Folklore Fellows' Summer School 1999

The Fifth Folklore Fellows' Summer School was held at Turku, Finland, from 8th to 23rd of August. We were 32 'student' participants from 18 countries + about 30 teachers + about 15 assisting staff = almost 80 folklorists trying to make themselves intelligible, and to understand one another during two sunny weeks in Turku. What a mess, you guess? We'll see.

Participating the course as a student has inspired us to exchange our common experiences. I want to thank you for your interesting comments and warm greetings Kanaka Durga from India, Nasanbayar from China, Nino from Georgia, Aaron from USA, Laura from Romania, Marilena from Greece, Karen from USA and Sabine from Germany. Especially I want to thank Kanaka Durga for her detailed report, which we let function here as an introduction, and Sabine, whose elegant paper is written in German. (The order of these reports follows the author's workshop number.)

For my part I want to thank all the organizers, the staff and teachers, and especially group leaders for their unyielding contribution. I want to express my gratitude also to Profs. Virginia and Dell Hymes from Charlottesville, U.S.A, and to Ülo Valk, from Tartu, Estonia, who diligently worked with us nearly two weeks. Moreover, I want to thank all participants, you proved to be wonderful scholars and friends. I am convinced, that FF-Summer School is the tradition we should keep on.

Sinikka Vakimo

Here we are after the last session in front of 'Fennicum', the main building of the course:
First line from left: Anna-Leena Siikala, T. Dharmaraj, Flora H. Losada, Nino Tokhadze, Mehri Bagheri, Virginia Hymes, P.S. Kanaka Durga, Hanne Pico Laursen and Sinikka Vakimo.

Second line from left: Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Laura Jiga, Armi Pekkala, Sabine Wienker-Piepho, Camilla Asplund, Ulrich Marzolph, Sadhana Naithani, Karen Miller, Barbro Klein, Margaret Mills, Lauri Harvilahti with Pietari, Pauliina Latvala and Judy Rangnes.

Third line /back line from left: Ergo-Hart Västrik, Susanne Österlund, Marilena Papachristophorou, Janne Perätalo, John Shaw, Aaron Tate, Jonathan E. H. Roper, Dell Hymes, Gila Gutenberg, Pasi Enges, Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj, Patricia Nyberg, Lauri Honko, Fredrik Skott, John Miles Foley, Mihai Fifor, Djamilya Kurbanova and Nasanbayar.

Kanaka Durga (workshop 1):

The Fifth Folklore Fellows' Summer School at Turku, Finland held from 8th to 23rd August by Finnish Language University of Turku and Swedish Language Åbo Akademi University under the able and efficient leadership of prof. Lauri Honko, prof. Emeritus and Director of the Kalevala Institute, is a well planned and highly organized academic and training program for folklore researchers ranging from amateurs to scholars in folklore. It provided dais for a dialogue on different aspects of folklore studies among folklorists drawn from different countries and disciplines (social sciences/humanities) across the world. Participating in FFSS99 both personally and intellectually, is really a memorable experience for me.

Personally I did not feel much displacement while I was in Turku. It is mostly due to the cordiality and hospitality of the organizers. I was quite comfortable with the food and felt as if at home. The greenaries and the landscapes, the tall conifers trees, the pleasant mornings, the late sunsets in the evenings, pleasure trips to Pikku Pukki island across the grand and quiet Aura river, banquet at Lace Pavilion, excursion to traditional landscapes of South Western Finland, Untamala Church, FFSS party at 'Castle Louhi' in Laitila, the archaeological remains and renovations of the pre-historical settlements of ancient and medieval Turku etc. The affectionate and cordial treatment of the Finnish people whom we came across, are still afresh in my memory. Thanks to the organisers for having enabled us to see such a nice country like Finland due to the Summer School.

