DOCSLIB.ORG

Ilona Salomaa Rafael Karsten

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ilona Salomaa Rafael Karsten View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto ILONA SALOMAA RAFAEL KARSTEN (1879-1956) AS A FINNISH SCHOLAR OF RELIGION THE LIFE AND CAREER OF A MAN OF SCIENCE Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XII, on the 4th of May, 2002 at 10 o´ clock. ISBN 952-91-4423-7 (volume) ISBN 952-10-0409-6 (PDF) The University Press, Helsinki 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The present study has benefited enormously from the help and support of various people and institutions to whom I am greatly obliged. I regret that it is impossible to name here all who have helped me. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance, advice, criticism and patience of the following people: Professor Juha Pentikäinen, Professor René Gothóni, Professor Emeritus Åke Hultkrantz (Sweden), Docent Christer Lindberg (Sweden), Dr. Kirsti Suolinna, Lic.Phil. Riku Hämäläinen, Marja Jalava MA, Dr. Tom Sjöblom, Dr. Anja Nygren, Eva Karsten MA (Sweden), the late Rolf Karsten, Mrs. Maggie Karsten-Sveander (Sweden), Satu Hietanen MA, Päivi Ritvo, M.Ed., and the personnel of the Helsinki University Library, the Gothenburg Ethnographical Museum, the Gothenburg University Archives, and the British Library. My best thanks are also due to Virginia Mattila MA and Marjut Heinonen MA for correcting the manuscript as regards language, and for most valuable help in regarding the proofs. Any mistakes which remain are, of course, my own. Lastly, I add my sincere thanks for my family and friends.You have made the writing of this study a true journey of personal discovery, that is, the moments of delight and despair which you have shared with me have not always been the easiest. First of all, thanks to my husband Tuukka and my six-year-old daughter Silja, who has promised not to be a researcher in her future. I express my deepest gratitude also to my parents Eila and Mikko Joutsi, who, like my husband, have done the most strenuous part in coping with me during these years. I extend these thanks also to my parents-in-law Riitta-Liisa and Juhani Salomaa and to my aunts Ms. Irkka Joutsi, M.Sc. Hilkka Alkio and Mrs. Pirkko Siltanen and their families. Lastly, my best thanks go to Milja, Kikka, Eveliina, Eija, Anne, Elina, Tuija & Ben, Teija & Riku, Leena, Anne, and Annukka (the great group of social psychologists) and last but not least to Sami, my very best friend. The research for this book was funded principally by grants from the Emil Aaltonen Foundation and the Finnish Konkordia Foundation. 4 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Aim and Background of the Study 5 1.2. Previous Studies 7 1.3. Framing the Problem 12 1.4. Methods of Investigation 15 1.4.1. Hermeneutic Understanding of Historical Religious Material 15 1.4.2. The Study of the Spiritual Growth of an Individual 24 1.5. Material of the Study 32 2. RAFAEL KARSTEN´S SPIRITUAL GROWTH IN TERMS OF HIS BIOGRAPHY 2.1. The Intellectual Heritage of Childhood Home 43 2.2. Rafael Karsten´s Spiritual Growth and Life 52 2.3. Post Scriptum 95 3. THE TERMS OF REFERENCE OF RAFAEL KARSTEN´S COMPARATIVE RELIGION 3.1. The Profession 95 3.2. The System 104 3.3. Brief Abstract 174 4. RAFAEL KARSTEN´S THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF COMPARATIVE RELIGION 1900-1910 4.1. Article 174 4.2. Doctoral thesis 185 4.3. The Polemic on the Doctrine and Institutions of Christianity 198 4.3.1. Society 198 4.3.2. Book 216 4.4. Brief Abstract 244 5. RAFAEL KARSTEN AND THE TESTING OF A THEORY 1911-1956 5.1. Terra Incognita and Amerindian Religions 245 5.1.1. Selecting the Site 245 5.1.2. An Ethnologist at Work 255 5.1.3. Testing a Theory 271 5.2. The Religion of the Samek 294 5.2.1. Background 294 5.2.2. Main Principles 297 5.3. Brief Abstract 307 6. CONCLUSION - The Meaning of Rafael Karsten´s Conception of Religion for His Comparative Religion 308 SOURCES AND LITERATURE APPENDICES 5 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Aim and Background of the Study The purpose of this study is to comprehensively analyse Rafael Karsten (1879-1956) as a Finnish scholar of religion, an aspect which has gone almost unnoticed. I say “comprehensively” because of my Descartesian inclination to make my studies so inclusive that I can be sure that I have taken into account all that is essential and relevant (René Descartes in Discours de la méthode, 1637) (1). I believe in details, as did Rafael Karsten and Edward Westermarck one hundred years ago. I believe in the ultimate meaning of