Hein Eersel

Hein Eersel studied at University of Amsterdam. The recorded working language is Sranan Tongo and Dutch. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paramaribo. Employment is recorded with Anton de Kom University of Suriname. Distinctions recorded are Gaaman Gazon Award.

• Name — Hein Eersel • Office1 — Minister of Education and Population Development • Term Start1 — 5 March 1969 • Term End1 — 20 November 1969 • Prime Minister1 — Arthur Johan May • Office2 — Chancellor of the University of Suriname • Term Start2 — 1968 • Term End2 — 1988 • Birth Name — Christiaan Hendrik Eersel • Born — 9 June 1922 • Birthplace — Paramaribo, Colony of Suriname • Died — 11 June 2022 • Place of death — Paramaribo, Suriname • Occupation — Linguist

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

Eersel returned to Suriname in 1959, and began teaching at the Suriname Kweekschool voor onderwijzers (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 University of Suriname, 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 as of 2020, leading the Sranan Grammar Group.

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.

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 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.

* * • Libi naga bribi: enkele aanzetten tot Surinaamse theologie: feestbundel ter ere van Hein Eersel, Nijmegen, Nijmeegs Instituut voor Missiologie, 2002.

*

Hein Eersel was recorded at birth as Christiaan Hendrik Eersel. The authorities additionally record the heading Christiaan Hendrik "Hein" Eersel. His recorded languages were Sranan Tongo and Dutch.

Hein Eersel is recorded as politician, poet, suriname studies researcher, linguist and university teacher.