Kategoriarkiv: Publikationer

Disputation: Förhandlingar på dansgolvet. En etnologisk studie av lindy hop och polska – två svenska dansscener (2023)

Disputationer, Doktorsavhandlingar, Publikationer, , , , , , ,

Linnea Helmersson disputerar i etnologi vid Umeå Universitet med avhandlingen Förhandlingar på dansgolvet. En etnologisk studie av lindy hop och polska – två svenska dansscener. Opponent är Oscar Pripp.

När? Fredag 17 november, 2023 kl. 13:00 – 15:00 UTC+1/CET
Var? Humanisthuset, HUM.D.230 (hörsal G)

Abstrakt på engelska:

In Sweden today, many different dances are practiced within distinct scenes, which all have their specific characteristics, norms and ideals. This thesis analyses two of these scenes, polska and lindy hop. They share a similar background of revitalisation and revival. The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse meaning-making processes within the scenes formed around these dance forms. It includes descriptions of historical revival processes but above all analyses of practitioners’ understandings and practices.

The main research data consists of interviews with practitioners, and observations on dance events and courses. Theoretically, the study is based on a view of dance and dancing as cultural expressions whose meanings and forms are constantly being created and recreated. The analysis draws on a wide variety of theories and concepts within the humanities and performing arts research.

The findings show that beliefs about the past emerge as a framework for practice in the two scenes. In the data, tradition and authenticity are important themes, and there is a shared discourse of preservation. Nevertheless, how important history is for today’s practitioners, and how the past is enacted and what meanings are ascribed to it, differs between and within the scenes. Discourses about the past, as well as processes of authentication, are much more prominent within the lindy hop scene, as compared to the polska scene. This includes aspects such as clothing and the making of and expression of gender. A notable difference between the scenes is that learning to dance is formalised through workshops in the lindy hop scene, whereas it is more informal among polska dancers.

The thesis adds to the growing field of studies of revivals of music and dance, and shows how scenes formed around revived dances bear traces of the revival processes while at the same time creating something new in the present.

Avhandlingen kan hittas på diva portal.

Dissertation Defence: Kun kunta lakkasi olemasta: Kylä- ja kotiseutuyhdistykset kuntarakenteen muutoksiin reagoivina toimijoina (2023)

Disputationer, Doktorsavhandlingar, Publikationer, ,

Niina Koskihaara is defending her thesis in ethnology at University of Turku on November 10, 12:00-16:00 at Arje Scheinin -sali, DENTALIA, Lemminkäisenkatu 2, 20520, TURKU. The defence can also be followed online.

Read more here

English abstract:

When the municipality ceased to exist. Village and local heritage associations as reactive actors to municipal mergers

The topic of this study is the restructuring of local government and services in the early 2000s (PARAS project) and its impacts on communities operating at the local level. The research project examines how the reform, initiated at the highest level of state administration, affected the activities and operational environment of village and local heritage associations as well as the cultural processes resulting from the municipal mergers at the local level. The actors involved with village and local heritage associations have most clearly focused their efforts on specific villages and local regions. During the municipal restructuring, concerns were expressed at the local level about the villages and home regions being left behind as neglected and remote villages, causing the sense of place and local identity to disappear.

The study focuses on nine village and local heritage associations that operate in municipalities where the reform was carried out in 2007 and 2009: Mynämäki (Mynämäki and Mietoinen in 2007), Pälkäne (Pälkäne and Luopioinen in 2007), Salo (Salo, Halikko, Kiikala, Kisko, Kuusjoki, Muurla, Perniö, Pertteli, Suomusjärvi and Särkisalo in 2009) and Hämeenlinna (Hauho, Hämeenlinna, Kalvola, Lammi, Renko and Tuulos in 2009). The main data for the research project consists of thematic interviews conducted with association actors. In addition, the interviews include discussions with the main actors in LEADER groups and cultural associations. The method employed for analysing the data is close reading. The theoretical framework guiding the research and shaping the close reading approach is based on Lefebvre’s triad of social space, which adopts the perspective of viewing the municipality as a conceptualised, perceived and lived space.