matter, as the Swedish scholar Christer Lindberg who urged me very early in my study to “dig up” everything necessary as thoroughly as possible. I believe that via the details I am on my way to profound understanding. To some people this may sound megalomaniac, for me it only means a precise and conscientious historical analysis. In the first place, Rafael Karsten has a widespread reputation as a researcher of South American indigenous cultures. Today, his contribution to our knowledge of South American Indians is considered wide-ranging and valuable. Although Rafael Karsten is known as a sociologist and a philosopher he is, in my opinion, best known as a scholar of religion as this depicts his scholarly career most accurately. Rafael Karsten and his theoretical constructs was relegated to an inferior position after World War II. Gradually, Karsten became a humanistic classic and a household name, but was in spite of that a truly forgotten figure. The fundamental reason for the neglect was the rapidly changing climate of the scholarly world. After World War II, modern Parsonian functionalism arrived in Finland. Then, the sociologists were interested in events and features inside industrializing society. After the war, crime statistics showed a worrying rise in violent crime. It was not only a job for the police, but also an obligation of social scientists to prevent crimes. The war meant an enormous change in Finnish society and its individual members since the hostilities not only created a general need but also re-wrote many individual stories which could be called personal tragedies. The war made many people change their philosophies of life while the fundamental questions were how to ensure permanent peace in the world, an efficient security policy, and economic primary protection. This tendency was also reflected in Finnish ethnology and comparative religion. Inevitably, the days of exotic travels were a thing of the past. As a result, sociologists and anthropologists turned their interest to the inner structures of Finnish society. During the last two decades, in the 1980s and 1990s, the scholarly literature on Rafael Karsten has increased. This increase indicates a growing interest in Rafael Karsten´s lifework (and the Westermarckian school) among the older and the younger generation of contemporary scholars. This scholarly interest may be understood as a revival. Yet, although Rafael Karsten´s scholarly figure has undergone a subtle restoration, little attention has been paid to him as a scholar of religion. What is it in our time that has re-awakened the scholars´ interest 6 in the old Westermarckians? The answer probably lies in the intellectual and ideological transition which has taken place in Finland in the recent years. The fantasy and complexity of postmodernism has disconnected the scholars from their academic past. Gradually, the importance of knowing how one´s subject area originated has gained popularity and the search for academic identity and roots has began. However, the enormous work of restoring the academic work of the Westermarckian school is still in its infancy and the reputation of many of his disciples is still quite modest. Paradoxically, many modern authors, like anthropologists writing on marriage and morality, share the same research topic and even results with the old Westermarckians, but, consciously or unconsciously, deny this fact. They probably have not realized how much in common their studies in reality have with the works of the Westermarckian school. I believe that the lapse of memory and the prolonged unpopularity of the Westermarckian dogma among the academic public has been so deep-rooted that modern anthropologists and scholars of religion are still hesitant to admit their scholarly common ground with Westermarckian sociology. We must recall, however, that today the lectures and textbooks on learning the sciences of sociology, anthropology, and comparative religion tend to begin with Malinowski and Durkheim, ignoring all previous aspects. I believe there are three reasons for the ignorance towards Rafael Karsten and his lifework. Firstly, the general reluctance regarding the Westermarckian circle has not favoured Karsten´s works. Secondly, Karsten´s lifework was emphasized by the study of religion in the small-scale societies of South America. For many decades South America as a research interest was considered remote and uninspiring among the Finnish academic circles. As late as 1977, the desirable field research sites within the Finnish study of religions were India, the Middle East, Africa and the Arctic (2). Amazingly, Rafael Karsten, for almost one hundred years, was the only Finnish scholar of religion to conduct field investigations on South American indigenous cultures and collect valuable field material. Only a couple of years ago, the Finnish scholar of religion, Petri Salonperä, undertook a field expedition to Chile to study the cultural customs and religion of the Mapuche Indians. Thirdly, Rafael Karsten´s controversial position in the Westermarckian school has caused scholars see him only as a “polemical” or “critical” person.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Saami Religion
