The theme and title of the 100th Yearbook of the Kalevala Society is "Paradigm". Paradigm is a framework of prevalent principles, beliefs, values, and norms, and incorporates ideas about what is correct in terms of theory and methodology. Accordingly, paradigm always leads to struggles of authority in relation to other trends and ways of thinking. This book grapples with the historical, contemporary, and ever-shifting paradigms and methods of cultural research. What was being researched in the early 20th century and how was the research conducted? What happened in the 1960s–1980s in this field of research? What methods do our peers use? What kinds of affiliations and antagonisms emerge with the changing paradigms? And how do the different 'turns' direct research?
The book explores the discourses of modernism, contemporary art and art history writing as well as their interdisciplinary values and boundaries – and cases that do not fit within these boundaries.The articles explore the meanings of junk and relics, high art, design, and the intimate experience of art and public criticism. The themes explored in the book expand our views on the queer potential of colour, the meaning of detail, and the relationships between visual art and writing. The fourteen peer-reviewed case studies in the volume offer new insights from the fields of visual cultural studies, art history and gender studies. The articles in the anthology do not rely strictly on disciplinary boundaries but also open themselves up to broader fields of culture.
The present volume is a multidisciplinary collection of research articles exploring language use, language contact and multilingualism in the history of Turku, the first town in Finland, founded around the turn of the fourteenth century. Consisting of an introduction by the editors and nine case studies in the fields of linguistics, history, archeology, and literary and cultural studies, the volume participates in a wider discussion on multilingual communities while offering a closer look into linguistic encounters in Turku and its immediate vicinity. The volume covers the period from the Middle Ages (c. 1100–1500) to the latter half of the twentieth century. The case studies illustrate the wide array of languages, linguistic varieties and registers that the inhabitants and travellers used in their daily lives, the specific contexts in which certain languages were used, and the effects of these linguistic encounters at personal, social or institutional levels.
"Gendered and sexualized abuse and other forms of violence are visibly present in the culture of the third millennium. Especially bodies that are gendered as female are – both dead and alive – objects of multiple forms of abuse and violence in the texts and imageries of contemporary culture. Men, on the other hand, are often represented as abusive towards women and as the violent gender or, as targets of other men's violence. Structural violence has also an impact on many areas of everyday life, and it is materialized in, for example discrimination and inequality. Gender and Violence: The Ethics and Politics of Reading scrutinizes gendered violence as a complex phenomenon of contemporary culture. The authors study the ways in which ways representations of violence can be read, viewed and received. They also discuss what kind of politics the violent representations implement and actualize, and how they affect their audience. Gender and Violence takes a critical stance on the intersections of gender, power, and violence in literature, film, television and the internet. The analysis focuses on, for example, sci-fi, Nordic Noir and North American comedy series, poems, young adult literature (YA) and nationalist blog texts. The book presents both Finnish and international academic discussions, in which researchers in the fields of gender studies, arts and literature, and cultural studies challenge contemporary English abstract 279 understanding of gender, sexuality, power, and violence. Moreover, Gender and Violence provides tools for critical discussions on violence and in-depth scrutiny about its cost on all of us. Gender and Violence is an anthology of academic research articles. It works well as an academic textbook, but it also provides timely and new knowledge for everyone interested in questions of gender and violence – phenomena that touch upon all of us."
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.
In recent decades, the focus of Folklore Studies has shifted from analysing the products of oral traditions as texts to examining the ways in which people use and produce these items, and the areas of study have broadened to include vernacular cultures and genres in diverse verbal and material forms. As evident from the introduction and twelve chapters of this collection, these interests are today shared by several disciplines that cooperate in the area of cultural studies. This book provides insights into current questions about the "nature" of words: it discusses both the inherent essence of vernacular expression and how that essence is tied to various genre-ecological, performative, and material environments. The chapters include studies on the poetics, form, function, performance, and composition of traditional and new vernacular forms, including explorations of hybridity, materiality, and change, as well as critical examinations of archival practices and publication processes.
This book is the first Finnish-language collection of research on superdiversity. At the core of the book is the growing migration to Finland since the turn of the 1990s and its numerous effects on Finnish society. The interdisciplinary examination of superdiversity is important at the current moment: Finland as a society has reached the point where certain social categories, such as ethnic background, country of birth, mother tongue or gender, are not necessarily sufficient to understand the increased diversity and its consequences. The book consists of a comprehensive introduction to the topic and thirteen chapters. In Finland, research on superdiversity is carried out especially in critical sociolinguistics and applied language studies, education, cultural studies, social sciences, and urban studies. Therefore, these disciplines are strongly represented in the collection, and the chapters approach a variety of topics including refugees' mental health, experiences of multilingual families, the diversity of education and working life, discursive practices in social media, issues of urban planning and pro-asylum activism.
