Suchergebnisse

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.

"Drawing on the debate on mediatization of politics this study identifies cultural meanings, institutional practices and styles of argumentation as three theoretical dimensions that illuminate both the construction of journalistic publicity and its potential uses in political action. Based on the theoretical model, environmental politics is identified as a specific context for mediatization. In environmental politics, the interplay of cultural meanings, institutional practices and styles of argumentation define the construction and use of journalistic publicity in a way that differs from other fields of politics.

The empirical part of this study analyzes the newspaper coverage of three Finnish environmental conflicts from 1971, 1994 and 2012. The theoretical model is transformed into an analytical framework that focuses on discursive construction of the conflicts (cultural meanings), journalistic frames, narration and opinion-giving in the coverage of the conflicts and the publicity practices adopted by actors during the conflicts (institutional practices) and legitimation of arguments (styles of argumentation).

According to this study, the relation between media and politics in the field of environmental politics is defined by the increasing cultural significance of environmental protection from the 1970s to the present. In the newspaper coverage of the three environmental conflicts studied, changes on the frames, narration and opinion-giving of journalism resonated with this cultural change. However, the significance of environmental protection in the framing, narration and opinion-giving of journalism was greater in the national newspaper studied compared to the local newspapers selected based on their proximity to the conflict sites. Styles of argumentation appeared to be more case dependent. The increasing cultural significance of environmental protection did not have a clear effect on how arguments were legitimated. "

"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.
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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.

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.

Tämän Pro-gradu tutkielman tarkoituksena oli selvittää varusmiespalveluksen ensimmäisen 9 viikon vaikutusta veren ja syljen kortisolin lepoarvoihin, kortisolin vastetta harjoitteluun sekä korrelaatioita seerumin ja syljen kortisolin välillä eri viikoilla ja päivän aikana. Tutkittavina olivat 41 varusmiestä Kainuun Prikaatista (ikä19.6 ± 0.3 v). Varusmiehet suo-rittivat 45-minuuttia kestävän submaksimaalisen marssitestin viikoilla 2,4,7 ja 9. Syljen ja seerumin kortisoli mitattiin aamulla heti heräämisen jälkeen, ennen harjoitusta ja välittömästi harjoituksen jälkeen. Psyykkistä kuormittumista tutkimuksen aikana mitattiin lyhennetyllä 26 kysymyksen POMS kyselyllä, jonka tarkoituksena oli selvittää psyykkinen kuormitus varusmiespalvelun alussa sekä mielialan muutokset peruskoulutuskauden aikana. Kortisolin aamupitoisuuksien havaittiin laskevan viikosta 2 koko tutkimuksen ajan (p<0.001), syljestä mitattuna. Seerumista mitattu kortisolin aamupitoisuus laski merkitsevästi 7 viikon harjoittelun jälkeen (p<0.01). Kortisolipitoisuuden vaste submaksimaaliseen marssitestiin laski merkitsevästi viikolla kaksi seerumista mitattuna (p<0.05), syljen kor-tisolipitoisuus myös laski, mutta ei tilastollisesti merkitsevästi. Syljen ja seerumin välillä havaittiin korrelaatio levossa (r=0.49 - 0.85, p<0.001 - 0.023), ennen submaksimaalista harjoitusta (r=0.46 - 0.79, p<0.001 - 0.043), ja harjoituksen jälkeen (r=0.65 - 0.84, p<0.001 - 0.002). Negatiivista mielialaa kuvaavat depressio ja hämmennys laskivat peruskoulutuskauden alusta viikkoon 9 (p<0.01 - 0.001), myös positiivista mielialaa kuvaavan elinvoimaisuuden väheneminen (p<0.05). Tutkimustulosten perusteella syljen kortisolipitoisuudet heijastavat hyvin seerumin kor-tisolipitoisuuksien muutoksia elimistössä sekä levossa että rasituksessa. Mielialan vaihteluita mittaavan POMS-kyselyn perusteella ensimmäinen viikko varusmiespalvelua on henkisesti kuormittavaa. Tätä havaintoa tukee myös korkeampi aamun kortisolipitoisuus varusmiespalveluksen ensimmäisen viikon alussa verrattuna tutkimuksen muihin viikkoihin. ; The main purpose of this study was to examine correlations between serum and saliva cortisol at rest and in response to submaximal exercise during the first 9-week of military service. Changes in the mood were also measured by a shortened POMS-questionnaire to examine the psychological stress, as well as observe changes in the mood state. Healthy male subjects (n=41, aged 19.3 ±0.3) from Signal Battalion Northern Finland par-ticipated in the present study. Conscripts performed 45-minute submaximal marching exercise in the weeks 2, 4, 7 and 9. Serum and saliva cortisol samples were measured immedi-ately after an overnight fast at rest, two hours after a light breakfast before the exercise (pre-exercise) and immediately after the exercise (postexercise). Basal saliva cortisol concentration decreased significantly from week 2 during the entire study (p<0.001). The serum cortisol concentration decreased after 7 weeks of training (p<0.05). In response to submaximal exercise, the serum cortisol concentration decreased significantly (p<0.05) at week 2. The saliva cortisol concentration also decreased, but not statistically significantly. Correlations between the serum and saliva cortisol levels were observed at rest (r=0.49 - 0.85, p<0.001 - 0.023), pre-exercise (r=0.46 - 0.79, p<0.001 - 0.043) and post-exercise (r=0.65 - 0.84, p<0.001 - 0.002). Depression and confusion, which indicate negative mood states, decreased from the beginning of the military service to week 9 (p<0.01 - 0.001). Positive state vigour also decreased (p<0.05). The present study indicates that the saliva measurements of the cortisol reflect serum cortisol concentration at rest and in response to exercise. According to POMS-questionnaire, the first week of the basic military training is mentally stressful. This is supported by the fact, that basal cortisol concentration was higher in the beginning of the military service compared the rest of the service.