    Edited by Tore Ahlbäck Saami Religion SCRIPTA INSTITUTI DONNERIANI ABOENSIS XII SAAMI RELIGION Based on Papers read at the Symposium on Saami Religion held at Åbo, Finland, on the 16th-18th of August 1984 Edited by TORE AHLBÄCK Distributed by ALMQVIST & WIKSELL INTERNATIONAL, STOCKHOLM/SWEDEN Saami Religion Saami Religion BASED ON PAPERS READ AT THE SYMPOSIUM ON SAAMI RELIGION HELD AT ÅBO, FINLAND, ON THE 16TH-18TH OF AUGUST 1984 Edited by TORE AHLBÄCK PUBLISHED BY THE DONNER INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN ÅBO/FINLANDRELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL HISTORY DISTRIBUTED BY ALMQVIST & WIKSELL INTERNATIONAL STOCKHOLM/SWEDEN ISBN 91-22-00863-2 Printed in Sweden by Almqvist & Wiksell Tryckeri, Uppsala 1987 Reproduction from a painting by Carl Gunne, 1968 To Professor Carl-Martin Edsman on the occasion of his seventififth birthday 26 July 1986 Contents Editorial note 9 CARL-MARTIN EDSMAN Opening Address at the Symposium on Saami religion arranged by the Donner Institute 16-18 August 1984 13 ROLF KJELLSTRÖM On the continuity of old Saami religion 24 PHEBE FJELLSTRÖM Cultural- and traditional-ecological perspectives in Saami religion 34 OLAVI KORHONEN Einige Termini der lappischen Mythologie im sprachgeographischen Licht 46 INGER ZACHRISSON Sjiele sacrifices, Odin treasures and Saami graves? 61 OLOF PETTERSSON t Old Nordic and Christian elements in Saami ideas about the realm of the dead 69 SIV NORLANDER-UNSGAARD On time-reckoning in old Saami culture 81 ØRNULV VORREN Sacrificial sites, types and function 94 ÅKE HULTKRANTZ On beliefs in non-shamanic guardian spirits among the Saamis 110 JUHA Y. PENTIKÄINEN The Saami shamanic drum in Rome 124 BO LÖNNQVIST Schamanentrachten in Sibirien 150 BO LUNDMARK Rijkuo-Maja and Silbo-Gåmmoe - towards the question of female shamanism in the Saami area 158 CARL F.
    [Show full text]
  • Religious’ Cognition: the Eliadean Notion of the Sacred in the Light of the Legacy of Uno Harva1
    Rethinking ‘Religious’ Cognition: The Eliadean Notion of the Sacred in the Light of the Legacy of Uno Harva1 VEIKKO ANTTONEN University of Turku Abstract The article discusses methodological similarities and differences be- tween Uno Harva and Mircea Eliade, with the objective of reassessing the value of their comparativist programs for the study of religion in general and of ‘religious’ cognition in particular. The Finnish scholar Uno Holmberg-Harva (1882–1949) was a predecessor to Eliade as a scholar of Asian and European religious history. During the first three decades of the twentieth century, when the academic study of religion was still maturing in Europe, Harva expanded considerably the field of the ethnological study of religion with his religio-phe- nomenological monographs Der Baum des Lebens (1922), Finno-Ugric, Siberian Mythology (1927) and Die Religiösen Vorstellungen der Altaischen Völker (1938). Harva was a towering figure in Finnish scholarship. Originally a Protestant theologian and Lutheran minister, he resigned from his ecclesiastical position to become a historian of religion, field ethnographer, ethnosociologist and folklorist under the tutelage of Edward Westermarck and Kaarle Krohn. Harva’s influence on the work of Eliade has been almost entirely ignored by historiographers of Religious Studies. Keywords: Mircea Eliade, Uno Harva, Asian cosmology, the sacred, methodology, cognitive theory Closing the Eliadean Era Religious studies has been in the process of closing the Eliadean era for more than three decades. Scholarly development within the field makes the reason look obvious: Eliade’s methodology, in which the identity discourse of the discipline – at least in the United States – was anchored, does not belong to science and scholarship in a sense that would grant Religious 1 This article is based on a paper presented at the panel ‘Eliade and His Legacy/Eliade et son héritage’ at the annual EASR conference, ‘Religious History of Europe and Asia’, Bucharest, 20–23 September 2006.
