Discursive study of religion (DSR) has become an increasingly recognised and applied approach to the study of religion. It asks: What passes for 'religion' in society? How do different constructions of 'religion' affect other social spheres such as politics, law, and everyday life, and vice versa? In this collection, Finnish scholars—many of them internationally recognized authorities on the subject—discuss DSR's theoretical underpinnings, map the variety of discursive approaches, and apply the approach to case studies of politics, spirituality, and history. The book can be used as a textbook for religion and method courses in various disciplines.
"Matthias Alexander Castrén's (1813–1852) Luentoja suomalaisesta mytologiasta ('Lectures on Finnish Mythology', originally Swedish 'Föreläsningar i finsk mytologi') is a key work in the research history of Finnish mythology. This is the first Finnish translation of it. Despite 'Lectures' in the label, the work is a coherent book. It makes a systematic approach to ancient Finnish religion on the basis of earlier mythographers, Castrén's fieldwork among Finnic peoples and the latest European research trends of the first half of the 19th century. Even though Castrén's Lectures significantly developed Finnish mythography and it served as a standard work for half a century, its significance was largely forgotten when new research paradigms were introduced in the course of the 20th century. The work is an important part of the history of Finnish research in religions, linguistics and ethnography and it also reflects the state of the study of mythology in Europe in the middle of the 19th century. The book is lively written and therefore, it meets the taste of the general public in addition to researchers. This edition includes a concise introduction to Lectures' historical context, a scientific commentary and exhaustive indexes.
M. A. Castrén is renown especially as a linguist and explorer who worked among Siberian peoples but his work was marked also by interest in Finnishness at a time when the idea of a Finnish nation was developing. Lectures was Castrén's last work. He finished the book in his deathbed, and it was published posthumously in 1853.
The translator and editor of the Lectures, Joonas Ahola, PhD, is an expert in Old Norse language and mythology as well as kalevala-meter poetry. The other author of the introduction, Karina Lukin, PhD, is an expert of North Siberian cultures and 19th century expeditions among them. "
The book focuses on intangible and tangible heritage, language and vernacular religion of the Ingrians, Setos and Votes, three Finnic ethnic minorities sharing a long-standing identification with the Russian Orthodox faith. Written by 16 authors, the chapters are mainly based on nineteenth- and twentieth-century materials. The research history and collecting of folklore are also discussed.The historical area of the Ingrians and Votes is located in Ingria, adjacent to St. Petersburg, while the Setos have inhabited both sides of the border of southern Estonia and Russia. All three groups live on the borderline of the Eastern and Western Churches and cultural realms.Currently, the Ingrian and Votic languages are extremely endangered, while the Seto language has approximately 12,000 speakers. There is a high local interest in the maintenance and revitalisation of all three languages and cultural traditions.
This collection deals with cultural studies in the humanities and the methods it uses. Its authors include scholars of ethnology, anthropology, folkloristics, digital culture research, and study of religions. Its chapters address topics of discussion and debate in humanistic culture research and indicate what tools are currently being used to study cultural phenomena. Various phases of the research process are covered, including epistemology, research ethics, techniques of data collection and analysis, the writing process of research plans, and the process of writing up the analysis. The book's authors contribute to our knowledge of changes in research paradigms and agendas, scientific philosophies, ethnographic fieldwork, different modes of writing, materiality, reflexivity, observation, researchers' use of the five senses, digital research, audiovisual techniques of observation, and selected textual methodologies. The book is intended as a textbook and methods guide for students in the fields of cultural research, for postdoctoral researchers, and for more senior researchers.
Saamentutkimus tänään is an introduction to the Sámi studies, i.e. the scientific study of the Sámi people. It gives many-faceted basic information of the Sámi people and presents up-to-date views of the disciplines related to the Sámi studies, e.g. history, archeology, genetics, linguistics, comparative religion, folkloristics, ethnology etc. It provides scientifically based knowledge of the Sámi during the prehistory and pre-Christianity, dealing with reindeer herding, handicraft, the Sámi languages, Sámi literature and art and civil right questions, including participation in the international movement of the indigenous people. All the authors are eminent experts of their scholarly fields, and all the articles have been revised by the Academic representatives of the Sámi themselves - "Teos esittelee saamentutkimuksen keskeisten alojen uusimmat tulokset ja näkemykset ja päivittää saamelaisia ja saamelaiskulttuuria koskevat tiedot genetiikasta kielitieteeseen ja historiasta nykykulttuuriin. Kirjassa perehdytään myös saamelaisten aineelliseen ja henkiseen perinnekulttuuriin: käsityöhön, poronhoitoon, folkloreen, taiteisiin sekä muinais- ja kansanuskoon. Erityisen painon teoksessa saavat ajankohtaiset ihmisoikeus- ja alkuperäiskansakysymykset. Kaikki kirjoittajat ovat alojensa aktiivitutkijoita. Kirja on 1995 julkaistun Johdatus saamentutkimukseen -teoksen kokonaan uudistettu ja huomattavasti laajennettu laitos."