Turkey first applied for EU membership in 1987 and started negotiations for full membership in October 2005 after lengthy and challenging negotiations between EU member states. This master's thesis attempts to examine the relationship between the negotiations for EU membership that are going on between Turkey and the EU Commission and the public discussion on the subject. The research material consists of selected posts on the Financial Times discussion forum and the Acquis communautaire and Copenhagen criteria. By comparing the research material this thesis attempts to investigate if the public deliberation and official negotiations focus on the same issues and requirements for membership. The theoretical background for this analysis is deliberative democracy, according to which public debate should be a prerequisite for agenda setting and decision making. The findings of the thesis reveal that the public discussion does touch on the acquis communautaire and Copenhagen criteria to some degree, but the public is also concerned with non-acquis issues such as the culture and history. A unique feature of the accession negotiations is also the amount of commentary from heads of state regarding the negotiations, which was also noted in the research material. In the light of deliberative democratic theory it can be noted that the public may take part in the discussion over Turkey's membership, but it has little or no chances of setting the agenda for the negotiations.

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."

This book [Mediatized power and the return of the political] describes Finnish decision-makers' relationship with the media. It is based on surveys in 2009 and 2019. In 2009 there were 419 and in 2019 484 respondents, all of them having an influential position in some of the eight societal sectors covered in the study. The results show a moderate change from a consensus-oriented and networking decision-making culture towards a more ideologic and power-based way of negotiating. However, it seems that this has not affected how open or transparent the negotiation-processes are or how prone the decision-makers are to leak confidential information. The decision-makers' relationship with media publicity has become more professional and strategic. The results point to an increased role of social media in communications management while the role of the news media seems to be diminishing. Even though the decision-makers view publicity as an even more risky and strategic arena of political struggle than they did before, they also seem now acknowledge more clearly the rational aspects of journalism. The self-reported role of media publicity as a source of personal authority has somewhat diminished while there seems to be no change in how prone the decision-makers think they are for the impacts of media publicity.