    [Show full text]
  • Interdisciplinary and Comparative Methodologies
    The Retrospective Methods Network Newsletter Interdisciplinary and Comparative Methodologies № 14 Exploring Circum-Baltic Cultures and Beyond Guest Editors: Joonas Ahola and Kendra Willson Published by Folklore Studies / Department of Cultures University of Helsinki, Helsinki 1 RMN Newsletter is a medium of contact and communication for members of the Retrospective Methods Network (RMN). The RMN is an open network which can include anyone who wishes to share in its focus. It is united by an interest in the problems, approaches, strategies and limitations related to considering some aspect of culture in one period through evidence from another, later period. Such comparisons range from investigating historical relationships to the utility of analogical parallels, and from comparisons across centuries to developing working models for the more immediate traditions behind limited sources. RMN Newsletter sets out to provide a venue and emergent discourse space in which individual scholars can discuss and engage in vital cross- disciplinary dialogue, present reports and announcements of their own current activities, and where information about events, projects and institutions is made available. RMN Newsletter is edited by Frog, Helen F. Leslie-Jacobsen, Joseph S. Hopkins, Robert Guyker and Simon Nygaard, published by: Folklore Studies / Department of Cultures University of Helsinki PO Box 59 (Unioninkatu 38 C 217) 00014 University of Helsinki Finland The open-access electronic edition of this publication is available on-line at: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/networks/retrospective-methods-network Interdisciplinary and Comparative Methodologies: Exploring Circum-Baltic Cultures and Beyond is a special issue organized and edited by Frog, Joonas Ahola and Kendra Willson. © 2019 RMN Newsletter; authors retain rights to reproduce their own works and to grant permission for the reproductions of those works.
    [Show full text]
  • Ilona Salomaa Rafael Karsten (1879-1956) As a Finnish
    ILONA SALOMAA RAFAEL KARSTEN (1879-1956) AS A FINNISH SCHOLAR OF RELIGION THE LIFE AND CAREER OF A MAN OF SCIENCE Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XII, on the 4th of May, 2002 at 10 o´ clock. ISBN 952-91-4423-7 (volume) ISBN 952-10-0409-6 (PDF) The University Press, Helsinki 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The present study has benefited enormously from the help and support of various people and institutions to whom I am greatly obliged. I regret that it is impossible to name here all who have helped me. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance, advice, criticism and patience of the following people: Professor Juha Pentikäinen, Professor René Gothóni, Professor Emeritus Åke Hultkrantz (Sweden), Docent Christer Lindberg (Sweden), Dr. Kirsti Suolinna, Lic.Phil. Riku Hämäläinen, Marja Jalava MA, Dr. Tom Sjöblom, Dr. Anja Nygren, Eva Karsten MA (Sweden), the late Rolf Karsten, Mrs. Maggie Karsten-Sveander (Sweden), Satu Hietanen MA, Päivi Ritvo, M.Ed., and the personnel of the Helsinki University Library, the Gothenburg Ethnographical Museum, the Gothenburg University Archives, and the British Library. My best thanks are also due to Virginia Mattila MA and Marjut Heinonen MA for correcting the manuscript as regards language, and for most valuable help in regarding the proofs. Any mistakes which remain are, of course, my own. Lastly, I add my sincere thanks for my family and friends.You have made the writing of this study a true journey of personal discovery, that is, the moments of delight and despair which you have shared with me have not always been the easiest.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Areal Comparability of Folklore ARVI HURSKAINEN University of Helsinki, Finland