The study demonstrates that the restructuring of local government and services was not merely about administrative reorganisation but also concretely impacted community activities and the operational environment as a whole. Municipalities are important partners for village and local heritage associations. The municipal restructuring brought about alterations in the forms and prerequisites of such relationships. The operational methods of the new municipality required the associations to adapt, redirect their approaches and engage in advocacy with respect to the municipality. The municipal mergers also triggered processes whereby village and local heritage associations became subject to new expectations, leading them to reconsider the contents of their activities, their (geographical) scope and their inter-associational collaboration. The removal of municipal borders also revealed the ways in which the former ‘boundaries’ between communities had impacted municipal relations.

The characteristics of places, family and friendship ties, as well as involvement in associations, serve as factors emotionally connecting associational actors at the local level. The interviewees’ descriptions of their personal local identities appear more fluid and shifting in the study than their identities at the community level, whose modes and areas of operation are defined more narrowly. People are the most significant resource in association activities, but they also pose a threat to the continuation of operations if associations fail to attract new participants. Changes that impact residents’ everyday lives at the local level motivate people to participate in association activities.

The thesis can be found here.

Enabling sustainable visits (2023)

Antologier, Publikationer, ,

Enabling sustainable visits in an anthology edited by Mathias Cöster, Sabine Gebert Persson and Owe Ronström.

About the book:

A large number of destinations around the world are struggling with the delicate balance of developing tourism and the hospitality industry in a sustainable way. The challenge for many destinations is to find a way forward, for existing and new jobs, to contribute to economic growth and for the preservation of the cultural heritage. At the same time, with more visitors there are increased risks of negative impact on society, the environment, and, not least, on the cultural heritage that for many visitors is a reason to travel.

This anthology approaches the challenges facing tourism and the hospitality industry by emphasizing insights that can enable the necessary transition to sustainable visits. Through twelve chapters, experienced researchers from different disciplines discuss empirical studies of visits in the broad sense. Their analyses cover central themes in tourism and hospitality studies, i.e. tourism, destinations and destination management, host-guest relations, imageries, representation, and sustainability.

The book can be found here.

Den medicinska spärren – smitta och gränsarbete i skuggan av Förintelsen (2023)

Monografier, Publikationer, , , ,

Boken Den medicinska spärren – smitta och gränsarbete i skuggan av Förintelsen är skriven av Britta Zetterström Geschwind, Markus Idvall och Fredrik Nilsson och utges av Makadam förlag.

Sommaren 1945 fördes tusentals överlevande från det före detta koncentrationslägret Bergen-Belsen till Sverige i en räddningsaktion genomförd av United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) i samarbete med Svenska Röda Korset och svenska myndigheter. Folke Bernadottes omtalade vita bussar var inte den enda svenska humanitära insatsen vid denna tid.

Mottagandet av de medtagna och ofta sjuka flyktingarna ansågs innebära risker för smittspridning, som hanterades genom upprättandet av en medicinsk spärr. Det gränsarbete som krävdes för att upprätthålla spärren bestod bland annat av närgångna kroppsliga undersökningar, DDT-behandlingar mot ohyra och kontroller av de överlevandes sexuella hälsa och moral.

I denna bok redogör tre etnologer för den medicinska spärrens utformning och implementering. Läsaren får följa läkares, sjuksköterskors och kuratorers vardagliga arbete med de överlevande — inledningsvis i det för ändamålet upprättade Swedish Transit Hospital i Lübeck, därefter på mottagningsstationer, karantäner, beredskapssjukhus och förläggningar runt om i Sverige.

Författarna belyser huvudsakligen den svenska personalens arbete, men de överlevande ses inte som passiva offer. I boken framgår att de utvecklade taktiker som i vissa fall utmanade läkarnas, sjuksystrarnas och kuratorernas möjlighet att styra.

Den medicinska spärren. Smitta och gränsarbete i skuggan av Förintelsen är den första systematiska studien av UNRRA-aktionen och en viktig pusselbit i forskningen om Sveriges roll under och efter andra världskriget.