As a folklorist working in this area for more than a decade, I was able to refresh and reorient my knowledge in the light of latest trends on different issues-textualisation process of folk expressive traditions, field work, ethics, archiving etc. Scholarly interaction with eminent professors in folklore - Lauri Honko, Anna Leena Siikala (Finland), Dell Hymes, Margaret Mills, John Foley (USA), Ulrich Martzolph (Germany), Barbro Klein (Sweden) and others opened new vistas in my thinking process. As an academician, I had a good intellectual exercise in FFSS. The program of FFSS is designed in such a way that each and every participant got the satisfaction of 'being in academic dialogue' with the fellow participants, faculty and other scholars. The availability of library and xeroxing facility till late in the night up to 9 o'clock made our reference and workshop presentation works very easy and comfortable. The library service rendered to the participants is really commendable. The pre circulated preprints gave the participants an idea about the areas of discussion in the Summer School. The plenary papers, the panelists' presentations and discussions broadened the realm of the topics. The keynote addresses delivered by the group leaders of the workshops are interesting and they helped the participants to acquaint themselves with the methodology and important conceptual frameworks of their respective themes or topics of work. The audio-visual demonstrations on Siri epic performance by Lauri Honko are quite interesting. The video documentation of the performance is thick covering of even minute details of the entire ritual process.

The Summer School is organized by dividing the participants into four groups. In a nutshell, the following list shows the theme of the workshops, name of group leaders and participants in each workshop:

Workshop 1: The Politics of Textualisation
* Group leaders: Profs. Ulrich Marzolph (Germany) and Anna-Leena Siikala (Finland)
* Participants: P.S. Kanaka Durga (India), Gila Gutenberg (Israel), Flora. H. Losada (Argentina), Nasambayar (China), John Shaw (Scotland), Nino Tokhadze (Georgia), Anne Heimo and Patricia Nyberg (Finland)

Workshop 2: Variation and Textuality in Oral Epics
* Group leaders: Prof. John Miles Foley (USA) and Lauri Harvilahti, Docent (Finland)
* Visiting discussants: Profs. Paul Hagu (Estonia), Lauri Honko (Finland) and Dell Hymes (USA)
* Participants: Mehri Bagheri (Iran), Qubumo Bamo (China), T. Dharmaraj (India), Mihai Fifor (Romania), Djamilya Kurbanova (Turkmenistan), Camilla Asplund, Anneli Honko and Senni Timonen (Finland)

Workshop 3: Principles of Field Work and Archiving
* Group leaders: Profs. Barbro Klein (Sweden) and Ulrika Wolf-Knuts (Finland)
* Visiting group leaders: Profs. Ülo Valk (Estonia) and Ríonach úi Ógáin (Ireland)
* Participants: Laura Jiga (Romania), Hanne Pico Larsen (Denmark), Marilena Papachristophorou (Greece), Jonathan E.H. Roper (UK), Fredrik Skott (Sweden), Ergo-Hart Västrik (Estonia), Pasi Enges and Susanne Österlund (Finland)

Workshop 4: Folkloristic Research Ethics
* Group leaders: Profs. Lauri Honko (Finland) and Margaret Mills (USA)
* Visiting group leaders: Bente Gullveig Alver and Tove Fjell (Norge)
* Visiting discussants: Prof. Virginia Hymes (USA), Jari Kupianen, Jyrki Pöysä and Leila Virtanen (Finland)
* Participants: Christina S. Brophy (Ireland/ USA), Karen Miller (USA), Sadhana Naithani (India), Judy Rangnes (Norge), Sabine Wienker-Piepho (Germany), Armi Pekkala and Sinikka Vakimo (Finland)

The group leaders are veterans in their fields of study and well known scholars in folkloristic across world. Their erudite scholarship, resourcefulness immense knowledge and experience enabled the participants to upgrade their theoretical underpinnings and come out of the Summer School successfully.