This paper is an analysis of the foreign Aid Policies of two OECD Development Assistance Committee member countries – Finland and Ireland. The analysis reveals that both Finland and Ireland share high principles on their relations with the developing world, although their current policy outlooks appear to differ significantly. Despite Finland's good economic performance and prosperity largely generated by the global demand and market access, the government has so far failed to include the increasing of ODA on its priority agenda. In addition to the declining commitment, the selection criteria for Finnish aid recipients appears to be partially commercially motivated. Ireland on the other hand has a solid record of targeting the poorest of the poor with its development assistance and has recently increased development country focus in national policies. The challenge for Ireland is the effective utilisation of these funds and even more importantly keeping the government's public, international commitment to the 0,7 percent recommendation level despite the possible future slowdown of the economy.

VTT Working Papers 44 ; VTT on selvittänyt yritysjohtajien näkemyksiä Suomen T&K-ympäristön nykyisestä tilasta ja tulevaisuudesta. Tarkoituksena on saada tarkempaa tietoa siitä, miten Suomi selviää globalisaation haasteista tänään ja tulevaisuudessa. Merkittäväksi nousi ennen kaikkea suomalaisten yritysten tutkimus- ja kehitystyön (T&K) investointien jakaantuminen Suomen ja ulkomaiden välillä. Selvityksen vastaajiksi valittiin toimitusjohtajia liikevaihdoltaan suurimmista suomalaisista yrityksistä (50) ja kansainvälistyvistä innovatiivisista pk-yrityksistä (160). Vastausprosentti oli 49. Selvitys tehtiin yhteistyössä Zef Solutions Oy:n kanssa 29.12.2005-10.1.2006. Selvityksen mukaan suomalaisten yritysten T&K-investoinneista 56 prosenttia päätyy nykyään kotimaahan, mutta kuuden vuoden päästä osuus on enää vain 46 prosenttia. ; VTT has inquired executives' views on the current state and future prospects of Finnish R&D environment. The aim was to get detailed information on, how Finland will confront the globalisation challenges today and in coming years. The division of R&D between domestic and foreign location turned into one of the most significant issues. The CEOs of largest Finnish companies (50) and innovative internationalising SMEs (160) constituted the population of respondents. Total response rate climbed into 49 percent. The study was conducted in co-operation with Zef Solutions Oy 29.12.2005-10.1.2006. According to analysis at the moment 56 percent of Finnish companies R&D investments are made in home country as the amount in six years time will be only 46 percent.

The Centre Party of Finland was represented in almost all cabinets for decades, and it often held the post of prime minister during the reign of President Urho Kekkonen. When Kekkonen's deteriorating health forced him to resign in 1981, the Centre Party, formerly the Agrarian Union, was in front of the crisis. The party was deeply divided along the lines of who would be the best candidate to succeed Kekkonen. The schism had prevailed for years, and contemporaries suspected the party would split up or at least lose its dominant position in Finnish politics. Besides, the numbers of core supporters making up the party, agrarians, were constantly diminishing. In addition, the Finnish party system was in a state of flux. The Finnish People's Democratic League was in a deep downward spiral, while the Conservative Party's support was ascendant. The power struggle between the three 'big' parties, the Centre Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party, was fierce. The study describes and analyses how the Center Party survived the challenges it faced. How was the cohesion of the party rebuilt and maintained? How did the Centre Party manage to survive the inter-party contests and end up being the strongest party in the elections of 1991? The study is firmly based on source material from the party organization of the Centre Party and other relevant political actors, such as President Mauno Koivisto. The book provides new information on both Finnish domestic and foreign politics and the power struggles among the parties and leading political figures.