    Nordic Journal of African Studies 1(2): 17–41 (1992) On the Areal Comparability of Folklore ARVI HURSKAINEN University of Helsinki, Finland ABSTRACT Finnish and Tanzanian folklore are here compared from the viewpoint of their various forms and functions. In order to facilitate the analysis, a brief historical survey is made of the folkloristic studies in these societies. In Finland the study of folklore had a vital role in the emergence of the Finnish national consciousness in the 19th century. A condensed symbol of this new identity was the Kalevala, an epic poem compiled and adapted from older oral material by Elias Lönnrot. Themes and symbols from this old folklore have been extensively used in music, art, theatre, cinema, trade marks etc. In Tanzania the study of folklore has been casual so far. Some systematic surveying has been initiated in the Islands and the coastal areas, but the folklore of the continent is still largely unknown. Small samples of folklore have been published as booklets and used in school teaching. It is suggested that a plan be made for the comprehensive survey, collection and study of Tanzanian folklore. It is further suggested that although Finland and Tanzania are ethnically and linguistically quite different, they still have much in common in their struggle for national identity and cultural freedom, a struggle in which indigenous cultures and languages have a vital role to play. 1.0 THE COMPARABILITY OF FOLKLORE In the opinion of many researchers, true science always involves comparison. Typically, a defined set of data is compared with data of another set, and the resulting differences and similarities constitute the results of the research.
    [Show full text]
  • Personhood and Religious Change Among the Saami: Reviewing Historical Texts
    Personhood and religious change among the Saami: reviewing historical texts MA- thesis in the Study of Religions Faculty of Humanities, Department of World Cultures, University of Helsinki Konsta Kaikkonen 22.4.2014 1. Introduction 1.1 Preface to studying Saami indigenous religion 3 1.2 Soup with a fork? 5 1.3 Previous studies 6 1.4 The multidisciplinary view and its focus 8 2. Reading and analysing historical texts 2.1 Methods of analysing texts and their context 12 2.2 Key concepts 16 3. Etic theories 3.1 Anthropomorphism and animism 21 3.2 Cognitive fluidity 22 3.3 Hultkrantz and the ecological theory of religion 23 4. The Saami in pre-modern times 4.1 Saami indigenous religion 26 4.2 Saami economic culture and its change in the late medieval era 28 4.3 Political and religious change 30 5. Old texts on the Saami revisited 35 5.1 Setting primary and secondary historical sources under analysis 36 5.2 Beliefs concerning animals and anthropomorphic thinking 5.2.1 Primary sources 38 5.2.2 Schefferus and Harva 43 5.3 Context analysis and testimony of material 49 5.3.1 Seventeenth century sources 49 5.3.2 Early nineteenth century sources 50 5.3.3 Genetz and Harva 53 5.3.4 Results and reflections on the material 55 5.4 Emerging patterns 56 6. Animal relations and religious change 6.1 Animal relations and indigenous religions in general 60 6.3 Christianity and animals in late medieval and early modern times 62 6.2 From indigenous religion to Christianity 65 7.
    [Show full text]
  • Note Dersu Uzala, Colonialism and Romance: Some
    NOTE DERSU UZALA, COLONIALISM AND ROMANCE: SOME ANTI-IROPOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON A KUROSA\WA’S FILM * Iussi Raumolin Centre international de recherches sur l’environnement et le développement, Paris. << The Goldi’s are praised for being good-natured, sincere people who work hard. They worship wooden gods. Shaman witches are their priests, but they also believe that all objects have their own spirit. During the summer the Goldi people fish and during the winter they hunt sable, bear and other animals for pelts... Like many other Siberian peoples, the Goldis are dying out. Scarcely 2,000 individuals survive ».' Movie houses in Helsinki were packed for a year during show- ings of Dersu Uzala, a Soviet-Japanese film set in Siberia. The well- known Japanese director Akira Kurosawa made the film, which is based on the travel diaries of Vladimir K. Arsen’ev, a Russian oflicer-geographerethnographer. The untamed portrait of an exotic, noble savage, brought to life by the cinema technique, stimulated the romantic yearnings of the civilized city dweller. Critics have had nothing but praise for the production. It has received numerous awards, and the -producers are satisfied because their product is in demand. Nevertheless, I believe that something is amiss in the film. For some time I have been interested in Arctic research, and I happened to see the film just as I was in the process of drafting the outline for an article using the ecological approach to the study of religion. Thus the subject matter of the film was rather familiar to me. Moreover I was acquainted with the name of Arsen’ev through studies of colonization.