Each Workshop represents diversity in terms of participants who were drawn from different countries across the world as well as the topics under discussion. This diversity could bring a unity of thought process among all participation different issues of folklore research. A brief sketch of the outcome of each workshop is given below:

1) The First Workshop, Politics of Textualisation dealt with different intricacies involved in the process of textualisation of expressive tradition. The impact of theoretical frameworks, philosophies and ideologies of the academicians, intellectuals and the researchers and their socio-economic backdrop, research methodology and the people and their world view etc. on the text making process were thoroughly discussed. The problems and prospects of political interference in fieldwork, publication of books, ethical code were critically evaluated by the participants of this workshop by taking examples from their own field and research experiences. The concepts of adaptation and invention of traditions were also substantiated with suitable examples in their presentations. The dialogical and multivocal character of textualisation of traditions was well brought out in presentations of the participants. Thanks to Anna Leena Siikala and Ulrich Marzolph, our team leaders for their resourcefulness and co-operation through out the workshop. The eminence of these scholars in their respective fields enabled the participants to work effectively for the presentations in the workshop.

2) The Second Workshop, Diversity of Oral Epics: Language and Meaning lead by John Miles Foley, exponent of the famous oral formulaic theory and Lauri Harvilahti, a renowned scholar in Finnish oral epics and Dell Hymes, the proponent of 'Ethnography of speaking approach', was really a wonderful team. The team concentrated on two issues, acquiring 'menu' of approaches to understand oral and orally derived traditional epics and demonstrated the inherent diversity of the complex expressive systems. The traditions of Atlantic, Ancient Greek, Bangladesh, Estonian, Finnish, Mongolian, Native American, old English, Romania, Setu in Estonia, South Slavic, Swedish, Tamil, Tulu, Turkmen and Yin were taken as examples. The Workshop reappraised three main approaches: oral formulaic, performance, and ethnopoetic, and discussed the applicability of these approaches to different oral epics to work out for a single unified theory. (i.e: Register + Performance Arena = Communicative Economy)

3) The Third Workshop, Principles of Fieldwork and Archiving, represented by group leaders as well as the participants from eight European countries whose tradition-archive related experiences vary to a greater extent. The workshop dealt with the present day archiving and fieldwork conventions and explored different fieldwork and archiving experiences. The main objectives of this workshop were to practice reflexive thinking in every step of the research process and the ethical and political connotations of these activities. The workshop discussed on the interrelatedness among fieldwork, textualisation and archiving and need for professionalism which involves factors such as honesty, distance, risk-taking and responsibility. The group leaders, Barbro Klein and Ulrika Wolf-Knuts are well versed in the archiving techniques and fieldwork principles and did considerable work in this area. Their scholarship enabled the participants to come out with some remarkable conclusions on the issues of professionalism and field methods.

4) The Fourth Workshop, Folkloristic Research Ethics, under the able leadership of Lauri Honko a veteran in folkloristics and Margaret Mills, one among a few women folklore scholars, collected statements and codes regarding folkloristic research ethics from different web sites and compiled in the form of 'FF Code of Ethics'. Different issues related to folklore, narrators, publication, folklorists and other affiliated matters of concern like oral-written continuum, archiving, copy rights, power politics, interpersonal relations, rights and obligations etc., were also discussed in the workshop.

The themes of the four workshops are suitable to the contemporary research needs of folkloristics. The faculty, including visiting scholars are exponents in their respective fields. The participants as cited elsewhere in this report ranged from beginners in the field to experienced scholars in folklore studies. The workshops seems to have met the academic needs of almost all participants. The presentations of the participants are articulated, integrated and coherent in form and content.

I will be failing in my duty if I do not mention a few lines about Symposium on The Kalevala and the World's Traditional Epics at the University of Turku, August 14-15, 1999. This was conducted as a part of the program of the summer school. The aim of the symposium was to bring together international experts on oral and traditional epics that constitute an immense cultural heritage in various parts of Europe, America, Asia and Africa. The focus on Kalevala oral epic served as a general comparative purpose which enabled the group to discuss the role of traditional epics in the development of budding nations as bearers of their cultural identity. Several renowned scholars across the world attended the conference and presented papers. The participants were lucky enough to have an opportunity to meet different scholars in folklore studies on a single dais. Both the programs, the workshops and the symposium were very well organized.