Väitöstutkimus analysoi julkisia poliittisia performansseja poliittisena viestintänä. Poliittiset performanssit voidaan ymmärtää julkisissa tiloissa toimeen pantuina 'näytöksinä', joiden tavoitteena on luoda arkisiin rutiineihin yllättäviä katkoksia ja synnyttää uutta toimintatilaa jonkin yhteiskunnallisen ongelman esiin nostamiseksi. Performanssit synnyttävät katkoksia monin tavoin, mutta erityisen leimallista niille on näkyvän, vallalla olevan visuaalisen järjestyksen murtaminen tuomalla siihen erilaisia 'häiritseviä' (disruptive) elementtejä: resistoivia kehoja, valtaa parodioivia kuvia, karnevalistista protestointia, katuteatteria jne. Poliittisten performanssien viestintä perustuu puheen sijaan tai ohella toimijoiden oman kehon ja sen kantamien erilaisten visuaalisten merkkien julkiseen esittämiseen, joskus hyvin äärimmäisellä tavalla, kuten esimerkiksi nälkälakoissa ja polttoitsemurhissa. Väitöskirjassa tällaista viestintätyyliä kutsutaan visuaaliseksi ja esteettiseksi politikoinniksi. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan useita esimerkkejä performatiivisesta poliittisesta viestinnästä ja kehitetään teoreettisia ideoita sen ominaispiirteiden tulkitsemiseksi. ; In this doctoral thesis I study a phenomenon which I have titled as public political performance. By public political performance I refer to a public event (a 'show', display, demonstration) the purpose of which is to expose in public and challenge those social-political norms, practices, and relations of power which usually remain invisible in the sway of routine political life. I am interested especially in how performance works as a form of non-linguistic, or wider than linguistic, political communication. I theorize and analyze, through several illustrative examples, performances from three perspectives: as corporeal (bodily), visual, and aesthetic communication. In construction of theory I use and partly rework ideas from thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jacques Ranciere. The study shows that public political performance is a sensitive, even volatile phenomenon because it often manifestly exposes the fundamentally violent power structure of society – as when, for example, street demonstrations induce strong counter reactions from the police and political authorities – and puts this order under critical public scrutiny. Political authorities do not take such challenges lightly, which is why public performances sometimes instigate serious political controversies. The key theoretical ideas of the study relate to performance as something done and en/acted. On the one hand, performance discloses the nature of politics as a 'doing.' This means in simple terms that, in order to subsist, the political world needs to be done, performed, and 'iterated,' every time anew. The term performative describes this social-constructivist side of politics. That the constitution of the social and political power is based not on any 'natural' ground but on continuous re/iteration of certain ways and routines is often revealed only when it is visibly and noticeably disrupted. This is what political performance typically does. On the other hand, performance signifies a particular kind of public show which resembles but does not equal theatrical shows. Performance is theatrical in being an 'art-like' communicative act, yet it is more surprising and unpredictable compared to regular theatre and, because of this, usually more difficult to approach and interpret. Political performance as a contingent and sometimes oddly appearing public event with a surprise effect brings forth the importance of disruption for politics. It alerts us to situations where the normalized political performatives are being visibly questioned by bringing into public space – 'in your face' – diverse disrupting elements like resisting bodies, parodying images, and carnevalism. The relationship between these two, performatives and performances, creates an edgy and 'chiasmatic' political space from which much of political life gains its driving force. This basic idea and relationship constitute the key starting point for this study's theoretical reflections. Political performance is an important subject for political studies for several reasons. The purely knowledge-based reason is that that in directing attention to the corporeal and visual aspects of politics and political communication, performance brings into view phenomena and conceptual possibilities which are too often ignored by political researchers and theorists. The relevance of performance for the field can also be justified from another perspective, through reference to its political and democratic significance. The discussions and analyses carried out in the study show that there are political circumstances where citizens see public performance as the only available means of participation in political communication, with other channels of communication forbidden or marginalized. There are also situations where citizens create, through setting up a performance, space for public communication and action where it has not existed before. Political performance as a way of contesting existing political realities can therefore have special value for political freedom. Political and democratic theory needs to understand, I shall argue, also that category of political action which performs political freedom rather than asks for it.
Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan välitystiliasiakkaiden kuvauksia taloudellisen toimijuuden ilmenemisestä ja sen tukemisesta sosiaalityön keinoin välitystiliasiakkuuden aikana. Välitystilipalvelu on sosiaalityön väline, jolla ihmisiä pyritään tukemaan ja vastaamaan heidän taloudellisiin ongelmiinsa. Se on osa taloussosiaalityötä, jossa ihmisen toimeentuloa tutkitaan kokonaisvaltaisesti ja jonka tavoitteena on vahvistaa ihmisen taloudellista toimintakykyä. Välitystilipalvelu on sekä palvelun tuottajalle että asiakkaalle vapaaehtoinen palvelu. Välitystilin tarkoitus on olla lyhytaikainen ratkaisu asiakkaan talouden hallinnan ongelmiin ohjaten asiakasta itsenäiseen selviytymiseen. Tutkielmani teoreettinen viitekehys on Amartya Senin toimintamahdollisuuksien näkökulma. Tutkimus on teoriasidonnainen ja analyysimenetelmänä on abduktiivinen päättely. Aineistosta esiin nousseet taloudellisen toimijuuden kuvaukset on jaoteltu eri ulottuvuuksiin teemoittelun avulla. Aineiston keruu on tapahtunut yksilöhaastatteluilla. Haastattelupyyntö lähetettiin kaikille tutkittavan alueen välitystiliasiakkaille, joiden vastuulle jää yhteydenotto haastatteluajan sopimista varten. Näin varmistuttiin siitä, että haastatteluun tulevat henkilöt ovat vapaaehtoisia ja osallistuvat omasta halustaan. Analyysissa keskitytään etsimään haastateltavien sanoittamia kuvauksia taloudellisen toimijuuden ilmenemisestä ja sen tukemisesta sosiaalityön keinoin välitystiliasiakkuuden aikana. Toimijuus voidaan määritellä monella tavalla, joista tässä työssä hyödynnetään Amartya Senin, Talcott Parsonsin, Anthony Giddensin ja Albert Banduran määritelmiä toimijuudesta. Tutkimuksen tuloksina aineistosta esiin nousevat taloudellisen toimijuuden kuvaukset on jaoteltu taloudellisen toimijuuden ilmenemisen ja taloudellisen toimijuuden tukemisen ulottuvuuksiin. Taloudellinen toimijuus ilmenee asiakkaiden puheessa valinnanvapauden toteuttamisena ja oma-aloitteisuutena. Taloudelliseen toimijuuteen liittyviä haasteita ovat köyhyys ja velkaantuminen sekä vetäytyvä taloudellinen toimijuus. Taloudellista toimijuutta voidaan aineiston perusteella tukea laatimalla asiakkaalle asiakassuunnitelma sekä työskentelemällä asiakkaan kanssa tavoitteellisesti ja säännöllisesti. Johtopäätöksenä esitän, että välitystiliasiakkaiden hyvinvointi syntyy heidän tekemistään valinnoista ja yhteiskunnan rakenteista. He elävät taloudellisessa niukkuudessa, mutta se ei automaattisesti vähennä hyvinvointia. Tulot ja varallisuus toki parantavat ihmisen taloudellista toimintakykyä, mutta ne eivät yksinään riitä takaamaan hyvinvointia. Välitystilitutkimusta ei juurikaan ole tehty, ja sitä olisi hyvä jatkossa tutkia esimerkiksi vaikuttavuuden arvioinnin näkökulmasta. Hyödyllistä olisi myös välitystilipalvelun alueellisen tai valtakunnallisen toimintamallin rakentaminen. ; This study focuses on searching descriptions of the appearance of financial agency and supporting it with the help of social work within mediation account service. The mediation account can be used to assist people in financial distress and address their financial problems. Mediation account service is part of financial social work, which studies a person's income comprehensively and aims at enhancing a person's financial capability. Mediation account is a voluntary service for both the service provider and the customer. It is meant to be a short-term solution to address the customer's financial problems guiding them towards independent survival. The theoretical approach to this study is Amartya Sen's capability approach. My study is theory-connected and the analysis method is abductive deduction. The descriptions of financial agency rising from the research material have been divided into different dimensions with the help of thematization. The research material was gathered via individual interviews. The request to participate was sent to all the mediation account customers in the research area. They were then responsible for contacting me and setting up a date for the interview. This guaranteed that the people participating in this study did so voluntarily and of their own accord. This study focuses on searching descriptions of the appearance and supporting financial agency with the help of social work in the research material. Agency can be defined in many ways. In this study, the definition of agency is based on the definitions of Amartya Sen, Talcott Parsons, Anthony Giddens and Albert Bandura. The descriptions of financial agency rising from the research data will be divided into the dimensions of appearance of financial agency and supporting financial agency. The financial agency appears in customers' speech as executing freedom of choice and initiative-ness. Challenges of financial agency are poverty and indebtedness as well as passive financial agency. Customers' financial agency can be supported with the help of client planning and goal-oriented and regular work with the customer. As a conclusion I state that the well-being of the mediation account customers is formed by the choices they make as well as societal structures. They live in financial austerity, but it does not auto-matically diminish their well-being. Income and wealth improve the financial capability of a person but as such are not enough to guarantee a person's well-being. Mediation account studies are scarce. In the future, it could be studied for example from the aspect of estimating the effectiveness of mediation account service. It could also be useful to create a regional or nationwide mediation account procedure.