Spill med magiske sirkler. En utforskning av lek-ritual-kontinuumet (2023)

Antologier, Publikationer,

Acta academiae regiae Gustavi Adolphi, nr 165

Diskusjonen om sammenhengene og forskjellene mellom lek og ritual, er gammel i de kulturvitenskapelige fagene. Her tas forholdet opp til en ny vurdering. Målet er å vise kontrastene så vel som møtepunktene ved å undersøke praksiser som er både/og eller verken/eller.
Kapitlene gjør dypdykk i livs- og årshøytider som frierier, russetid, 1. april-spøker og nasjonaldager. De ser på medierte ritualer, vikinglek, lutefiskparader, supporter- og fankulturens lekende rom, og rituell lek eller lekende ritualer i politisk protest så vel som i idrett og underholdning.
Forfatterne drøfter tidligere teoretiske bidrag og går i dybden i gammel og ny empiri. De tilbyr et mangfold av innganger, som bør være til nytte for alle som interesserer seg for, studerer eller arbeider med menneskelivets ritualer og det lekende mennesket.
Boken er redigert av fire erfarne folkloristiske forskere: Audun Kjus, Fredrik Skott, Ida Tolgensbakk og Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch.

Boken kan hittas på Kungliga Gustav Adolfs Akademiens hemsida.

Kutsu osallistua tieteelliseen toimintaan. Etnografisia näkökulmia monitieteisen kyselytoiminnan yhteistyöhön ja käytäntöihin (2023)

Disputationer, Doktorsavhandlingar, Publikationer

Anna Kirveennummi is defending her doctoral thesis ”Kutsu osallistua tieteelliseen toimintaan. Etnografisia näkökulmia monitieteisen kyselytoiminnan yhteistyöhön ja käytäntöihin” in ethnology at University of Turku 16 June 2023 at 12:00.

Read more here.

English summary of the thesis:

An invitation to participate in scientific activity: ethnographic perspectives on collaboration practices in multidisciplinary questionnaire activity

Qualitative thematic inquiries form a specific method for creating research material, comparable to fieldwork, interviews and semi-structured questionnaire forms. The idea behind this method of collection was to send questionnaires published in printed leaflets to people who assisted researchers in providing information about their observations, experiences and memories connected with folk life. The basis of this study is the multidisciplinary and collaborative process of inviting citizens to create a new set of ethnological and sociological collections at the University of Turku. It took shape through the series of questionnaire leaflets Tiedusteluja kansallisten tieteiden alalta (Inquiries from the field of national sciences).

The starting point for my work is the University of Turku TYKL-Collections of the Archives of the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies (HKTL-archives). I examine the series of questionnaire pamphlets as well as related archive materials and discussions. I contemplate how questionnaire activity directed at citizens was planned and realized and on what kinds of social and intellectual interaction, circumstances and practices these forms of collaboration were based. By studying the processes from various ethnographic perspectives I attempt to deepen understanding of the many connections between the methods applied in questionnaire activity, on the one hand, and cultural, societal and scientific changes, on the other.

The series of questionnaire pamphlets was initiated in 1958 by Esko Aaltonen (1893-1966), Professor of Sociology, while he was serving as head of the Department of Sociology and the new Department of Ethnology in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Turku. I have identified the most active period for multidisciplinary collaboration to be 1958–1962, during which time 14 questionnaire pamphlets appeared. They contained a total of 28 questionnaires, of which 12 came from sociology and 13 from ethnology, sometimes in parallel and sometimes consecutively. Three questionnaires intended for rural workers in specific trades were implemented in closer collaboration between the two disciplines. The basis for scientific co-operation was formed through regular work on the methodology of questionnaire leaflets. The invitation process was intended to be accessible and engaging for the respondents as well as to fit the research profiles of the institutions.

Esko Aaltonen and other researchers in the so-called national sciences participated actively in the Finnish Local Heritage Federation (Kotiseutuliitto) and other rural and museum organizations. It was also through these organizations that citizens were familiarized with the process of collecting materials and responding to questionnaires as aspects of knowledge creation and circulation. Prompts and practical instructions for amateur scholars who collected and wrote down responses to the questionnaires were shaped in the guides to local work (Kotiseututyön opas, 1948, 1953, 1963) published by Esko Aaltonen. During the 1950s and 1960s the methodological attention shifted from collection of material to new use contexts for the materials connected with rural sociology and planning the emerging modern society. The polyphony of questionnaire activity can be read in the various research programs that I recognize in the formulation of the questionnaires and prompts. During the 1950s and 1960s as well the significance of field work gradually began to be emphasized and questionnaire activity was modified to be a kind of passive field work conducted in rural communities.