In my view, the FFSS99 was a successful performance. The theoretical discussions in the sessions, keynote addresses, preprints, audio visual presentations and informal academic chat with the faculty shattered some of stereotypic conceptions on source material, methods of research, ethics, politics etc. The horizon of source material for folklore research is broadened. Effective use of archival material and mass media in folklore studies was well brought out in the presentations of Ulrika Wolf-Knuts, Barbro Klein and others. The dialogical relationship among different components in text making and variation process - i.e. source material (including human and non-human); researcher or academician; socio-economic milieu of the persons involved in the textualisation of tradition; field methods and techniques; political interventions and ideologies; ethical code and publication - were well dealt in the light of changing needs of folkloristic research.

To sum up, FFSS99 achieved its goal in exposing participants to the current research trends in the field of research and refresh knowledge to suit their academic pursuits. Once again thanks to Prof. Lauri Honko, for providing me an opportunity to participate in the Summer School.

I thank Sinikka Vakimo for asking me to write my impressions and experiences in the FFSS, 99 for Elore journal.

Dr. P.S. Kanaka Durga
Asst. Professor
Centre for Folk Culture Studies
University of Hyderabad
S.N.School, Golden Threshold
Nampally Station Road
Hyderabad-50001(A.P), India
E-mail: srikanakadurga@hotmail.com

Part of the workshop 1 sitting and thinking about variation:

Back line from left: Gila Gutenberg, Patricia Nyberg and Nasanbayar

In front from left: Kanaka Durga, Flora Losada, John Shaw and Nino Tokhadze

Nasanbayar (workshop 1):

I got an invaluable opportunity to participate the FF Summer School 99, thanks to the organisers' financial support and considerate arrangements. The summer school was an intensive training for young scholars like me in folkloristics, providing the various theories of the folkloristic and cultural scholarship in today's world. Through two weeks study I got familiar with many new theories, debates and tendencies in the related field.

We students not only got access to new knowledge, but also made practice in how we should communicate one another as scholars, taking part in discussions at the workshops and in the panels as panelists. I think Summer School should carry on the tradition of having student panelists, from which young scholar get benefits in their future career.

Of course, I also enjoyed very much Finnish friendship, hospitality and warmth. The two weeks I spent in the beautiful country is one of the most wonderful experiences in my life, which I am sure is very helpful in my future research and life. Again: Thank you very much, Finnish friends!

With best wishes
Sincerely,

Dr. Nasanbayar
Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
PR China
E-mail: nsbayar@public.hh.nm.cn

Nino Tokhadze (workshop 1):

Dear Fellows,

Greetings from the warm and sunny Georgia!

FFSS 1999 is one of the most wonderful and impressive experiences in my life! Since I have graduated from Tbilisi State University as a philologist of West-European Languages and Literature, knowledge of languages have enabled me to meet people of different professions and nationalities. Thus, I have been accustomed to foreigners, to their habits, customs, ways of life and nothing seemed surprising and unfamiliar to me. Now I would like to use the chance of telling to you what appeared striking to me during FFSS 1999:

1. I have never seen so many people equally devoted to what they do. The first person I felt this from was Ingela Ollas (Course Secretary), as she was the first one who contacted me. The Organisation Committee anticipated every single detail and informed me almost three-four times a month. Sending pre-prints in advance was a brilliant idea, as all of us were introduced to the topics and able to choose an article for further discussion. At the farewell party I told Ingela that I could not imagine my life without her letters. Now I am happy to keep in touch with her and with others as well.

2. Young people from the both Universities, and from the library were marvelous. Watching them, I felt a bit envious, because they represented one mighty team, without any conflicts and rivalry (at least this was an impression from the side).

3. It is a well-known idea that a staff is good when employers, heads, managers have a proper relations with everyone and a proper attitude towards the work they carry. In this case, the role was given to Mr. Lauri Honko who had an aura of strictness, self-confidence and, at the same time, spread warmth, light enormous humor. With him all felt safe and secure too.

4. I have never seen so many highly-intelligent and experienced scholars representing different countries of the world and collaborating together as if they were the members of one department for a long time: Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Barbro Klein, Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj and Margaret Mills, Anna-Leena Siikala and John Foley and many, many others. I hope I will be like them sometime.