The volume is a comprehensive handbook of oral history and memory studies in Finland. The Finnish research field has originally emerged at the collaborative intersection of history, folklore studies, and ethnology. Since then, this field has developed into vibrant multi- and cross-disciplinary arena characterized by a strong focus on methodological issues related to memory in culture and theoretical engagement with studies on narration and processes of remembering. The chapters of the book explore the perspectives on the production of memory-based knowledge in oral history interviews and collection campaigns of written reminiscences. Moreover, the book introduces versatile methodological approaches to the study of memory and memories, ranging from narrative to corpus analysis, and investigates the multiple media of remembrance from documentary film to museum exhibition. The chapters of the book also engage the field's disciplinary position and interrogate the potentials and challenges related to the application of the methods of oral history research and the use of memory-based knowledge beyond academia in political, societal, and community-based projects.
Narrative After Postmodernism takes a critical and practical look at the cultural theories of what comes after postmodernism or the postmodern. Alongside contemporary literary authors, the anthology studies diverse contemporary textual phenomena from TV shows to online fan theories and survivalist blogs. The essays compiled in this anthology tentatively apply the theories of the post-postmodern to contemporary texts to see how they might open up for analysis within their new theoretical frameworks or challenge them.The introduction, co-written by all the authors of this volume, introduces the most influential theories of post-postmodernism and contextualizes them within broader intellectual trends of the early 21st Century. The three essays comprising the first part of the volume discuss some of the theories of the postmodern in relation to contemporary works that seem to challenge them. Yet they also strive to clarify and sharpen some of the ideas proposed in the theories of the post-postmodern.The second part of the volume aims to show that it is not only the contemporary texts that move beyond the postmodern – the ways of reading literature and interpreting artworks in different media are also changing. The essays in the second part of the volume inquire about the effects of the contemporary literary culture on the methods of interpretation and ways of reading.
The volume Remembered and Imagined Soviet Union addresses memories, conceptions, and images relating to the Soviet past from the perspective of cultural memory. The book explores how the Soviet Union has been recalled and how it has been depicted in cultural products like literature, museum exhibitions, art and the media. Instead of trying to say what the Soviet Union was, the book analyses the ways in which Finns, Russians and Estonians have viewed the Soviet past at different times. The book answers the following questions: What is remembered about the Soviet past? How has the country been represented in various cultural texts? What is forgotten or not talked about? The book consists of chapters by scholars of history, literature and art studies. They look at key themes of the Soviet past in the framework of cultural memory, with topics including space conquest, the superiority of the hockey team, known as the "Red machine", political propaganda, and persecution of minorities.
"Health and healing have been central concerns throughout human history. Individuals and societies have devised multiple ways to health. Healing practices have often been linked to questions of knowledge, power, politics, and morals. The limits of acceptable healing have been contested by men and women, priests and doctors, elites and commoners, indigenous peoples and colonialists. Successful healers have sometimes been labeled as witches, quacks, or dangerous political agitators. The contributions in this volume concentrate on healing in global history with case studies about Finland, southern Asia and Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and North America. They discuss medical pluralism and consider the arguments for and against individual healers and different healing systems. The authors focus on the popularity of medical systems, the appropriation and adoption of healing practices in cross-cultural contexts, and the prohibition of certain forms of healing. "
The growth of cultural diversity in Finnish social and health care workplaces challenges to develop not only ways of working and interaction but also organizational structures. Work communities as a whole are facing new challenges. The aim of this book is to help work communities develop well-functioning practices for intercultural work. Effective interaction between cultures provides the foundation not only for the well-being of staff and customers, but also for the financial success of the organization. The paper presents five action studies in the social and health care organization, which analyzed the abrasion points of everyday interaction, developed functional practices and corrective measures, and evaluated the effects of interventions. The aim of the project was to bring about structural reforms in support of inter-cultural work, since only the changes would become permanent. - Kulttuurisen monimuotoisuuden kasvu Suomen sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon työyhteisöissä haastaa kehittämään paitsi työskentely- ja vuorovaikutustapoja myös organisationaalisia rakenteita. Työyhteisöt kokonaisuudessaan ovat uusien haasteiden edessä. Tämän teoksen tavoitteena on auttaa työyhteisöjä kehittämään hyvin toimivia käytäntöjä kulttuurien välisen työn arkeen. Toimiva kulttuurien välinen vuorovaikutus luo pohjaa paitsi henkilöstön ja asiakkaiden hyvinvoinnille myös organisaation taloudelliselle menestymiselle. Teoksessa esitellään viidessä sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon organisaatiossa toteutettua toimintatutkimusta, jossa selvitettiin arjen vuorovaikutuksen hankauspisteitä, kehitettiin toimivia käytäntöjä ja korjaavia toimenpiteitä ja arvioitiin interventioiden vaikutuksia. Hankkeen tavoitteena oli saada aikaan kulttuurien välistä työtä tukevia rakenteellisia uudistuksia, sillä vain siten muutoksista tulee pysyviä.