Finally, using selected examples of personal data forms, I contemplate what preconditions for responding were created in survey activity. In the closing discussion I explore the opportunities for analyzing and developing methods of asking in connection, for example, with emerging areas of practice in sustainability and citizen science.

Translation by Kendra Willson

The thesis can be found here.

Rurala stannare : En studie av stannandets dynamik i Österbotten, Finland (2023)

Monografier, Publikationer, , ,

Rurala stannare : En studie av stannandets dynamik i Österbotten, Finland är skriven av Kenneth Nordberg, Karin Sandell och Magnus Enlund.

Att stanna på landsbygden har ansetts vara någonting passivt, i motsats till att flytta därifrån, som setts som en aktiv och mer intressant handling att studera. Den här boken belyser stannandet som en dynamisk och mycket medveten process och ger på så sätt ett nytt perspektiv på landsbygdens utveckling. Att stanna på landsbygden är en aktiv handling genomförd av människor som ofta har alternativ, där vissa faktorer avgör till stannandets fördel.

Boken omfattar fem fallstudier i österbottniska byar med målsättningen att dra mer generella slutsatser om stannade på landsbygden. Studien tar avstamp i en historisk exposé av byarna för att senare analysera de faktorer som varit avgörande för stannande under de senaste årtiondena. De här faktorerna kan ha att göra med platsens kvaliteter, som en vacker natur, tillgång till service och arbetstillfällen, eller en stark gemenskap och sociala sammanhang. Ytterligare en viktig dimension är att människors hembygdskänsla föder en strävan att göra det möjligt att stanna, något som vi ser ett flertal exempel på i bokens fallstudier.

Boken kan hittas här.

Kulttuurien tutkimuksen pedagogiikka (2023)

Antologier, Publikationer

Ethnos toimite 23 is named Kulttuurien tutkimuksen pedagogiikka and edited by Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, Maija Mäki and Pia Olsson.

The book can be found here.

About the book (in Finnish):

”Miten opettaa kulttuurien tutkimusta, jossa keskeisellä sijalla ovat yllättävät kohtaamiset, ennakoimattomat ja luovat prosessit sekä asiantuntijan oma persoona? Pedagogiikan merkitys yliopisto-opetuksessa on viime vuosina korostunut ja tehnyt yksittäisistä kursseista sekä tutkintorakenteista entistä linjakkaampia. Kullakin tieteenalalla on kuitenkin omat pedagogiset kysymyksensä, jotka vaativat tieteenalan asiantuntijuuden ja tiedon muodostuksen syvällistä ymmärrystä.

Kulttuurien tutkimuksen pedagogiikka -teoksessa kulttuurien tutkijat pohtivat oman opettajuutensa lähtökohtia ja tapoja tukea kulttuurien tutkimuksellista asiantuntijuutta. Samalla teoksen artikkelit heijastavat tutkimuksen ja opetuksen vuorovaikutusta ja sitä, miten konkreettisesti ymmärryksemme tiedon muodostuksesta vaikuttaa myös tapoihimme opettaa. Teos tarjoaa käytännönläheisiä näkökulmia siihen, miten kehittää opettajuutta. Se rohkaisee näkemään kulttuurien tutkimuksen uudella tavalla pedagogisista lähtökohdista.”

FFC 326: The Meanings of Enchantment

Monografier, Publikationer, ,

The Meanings of Enchantment: Wondertale Symbolism Revisited by Francisco Vaz da Silva

Read more about the publication here.

This study posits that the meanings of enchantment can be rationally described, but wondertales need to be elucidated in their own terms, as opposed to bringing preset external theories to bear on the stories.

The argument sets out to reveal the symbolic framework of wondertales as a genre. It underlines the stability of symbolic patterns in tales across space and time, as well as the adaptability of the myriad variants to specific historical settings—hence, the evolution of the texts in tune with their contexts.

Going beyond rigid distinctions of oral vs. literary vs. cinematic retellings, this book shows that the comparison of all sorts of variants is helpful to understand the tales. It would not be wrong to say that it proposes a mental ethnography of the wondertale—a cartography of its symbolic landscape—up to the present day. Along the way, it revisits a number of received ideas (such as the centrality of male protagonists, the inherent victimhood of feminine characters, and the immanent misogyny of the tales) in light of oral retellings and older literary strata of the wondertale tradition.