5. During these two weeks I have gained more knowledge than I could have done within a year in my home-town as I was absolutely dedicated to FFSS!

6. I especially liked morning sessions of famous scholars and comments immediately following them: I was greatly surprised by those researchers who were able to put forward interesting points after each session and make the discussions more profound and much deeper. Again Anna-Leena Siikala, Lauri Honko and Lauri Harvilahti, Barbro Klein and Ulrich Marzolph are examples for me. At present I am going to translate some of the works presented at the sessions into Georgian; they will be published in literary newspapers and journals. As I have promised the authors I will send the translations to them.

7. FFSS 1999 was a really great help for me. After I have arrived in my home-town, Tbilisi, I can observe myself and see what I can do and what I cannot, where I need to improve myself as a scholar and where I need help of others. Since August I have always had a feeling of your presence, I have become more self-confident: I have found myself, I am a member of an international group! Thank you! I am happy!

Nino Tokhadze, Ph.D. Research Associate
Department of Folklore
Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature
Tbilisi, Georgia
E-mail: ninonana@geo.net.ge

Aaron Tate (workshop 2):

It would be difficult to summarize the wealth of experiences shared at this year's Folklore Fellows Summer School, but even more difficult to provide a critique (which is what we have been asked to do for this report). In short, the two weeks in Turku were everything promised by the preliminary materials and international reputation: a well-organized, intensive, detailed, and wide-ranging investigation of current folkloristic research, with emphasis placed on variation and its analysis in the study of oral literature. Student-teacher representation was heterogeneous and provided the nutriment for the course. Guidance was marshaled by folklorists from Europe and North America, while the pupils and their fieldwork came literally from around the world. In keeping with the chosen topic, 'Variation and Textuality in Oral Tradition', students were treated to a wide array of lectures, panel discussions, workshops, discussion groups and culinary extravagances at a number of beautiful locales. One would be hard put to determine whether more was learned in the day's formal activities or in the twilight discussions, where freewheeling and illuminating opinions circulated in an open atmosphere of discussion among teachers, students, and staff alike. Given the brief time within which so many activities took place, no doubt there will be those who would have preferred that a different emphasis be placed here or there on this or that topic, and perhaps there will even have been those who would have organized activities differently, although this seems unlikely. For this particular participant, in fact, whose area of research happened to coincide exactly with a major focus of the course - new approaches to the analysis of oral epics - one could not have asked for much more, or less, of anything at all.

Things began auspiciously. University rectors welcomed us, participants introduced themselves; names, affiliations, homelands, ideas, and smiles were exchanged. A carefree spirit seemed to prevail, and eager participants mingled with one another while wondering nervously if anyone had actually managed to read the entirety of the meticulously compiled 'Preprints'.

Mornings were spent, typically, listening to keynote lectures by workshop leaders and were followed by panel discussions in which FFSS participants responded to papers given by younger folklorists, most of whom were Finnish. It is my understanding that this was the first Summer School to employ such a format, and without a doubt, it seemed to work well for integrating and involving each of the participants in a daily debate. The efforts taken in preparing the Preprints paid valuable dividends, and in some cases had students discussing papers long before they were presented. Afternoons saw the students listening to more lectures and meeting with their respective workshop groups as well as working in the FFSS library and computer rooms.

There is no way to speak for the others' experiences in their respective workshops, but I must say that the oral epics' group was superb. Each day Professors Harvilahti and Foley walked us through a well-planned routine. Participants were first exposed to general problems, questions, and issues facing the textualization and analysis of oral epic traditions. The teachers then provided examples from Altaic, Finnish, Ancient Greek, Old English, and South Slavic traditions. Next came a lucid and precise summary of the methodologies which the workshop leaders had used in their own work, and, in a propitious turn of events, during one such session, students were treated to a particularly interesting exchange: Professor Foley presented a summary of ethnopoetic theory while Dell Hymes sat by, offering historical background, theoretical orientation, anecdotes, and general commentary. Indeed, it was a rare opportunity to learn such a great deal in one afternoon's meeting!