Wieloautorska monografia poddająca oglądowi XX wiek z perspektywy jego znaczenia dla procesu samoidentyfikacji jednostek i/lub społeczności oraz – w przypadku tych drugich – umiejscowienia dwudziestowiecznych wydarzeń w strukturze pojęć kluczowych dla samookreślenia się Słowian. U podstaw prezentowanych tekstów leży założenie, że przeszłość, postrzegana jako ciąg wydarzeń, jest jednym z czynników determinujących tożsamość i definiujących system narodowych wartości, znajdujących odzwierciedlenie w kulturze. Autorzy, odwołując się do narzędzi z warsztatu literaturoznawcy, semiotyka, historyka i kulturoznawcy, dążą do umiejscowienia wydarzeń XX wieku na mapie pamięci współczesnej Europy. Poddają oglądowi zarówno te wydarzenia, które napiętnowały dzieje najnowsze, stając się przyczyną narodowej (lub światowej) traumy (rewolucja lutowa, wybuch II wojny światowej i in.), jak i te, które są wartościowane pozytywnie (zakończenie II wojny światowej, upadek muru berlińskiego, pielgrzymki Jana Pawła II i in.), stając się powodem do dumy. W centrum uwagi znajdują się nie tylko wydarzenia określające obraz Europy w wymiarze polityczno-geograficznym, wyraźnie obecna jest również perspektywa mentalna, która sprzyja dotarciu do źródeł narodowych fascynacji oraz narodowych traum, a także pozwala zrozumieć mechanizmy rządzące tworzeniem mitów i wskazać narzędzia do ich odczytywania, którymi są – często pozornie ukryte – treści odwołujące się do przeszłości. ; This multi-author monograph looks at the 20th century from the perspective of its role in self-identification of individuals and/or communities as well as – in the latter case – of the place occupied by events of the 20th century in the structure of concepts that are key for the self-identification of Slavs. At the heart of each of the presented papers is the premise that the past, seen as a chain of events, is one of the factors determining identity and defining the system of national values which find their reflection in culture. Drawing on the tools of literary studies, semiotics, historiography and cultural studies, the authors undertake to put 20th century events on the map of contemporary European memory. They examine both the events that left a dreadful mark on contemporary history, causing a national (or global) trauma (like the February Revolution or outbreak of World War II) and those seen as positive (like the end of World War II, fall of the Berlin Wall or John Paul II's pilgrimages) and evoking the feeling of pride. At the centre of attention are not only events defining the image of Europe in terms of political geography. Also clearly present is the mental perspective, which fosters recognizing the sources of national fascinations and national traumas, helps understand the mechanisms of myth-making, and points to the tools for reading myths that are constituted by, often seemingly hidden, references to the past.
Finnish psychiatric practice has been heavily based on institutionalization, and mental hospitals have played important cultural and historical roles in Finland. Our multidisciplinary research focuses on the bodily, spatial, affective, and multisensory aspects of the memories of patients, relatives, staff, and their children. The memories were collected and archived in the Finnish Literature Society in 2014–2015. These 92 written pieces cover the period from the 1930s to the 2010s. They reflect significant changes in Finnish psychiatry and provide crucial insights into the various meanings of mental hospitals in people's lives, and the social and cultural forces that shape attitudes to and ideas about mental health problems, psychiatric care, and service users today. Drawing on our backgrounds in history, artistic research, and visual, cultural and literary studies, we provide new ways of reading and interpreting the memories and experiences in psychiatry. The study discusses memory, mental hospitals as lived spaces, the history of Finnish psychiatry and the relation between the memories of the different groups of writers. The chapters approach memories from the perspectives of affects and atmospheres, violence and abuse, everyday life at the hospital in the 1930s, feelings of fear and safety in the memories of the children of the staff, and the historically and culturally contingent tensions between hospitals and homes.