the Nazis while in ex ...

Early life

Eersel was born in Paramaribo on 9 June 1922. He passed the assistant teacher certification exam in 1942, and the head teacher certification exam in 1949. In 1950, he traveled to the Netherlands, where he studied

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' ...

and literature at the University of Amsterdam. He completed his candidate diploma in 1956, then a

doctorandus Doctorandus (drs., ; ) is a Dutch academic title according to the pre-Bachelor–Master system. The female form is doctoranda (dra., though this abbreviation is no longer used). The title is acquired by passing the ''doctoraalexamen'', the exam wh ...

. While in Amsterdam, he joined the organisation ''Wie Eegie Sanie'' (our own things), founded by Surinamese students to promote the Sranan Tongo language and Surinamese culture.

Career

Eersel returned to Suriname in 1959, and began teaching at the Suriname ' (teacher training college). He later helped to establish the Institute for Teacher Training in Paramaribo. He was director of the ''Taalbureau'' (language bureau) and the ''Bureau Volkslectuur'' (public literacy bureau) from 1960 to 1969. In 1968, he became the first chancellor of the

, and was also a lecturer in linguistics until his retirement in 1988. He worked with Max Sordam to publish a full dictionary of Sranan Tongo in 1985. After his retirement, he would visit the Netherlands to teach Sranan Tongo classes. Eersel remained active with the Surinamese creole cultural association

NAKS ''NAKS'' (Sranan Tongo: , en, Our African Culture of Suriname) is a social and cultural organization which promotes Afro-Surinamese culture and expression in Suriname and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1948 with Eugène Drenthe as it ...

as of 2020, leading the Sranan Grammar Group.

Personal life

Eersel married Florence Louise "Floor" Beck, and they had five children Eersel died on 11 June 2022, two days after his 100th birthday, in Paramaribo.

Writing

Eersel edited Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout's first published poetry book, ''Tide ete'' (1963). Eersel wrote a stage adaptation of Beaumarchais' ''The Barber of Seville'', which opened at the Thalia Theatre in Paramaribo in 1960. While Noni Lichtveld's costumes and staging kept the original setting in 18th-century Spain, Eersel adapted some of the jokes and figures of speech for the local audience. A newspaper review noted that Eersel "put a few genuine Surinamese expressions in the mouth of our barber". The

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

Institute for Missiology published a festschrift for Eersel's 80th birthday. Eersel was an active member of the Catholic Church in Suriname and in the Netherlands, and he had previously researched the history of Bible translations into Sranan Tongo.

Honours

Eersel received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Suriname in 2003. He also received the

Gazon Matodya Gazon Matodya (c. 1920 – 1 December 2011)

Award, conferred by the

Maroon Maroon ( US/ UK , Australia ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word ''marron'', or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown". According to multiple dictionaries, there are var ...

-focused Sabanapenti Foundation, in 2009. In 2013, he was made a Grand Officer of the

Honorary Order of the Palm The Honorary Order of the Palm (Dutch: ''Ere-Orde van de Palm'') is a military and civil state decoration A state decoration is an object, such as a medal or the insignia of an Order (distinction), order, that is awarded by a sovereign state to h ...

. At the suggestion of the Henri Frans de Ziel Foundation, the Gemenelandsweg street in Paramaribo was renamed in Eersel's honour after a 2019 extension. On his 100th birthday, minister

Marie Levens Maria Elizabeth (Marie) Levens (born 13 July 1950) is a politician who held the post of Foreign Minister of Suriname for five years (2000–2005). On 16 July 2020, Levens became the Minister of Education, Science & Culture. Biography Levens firs ...

of Education, Science and Culture announced the foundation of the Hein Eersel Institute. The Institute's focus will be developing professional approaches to

multilingual education Multilingual education typically refers to "first-language-first" education, that is, schooling which begins in the mother tongue and transitions to additional languages. Typically MLE programs are situated in developing countries where speakers of ...

in Suriname.

Partial bibliography

Books

Articles

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Pamphlets

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eersel, Hein 1922 births 2022 deaths Men centenarians Surinamese centenarians People from Paramaribo Education ministers of Suriname Academic staff of Anton de Kom University of Suriname Surinamese male writers University of Amsterdam alumni