For the rest of the seminar, students in the epic workshop presented analyses of their own materials through the lenses of the methodologies which had been discussed. Each participant was able not only to apply immediately these analytical approaches but to see how the others, with their own unique epic prosodies and traditions, did the same. A daily dialogue thus developed, and soon we were sharing vocabularies and analytical techniques as we investigated unfamiliar traditions together. How unfamiliar? Suffice it to say that examples from the following epic traditions were presented and discussed: Altaic, Ancient Greek, Bangladeshi, Estonian, Finnish, Mongolian, Native American, Old English, Persian, Romanian, Setu, South Slavic, Swedish, Tamil, Tulu, Turkmen, and Yi.

A symposium concerning the Kalevala and its relation to the world's traditional epics was held in the first weekend of the Summer School. Some were thankful for this additional spate of reports, others seemed exhausted, but for those whose appetite for oral epic is insatiable the symposium provided yet another means for gaining information concerning recent epic research. It also stimulated a considerable amount of debate among the participants. Those who attended would have heard the latest research on 'traditional morphologies' which have persisted since Homer's poetry (at least) down to the twentieth century in epics recorded in the Balkans (John Miles Foley). A significant report by John William Johnson on African epics was detailed and new. Analyses of Finnish material by Anna-Leena Siikala and Senni Timonen broke new ground, extending the Finnish tradition of folkloristic research further still; in these and other lectures Siikala worked through problems of bodily interpretation and brought to mind the work of Merleau-Ponty (though not explicitly), while Timonen demonstrated the value of a 'thick corpus' and its relevance for unearthing the native poetics of an individual singer. Entire panels were devoted to Baltic, Indian, and Persian epic traditions, with a particularly interesting paper by Jaan Puhvel, while a good deal of discussion took place in relation to the question of how best to define the 'traditionality' of various epics. One came away from the weekend with the sense that more work than ever before remained to be undertaken.

And the second week of the Summer School? The requirement that each workshop prepare a final report seemed to ratchet up the intensity significantly. Students began to get the hang of the morning sessions, and the amount and quality of debate increased accordingly. Friends could be found hovering late-night over computer screens in preparation for the next day's workshops. Debate among the students increased and important questions - What are your perceptions of current research in folklore, ethnology, and anthropology? How have these areas been defined in your country and what does this mean for you, personally, as a researcher? Do you find the categories liberating, restrictive, irrelevant, or? - began to take on a life of their own, adding a valuable subtext to the Summer School, as each student struggled to bring their own experiences into line with what they were learning in the course. Those late-night discussions were heady affairs, and served to fuel debate during the day; it became clear by the last sessions that each student had each contributed in unique ways to a mass of ideas with which each were struggling to master and put to use.

And put to use they were: the final reports from each group read like veritable manifestos for future research, albeit in diverse areas, including: the politics of textualizing folklore; contemporary issues facing field and archival work, with new approaches to both; the emergence of singing languages and 'register' as invaluable comparative concepts applicable to oral epic studies worldwide; the importance of ethical questions concerning how folklore is to be properly collected, catalogued, and protected.

Highlights of the Summer School? There were many. Aside from those mentioned above, I would single out Djamilya Kurbanova's presentation of Turkmen epic on videotape in the first fieldwork 'demo' session. This tradition rather amazed me, and like others, I was shocked to see and hear such intense singing accompanied by a slightly distorted (albeit pleasantly so) two-stringed dutar (the Turkmen instrument for epic) in a vibrant outdoor festival; the singing could only be described, or so it seemed to me, as impassioned, intense, heartbreaking (and in fact, we were told that this particular episode concerned unrequited love). Certainly Lauri Honko's three papers, given in the context of the Summer School and the Kalevala conference, offered just what we have come to expect from him: clear and provocative applications of folklore theory to the phenomenon under analysis, be it Siri epic, Kalevala, variation, performance, or others. One would also have to mention the feasts in the town hall, on the Pikku Pukki island, and in the 'Louhi's cave', for they were extraordinary.