    [Show full text]
  • Between Text and Practice
    The Retrospective Methods Network Newsletter Between Text and Practice Mythology, Religion and Research A special issue of RMN Newsletter Edited by Frog and Karina Lukin № 10 Summer 2015 RMN Newsletter is edited by Frog Helen F. Leslie-Jacobsen and Joseph S. Hopkins Published by Folklore Studies / Dept. of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies University of Helsinki, Helsinki 1 RMN Newsletter is a medium of contact and communication for members of the Retrospective Methods Network (RMN). The RMN is an open network which can include anyone who wishes to share in its focus. It is united by an interest in the problems, approaches, strategies and limitations related to considering some aspect of culture in one period through evidence from another, later period. Such comparisons range from investigating historical relationships to the utility of analogical parallels, and from comparisons across centuries to developing working models for the more immediate traditions behind limited sources. RMN Newsletter sets out to provide a venue and emergent discourse space in which individual scholars can discuss and engage in vital cross- disciplinary dialogue, present reports and announcements of their own current activities, and where information about events, projects and institutions is made available. RMN Newsletter is edited by Frog, Helen F. Leslie-Jacobsen and Joseph S. Hopkins, published by Folklore Studies / Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies University of Helsinki PO Box 59 (Unioninkatu 38 A) 00014 University of Helsinki Finland The open-access electronic edition of this publication is available on-line at: http://www.helsinki.fi/folkloristiikka/English/RMN/ Between Text and Practice: Mythology, Religion and Research is a special thematic issue of the journal edited by Frog and Karina Lukin.
    [Show full text]
  • Rereading Finno-Ugrian Religion from a Gender Point of View
    MARJA-LIISA KEINÄNEN Rereading Finno-Ugrian Religion from a Gender Point of View I intend to discuss the epistemological and methodological signifi- cance the perspective of gender has on religious studies. I will argue, along the lines commonplace within the gender studies in various disciplines, that the problem of women's invisibility is not only due to a casual oversight by male scholars, but it also has its roots on the conceptual level of the disciplines. The sources, concepts and models we work with are largely based on male experience and carry thereby a built-in androcentrism. The intrinsic androcentrism in our concep- tual tools may result in a systematic exclusion of women and their experiences and practices from the scholarly studies of religion (cf. King 1995a: 19; cf. Moore 1988: 2 ff.; Code 1991: 60). Therefore it does not suffice to compensate for the absence of women by just `adding the women and stirring' as the common expression has it, instead, a revaluation and revision of the whole "male paradigm" will be necessary. It implies critical scrutiny of the concepts and models as well as an attempt to bring to light the underlying assumptions, the tacit knowledge in Kuhnian terms, which has influenced and shaped male writing of religion. I will illustrate the issue at hand by analysing the overviews in some central handbooks and entries in encyclopaedias (ERE, ER) on the Finno-Ugrian religions as well as the central monographs in the se- ries Suomen suvun uskonnot (The Religions of the Finnic Peoples) on which these overviews are largely based.
