Finnish Lapland is a historical borderland of Finnish and Sámi cultures. Such a region offers various social-political identifications for people to choose: people may see it possible to identify as Finnish, Laplanders, Lappish or Sámi, for instance. However, the choices have social and political limits, and some identifications are more contested than others. The book examines the processes of identifications in the middle parts of Lapland, just south of the region defined as Sámi homeland in Finland. While the study reveals differences and nuances in people's thinking, it also shows that there is a recognizable sense of shared cultural specifity around the region. Lapland is conceptualized as an extraordinary place with unusual nature and history, characterized by particular livelihoods (such as reindeer herding) and lively cultural interaction. The book concludes that while Lapland is extraordinary as a historical dwelling region of indigenous Sámi, it may be politically significant to recognize it as a unique borderland of cultures with features of its own.
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.
The edited volume Archives and the Cultural Heritage focuses on archives as institutions and to their tense relationship with archives as material. These dynamics are discussed in respect of the past, the present, and the future. The focus lies in the mechanisms the Finnish archive institutions have utilised when taking part in forming the cultural heritage and in debating the importance of the private archives in society. Within social sciences and history from the early 1990s onwards, the effects of globalisation have been seen as a new focal point for research. Momentarily, the archives saw the same paradigm shift as the focus of the archival studies proceeded from state to society. This brought forth the notion that the values of society are reflected in the acquisition of archival material. This archival turn draws attention to the archives as entities formed by cultural practices. The volume discusses cultural heritage within Finnish archives with diverse perspectives and from various time periods. The key concepts are cultural heritage and archives – both as institution and as material. Articles review the formation of archival collections spanning from the 19th to the 21st century and highlight that the archives have never been neutral or objective actors; rather, they have always been an active process of remembering and forgetting, a matter of inclusion and exclusion. The focus is on private archives and on the choices that guided the creation of the archives and the cultural perceptions and power structures associated with them. Although private archives have considerable social and research value, and although their material complements the picture of society provided by documentary data produced by public administrations, they have only risen to the theoretical discussions in the 21st century. The authors consider what has happened before the material ends up in the archive, what happens in the archive and what can be deduced from this. It shows how archival solutions manifest themselves, how they have influenced research and how they still affect it. One of the key questions is whose past has been preserved and whose is deemed worthy of preservation. Under what conditions have the permanently preserved documents been selected and how can they be accessed? In addition, the volume pays attention to whose documents have been ignored or forgotten, as well as to the networks and power of the individuals within the archival institution and to the politics of memory. The Archives and the Cultural Heritage is an opening to a discussion on the mechanisms, practices and goals of Finnish archival activities. It challenges archival organisations to reflect on their own operating models and to make visible their own conscious or unconscious choices. It raises awareness of the formation of the Finnish documentary cultural heritage, produces new information about private archives and participates in the scientific debate on the changing significance of archives in society. The volume is related to the Academy of Finland research project "Making and Interpreting National Pasts – Role of Finnish Archives as Networks of Power and Sites of Memory" (no 25257, 2011–2014/2019), University of Turku. Project partners Finnish Literature Society (SKS) and Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS).
This edited book is the third in a series of yearbooks that introduces the principles and applicability of the method of empathy-based stories. The book presents ten empirical studies which all use this method as a tool for data collection. In addition, the work examines the reliability of the method of empathy-based stories as a method and as part of qualitative research.
The research articles in the book provide a current overview of the change in different work and operating environments. These environments include various educational institutions from elementary school to universities, social media, and human resource management. Studies examine the social inclusion, participation and agency of pupils, students, young people, and professionals, as well as the professional and ethical challenges of those working in new environments. The method of empathy-based stories is used to observe, for example, university students' interpretations of involvement in the curriculum process, pupils' views on co-teaching, different forms of agency of young people who experience sexual harassment online, and the subjectivity of recruiters and the reasons for recruitment choices.
Methodologically, the book focuses on the reliability of the method of empathy-based stories and considers the characteristics of the method among qualitative research methods. Reflecting on the research articles, the work discusses what kind of requirements and challenges the method poses for both the researcher and the respondents. The book provides guidelines for evaluating the reliability of the method of empathy-based stories, while participating also in a general discussion of the reliability, potential, and limitations of qualitative research.
The book indicates how the method of empathy-based stories can be applied to a wide variety of research in different contexts. The strength of the method is its ability to utilize the respondents' imagination, thus providing the researchers with opportunities to find new perspectives and invent propositions. The book also provides practical examples of how the method can be used in research. - Kasvatusinstituutiot peruskoulusta yliopistoon ovat jatkuvan muutoksen keskiössä. Globaalit ja paikalliset yhteiskunnalliset muutokset, kuten esimerkiksi sosiaalisen median levittäytyminen osaksi arkea tai synnytyssairaaloiden keskittäminen, asettavat ammattilaisille uusia osaamisvaatimuksia sekä eettisiä haasteita. Kokoomateoksen kymmenessä tutkimusartikkelissa tarkastellaan eläytymismenetelmän avulla näiden muuttuvien ympäristöjen vaikutusta niissä toimivien ihmisten arkeen.
Tutkimusartikkeleissa käsitellään esimerkiksi oppilaiden näkemyksiä yhteisopettajuudesta, kätilöiden osaamista, rekrytoijien ammattitaitoa sekä seksuaalista häirintää verkossa kohtaavien nuoren toimijuutta. Menetelmällisen painotuksensa ansiosta teosta voi hyödyntää myös eläytymismenetelmän soveltamistapoja kuvaavana oppikirjana.
Teos on kolmas osa vuosikirjasarjassa, joka esittelee eläytymismenetelmän käyttöä tutkimusmenetelmänä. Teos osallistuu ajankohtaiseen keskusteluun laadullisen tutkimuksen luotettavuudesta hahmottamalla menetelmän käytettävyyden mahdollisuuksia ja rajoja sen metodologisten erityispiirteiden kautta.