Food justice denotes both a social movement and an academic discourse of theorizing what constitutes a fair food system where the benefits and harms of food production and consumption are distributed equally and where every human being has a right to food. In the general discourse of food justice, a just food system is also assumed to promote the sustainability of food systems. In this article, I point out the problems of this assumption by revealing the tensions between the social and environmental aspects of justice in food systems. They relate largely to the fact that local food is not synonymous for environmentally sustainable and low-carbon food, yet the food justice discourse has assumed that re-localization of food systems guarantees its environmental soundness. Another, related tension concerns the democratization of the food system that may aggravate the environmental burdens of the food system in certain conditions when not paired with education and scientific knowledge. I illustrate how the conflicts between various claims for justice emerge, how they could be avoided, and I also discuss how the society could foster the emergence of food citizenship that would promote justice and sustainability in food systems. Keywords: food justice, environmental sustainability, local food, food democracy ; Ruokaoikeudenmukaisuus viittaa ruokajärjestelmän reiluuteen eli siihen, miten oikeudenmukaisesti ruoan tuotannon, prosessoinnin, kaupan ja kuluttamisen hyödyt ja haitat jakaantuvat ja miten yhdenvertainen mahdollisuus ihmisillä on riittävään ja kulttuurisesti hyväksyttävään ravitsemukseen. Ruokaoikeudenmukaisuuden diskurssissa on vallinnut oletus, että ruokajärjestelmän oikeudenmukaisuus kulkee käsi kädessä järjestelmän kestävyyden kanssa. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelen ruokaoikeudenmukaisuuden suhdetta ruokajärjestelmän ekologiseen kestävyyteen ja osoitan suhteen olevan jännitteinen tavoilla, jotka ovat toistaiseksi jääneet lähes huomiotta. Erityisesti tarkastelen lähiruoan ekologista kestävyyttä, joka on otettu usein annettuna oikeudenmukaisuuden diskursseissa: artikkelissa osoitan tämän oletuksen ongelmallisuuden. Toinen samankaltainen jännite liittyy ruokademokratian lisäämiseen, joka ei välttämättä paranna ruokajärjestelmän kestävyyttä vaan saattaa joissain tapauksissa jopa hidastaa ruokajärjestelmän kestävyystransitiota. Lopussa pohdin, miten artikkelissa tunnistettujen jännitteiden kanssa voidaan tulla toimeen ja miten ruokademokratiaa voitaisiin lisätä tavalla, joka tukee sekä oikeudenmukaisuutta että ekologisesti kestävän ruokajärjestelmän rakentamista. Avainsanat: ruokaoikeudenmukaisuus, ekologinen kestävyys, lähiruoka, ruokademokratia

"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 master's thesis approaches the debate around biotechnology, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the notion of food sovereignty as they are addressed by an Indian, food sovereignty activist group called Navdanya. Basing on the material produced by Navdanya, I am determining, by the means of a theory guided content analysis, what kind of an alternative food sovereignty is. Furthermore, I am examining how food sovereignty can be considered as a means of resistance to the impacts of the GMOs in India. I am arguing that the introduction of the GMOs to India created an opportunity to govern populations and furthermore life and nature. I am examining this by utilising Michel Foucault's theory of biopolitics as a theoretical framework. In order to find out how governance and resistance are practiced, I utilise Foucault's notions of truth and power by illustrating how they can be utilised as a means to create governance and resistance. Therefore, I formulated a "truth regime of biotechnology" to represent the governance, operated by the actors supporting the utilisation of the GMOs, as well as to describe how the governance is created and justified under the regime. As a means of resistance, Navdanya produces alternative truths and puts into practice an alternative of food sovereignty – "the new politics of truth". Navdanya succeeds in its resistance by managing to create the alternative truth of food sovereignty, which does not utilise or reproduce the truths of the biotechnology regime. Navdanya does this by managing to detach the power of the biotechnology regime's truths from their economic and political roles they play in society. The traditional complexity with resistance, in relation to the State of India, is present, which can be however explained by utilising the new ways in approaching the notion of resistance in the context of the Global South.