Historical Study of Images in Theory and Practise
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LOOKING AT THE OTHER - Edited By KARI ALENIUS, HISTORICAL STUDY OF OLAVI K. FÄLT & IMAGES IN THEORY AND SEIJA JALAGIN PRACTISE Department of History, University of Oulu OULU 2002 EDITED BY KARI ALENIUS, OLAVI K. FÄLT & SEIJA JALAGIN LOOKING AT THE OTHER - HISTORICAL STUDY OF IMAGES IN THEORY AND PRACTISE OULUN YLIOPISTO, OULU 2002 Copyright © 2002 University of Oulu, 2002 ISBN 951-42-6633-1 (URL: http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9514266331/) ALSO AVAILABLE IN PRINTED FORMAT Acta Univ. Oul. B 42, 2002 ISBN 951-42-6632-3 ISSN 0355-3205 (URL: http://herkules.oulu.fi/issn03553205/) OULU UNIVERSITY PRESS OULU 2002 Preface Historical image research has been particularly applied to studies of relationships between cultures and between peoples. There have also been studies that deal with the images of certain important individuals. Through long continuous development, the theo- ry of historical image research has become increasingly established, and it seems that there is practically no limits to its possibilities. It has even been claimed that one could approach all historical sources through the image research, since every source is at the same time a relic as well as a reflection of the past. The purpose of this publication is, however, not to speculate directly on the various theoretical aspects of the historical image research, but rather its applicability to different study instances. An overview of the theoretical framework of historical image research is presented in the introduction. The articles introduce cases of image research from three viewpoints: (1) images of distant cultures, (2) images of neighbouring peoples, including the enemy image, and (3) images of politically influential persons in various times and cultural contexts. The authors examine the use of sources, different interpretation possi- bilities and their limitations – the historical image method as an instrument of analysis and as a viewpoint. All the authors are experienced researchers at the Department of His- tory of the University of Oulu, and their work is much along the lines of the strong tradi- tion of historical image research carried out at the department since the 1970s. Oulu, February 11, 2002 Kari Alenius Olavi K. Fält Seija Jalagin Contents Preface Contents Introduction Olavi K. Fält.................................................................................................................. 7 Gendered Images – Western Women on Japanese Women Seija Jalagin................................................................................................................. 12 Guided by the Bushmen to the Finnish Namibia Myth Teuvo Raiskio ............................................................................................................. 32 The Images of Neighbours: Estonians and Their Neighbours Kari Alenius ................................................................................................................ 53 Image Research and the Enemy Image: The Soviet Union in Finnish Newspapers during the Winter War (November 30, 1939 – March 13, 1940) Sinikka Wunsch........................................................................................................... 73 On the Applicability of Image Research to the Study of Medieval Hagiographies Mari Mäki-Petäys........................................................................................................ 89 Historical Image Research and the Use of Emperorship as the Symbol of the International Relationships in Japan from the Beginning of the 20th Century to the World War II Olavi K. Fält.............................................................................................................. 104 Introduction1 Olavi K. Fält Images have been studied fairly intensively in the fields of history, social psychology and international relations in recent decades, the first work of this kind having taken place mostly in the United States and Japan. According to Akira Iriye, this was partly because people in both countries were especially interested in the uniqueness of their national character.2 Later a considerable amount of work along the same lines was done in Nordic countries.3 Many theories have been put forward in the course of this already relatively long research tradition, and I have attempted here to fit them together into as consistent a theory as possible designed to serve the needs of historical research in particular. It is convenient to start out from the notion put forward by Melvin Small that the study of images is a broader field than that of opinions. The opinions of large masses of people in the past are inaccessible to the historian until the dawn of the Gallup Poll, and one is therefore obliged to go for the broader but more diffuse concept of image.4 I do not see the difference between images and opinions as lying exclusively in the fact that the latter 1. See Fält, Olavi K.: Global History, Cultural Encounters and Images. Between National Histories and Global History. Eds. Stein Tønnesson, Juhani Koponen, Niels Steensgaard, Thommy Svensson. Historiallinen Arkisto 110:4. FHS/Helsingfors 1997, 59–70; Fält, Olavi K.: The Historical Study of Mental Images as a Form of Research into Cultural Confrontation. Comparative Civilizations Review No. 32 Spring 1995, 99–108. 