    [Show full text]
  • Creating Diversities Folklore, Religion and the Politics of Heritage
    Creating Diversities Folklore, Religion and the Politics of Heritage Edited by Anna-Leena Siikala, Barbro Klein and Stein R. Mathisen Studia Fennica Folkloristica Studia Fennica Folkloristica 14 nimiöSF.indd 1 4.6.2004 13:07:48 The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) was founded in 1831 and has, from the very beginning, engaged in publishing operations. It nowadays publishes literature in the fields of ethnology and folkloristics, linguistics, literary research and cultural history. The first volume of the Studia Fennica series appeared in 1933. Since 1992, the series has been divided into three thematic subseries: Ethnologica, Folkloristica and Linguistica. Two additional subseries were formed in 2002, Historica and Litteraria. The subseries Anthropologica was formed in 2007. In addition to its publishing activities, the Finnish Literature Society maintains research activities and infrastructures, an archive containing folklore and literary collections, a research library and promotes Finnish literature abroad. Studia Fennica Editorial board Anna-Leena Siikala Rauno Endén Teppo Korhonen Pentti Leino Auli Viikari Johanna Ilmakunnas oa.finlit.fi Editorial Office SKS P.O. Box 259 FI-00171 Helsinki www.finlit.fi Creating Diversities Folklore, Religion and the Politics of Heritage Edited by Anna-Leena Siikala, Barbro Klein & Stein R. Mathisen Finnish Literature Society • Helsinki nimiöSF.indd 3 4.6.2004 13:07:53 Studia Fennica Folkloristica 14 The publication has undergone a peer review. © 2004 Anna-Leena Siikala, Barbro Klein, Stein R. Mathisen and SKS License CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International A digital edition of a printed book first published in 2004 by the Finnish Literature Society. Cover Design: Timo Numminen EPUB: eLibris Media Oy ISBN 978-951-746-631-8 (Print) ISBN 978-951-858-071-6 (PDF) ISBN 978-951-858-072-3 (EPUB) ISSN 0085-6835 (Studia Fennica) ISSN 1235-1946 (Studia Fennica Folkloristica) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21435/sff.14 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    CHAPTER 1 Introduction On a sunny, crisp morning in May 2008, I traveled by bus to Sipoo, a town east of Helsinki, to interview Anna. She lived in a middle-class residen- tial area, in a large yellow duplex amid a yard with a number of trees and flower beds, as well as a gazebo. Slightly nervous, as always when meeting new interviewees, I rang her doorbell, and Anna came to the door. She was a diminutive woman in her mid-eighties with short gray hair, wearing stylish clothes, eye shadow, and quite a lot of jewelry – not your typical Finnish granny! She greeted me warmly, took my coat, and ushered me in. Anna’s apartment was impeccably tidy. The living room was domi- nated by beautiful antique furniture and a wall-to-wall bookshelf filled with books. In every room stood dressers and side tables with countless ornaments, flower arrangements, photos of loved ones, and small icons. More icons, photos, and paintings hung on the walls. After giving me a tour of the apartment, Anna brought me to the dining room where she had set the table for two. She served me coffee with salmon sandwiches and Karelian pasties, both delicious. She did not eat any herself, however; instead, she sipped her coffee and chatted about her life and family. She told me how, the very next day after she was born, her father’s mother had taken her to the sauna and washed her with water from nearby Lake Ladoga. This, she emphasized, was her grandmother’s blessing, and it had carried her through life.
    [Show full text]
  • Network for the Folklore Fellows
    FFFF NETWORK FOR THE FOLKLORE FELLOWS No. 28 June 2005 In this issue: Anna-Leena Siikala Folkloristics and globalisation 2 Seppo Knuuttila Getting lost 3–9 Diarmuid Ó Giolláin The national and the local – practices of de- and retraditionalization 10–13, 16–18 Recent publications of the Finnish Literature Society 14–15 Reviews by Jurjen van der Kooi Toshio Ozawa Laura Stark 19–26 The Types of the International Folktales is published 27 A new volume in the FF Communications 28 Publisher: The Folklore Fellows by courtesy of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters Love songs are favoured by young people at the www.folklorefellows.fi Southern Cook Islands. Photo by Jukka Siikala. ISSN 0789-0249 Folkloristics and globalisation by Anna-Leena Siikala, Professor Folklore Fellows Network, Chair Summer is congress time. The 14th Congress of the and leads to the educational politics of supporting International Society for Folk Narrative Research at technology and natural sciences. The value of hu- Tartu, Estonia, will bring together folklorists from all manities and social sciences has been on the decline. over the world. And in June researchers in folktales, Folkloristics is a small field within the humanities, representing Scandinavia, the Baltic, the British Isles whose future depends on its ability to find a place in and the United States, are meeting in Iceland. Inter- the worldwide crisis facing university faculties. The national gatherings are needed all the more, despite examination of the field’s principles and central re- the strengthening of contacts between different coun- search questions is more relevant than ever.
    [Show full text]