2. Iriye, Akira: Introduction. Mutual Images. Essays in American-Japanese Relations. Ed. by Akira Iriye. Harvard Studies in American-East Asian Relations 7. Cambridge, Massachusetts 1975, 1. 3. Alenius, Kari: Ahkeruus, edistys, vihamielisyys. Virolaisten Suomi-kuva kansallisen heräämisen ajasta tsaarinvallan päättymiseen (n. 1850–1917). With an English Summary: Hardworking, progressive, arrogant. The Image of Finland in the eyes of the Estonians from the period of national awakening to the end of the Tsarist era (approx. 1850–1917). Studia Historica Septentrionalia 27. Jyväskylä 1996; Burgman, Torsten: Japanbilden i Sverige 1667–1984. Uppsala 1986; Fält, Olavi K.: Eksotismista realismiin. Perinteinen Japanin-kuva Suomessa 1930-luvun murroksessa. With an English Summary: From Exoticism to Realism. The traditional Image of Japan in Finland in the Transition Years of the 1930's. Studia Historica Septentrionalia 5. Oulu 1982; Holmberg, Åke: Världen bortom västerlandet (The world beyond the West) Vol. 1. Svensk syn på fjärran länder och folk från 1700-talet till första världskriget. Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum et Litterarum Gothoburgensis Humaniora 0072-4823 28. Göteborgs Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-samhället 1988; Holmberg, Åke: Världen bortom västerlandet (The world beyond the west) Vol. 2. Den svenska omvärldsbilden under mellankrigstiden. Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum et Litterarum Gothoburgensis Humaniora 0072-4823 34. Göteborgs Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-samhället 1994; Hägerdal, Hans: Väst om öst: kinaforskning och kinasyn under 1800-och 1900- talen. Lund University Press 1996. Se also de Anna, Luigi: Vieraiden kansojen kirjallisesta kuvasta (Literary Images of Alien Peoples). Historiallinen Arkisto 96. Jyväskylä 1991, 21–24. 4. Small, Melvin: Historians Look at Public Opinion. Public Opinion and Historians. Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Ed. by Melvin Small. Detroit 1970, 22. 8 cannot be studied in past time, however, for they are really two quite separate things. Since we are obliged to study images rather than mass opinion in the distant past, even though both are accessible in the more immediate past, we may refer to images as an intellectual heritage handed down to us, which we carry with us whether we like it or not. This heritage contains within it various latent images which remain basically the same regardless of how many new features we may add to them in the course of time.5 My basis is that, in the first place, an image is longer-lasting and more durable than an opinion or attitude and that images are simplifications of the reality which they describe. It has been said that an image is like a map that we have in our head, which depicts reality but is not in itself real by comparison with the objects which it represents. An image is real enough, of course, if we think of it as an object of study or as a factor influencing various decisions, for instance. By simplification I mean that certain details are easily fil- tered out from an image, leaving it in a reduced form. The permanence of images is fur- ther emphasised by the fact that we are inclined to accept messages which lend to sup- port to an existing stereotype. A further important feature from the point of view of research into cultural encounters is that the images that we form of things or people that are strange to us tend to be unfavourable ones.6 Whether it is really the case that we accept ideas that support stereotypes rather than ones that go against them, or that our images of strangers are predominantly unfavoura- ble, is in the end something that has to be demonstarted separately for each topic of research. They are hypotheses connected with the nature of images which each research- er in the final instance has to resolve for himself. The further pivotal hypothesis from which research into cultural encounters sets out is that a strange, distant culture is regarded as a good and revealing object of study in terms of image research, on account of the fact that long geographical distances and sharp cul- tural distinctions create a fruitful environment for images possessing simple, bold outlines and metaphorical content. It is precisely when we are dealing with a strange culture that