In the epic workshop, Lauri Harvilahti introduced a valuable new concept, 'ethnopoetic substrate'. Although crediting John Foley with having coined the term, Harvilahti uses it to describe ways in which contiguous epic traditions often share deep levels of poetic structure, including musical, rhythmic, semantic, and performance characteristics. As for myself, who had arrived in Finland en route from a summer's study in Mongolia, Harvilahti's daily demonstrations of similarities between Oirat Mongol, Khalkha Mongol, and Altaic epic were breathtaking. Foley's analyses of Greek, Anglo-Saxon, and South Slavic traditions were no less so. And in workshop, again, who could forget the diversity of traditions represented? (To take but a few examples: Qubumo Bamo's presentation of Yi traditions of ritual, folk song, shamanism, and heroic epic, which were generally unacknowledged even in China until the 1980s; T. Dharmaraj's introduction to the mathematically-inclined versification of Tamil epics; Mihai Fifor's audio presentation and analyses of Romanian epic; Mehri Bagheri's discussion of Iranian epic in 'sport halls' and manuscripts; Senni Timonen's grace and insight; Jouni's wit (not to mention persistence with the camera); Camilla's patience, since hers was the only tradition not in verse; Anneli's Siri project, which was ever present for us to read and discuss.)

On the matter of suggestions for future Summer Schools, it might be good to have a room arranged for personal use of audiovisual equipment and for the sharing of fieldwork with interested participants, perhaps by appointment. It was pointed out that the usual fieldwork 'demo sessions', which had taken place in earlier Summer Schools, were curtailed somewhat in order to accommodate the weekend conference on Kalevala and the World's Epics, and one surely agrees with this decision; what I am thinking of is a place where students, quite apart from any official 'demo session', could meet in order to share and discuss their materials in greater detail. Coming from the field of classical philology where fragmentary evidence, lost manuscripts, and the absence of information concerning performance context are the rule, I found myself never quite 'getting enough' exposure to other students' abundant local materials (although everyone whom I asked gladly shared theirs). For example, I would have enjoyed the opportunity to sit down in a room with Honko's Siri video, Harvilahti's Altai video, and other students' materials in order to discuss matters at greater length and in detail. (This suggestion hardly constitutes a criticism, perhaps something approximating greed!)

In closing it must be said that the organisation of the Summer School was excellent. Things ran smoothly and the days were packed with useful activities. The quality of lectures, excursions, and instruction was very high. The staff worked hard and did so with a smile, always. The accommodations were comfortable and conducive to work. That being said, and said with much gratitude and thanks, I should like to add that ultimately it was the outstanding group of students, teachers, and staff who made the Summer School such a special, and truly unforgettable, experience.

Aaron Tate
Center for Studies in Oral Tradition
316 Hillcrest Hall
Columbia, MO, 65203 USA

Researcher (1999-2000)
Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku
Zvonimirova 17/IV
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Email: tateaaron@hotmail.com

Part of the workshop 3 is presenting their group report:

From left: Susanne Österlund, Jonathan Roper, Marilene Papachristophorou and Ergo-Hart Västrik.

Marilena Papachristophorou (workshop 3):

The conference's organisation was perfect, with the preprints, the hand-outs, the panels, the discussions, the variety in the points of view, the demos, the informal atmosphere and the fact to be welcome with broken English. The idea to incorporate the symposium in the FFSS programme was also very good: it gave us the opportunity to open our perspectives and to meet some more scholars. I don't think you could do something more to stimulate the participation; in my opinion, this was a maximum.

The workshop (III) was also a stimulating exercise which taught me a lot. We managed to work in a very limited time and to collaborate with people we didn't know before - that means in pressing conditions. To me this was the most difficult part of the "game", and I am happy to say that I have experienced an ideal collaboration. I want to thank, once more, Ulrika and Barbro, Hanne, Laura, Susanne, Ergo, Fredrik, Jonathan, Pasi, Ülo and Rina.

On the other hand you did work a lot to offer us unforgettable relaxing moments: Villa Hortus is a wonderful place to stay and I still miss it. The excursions, the parties and the museum visits were a good opportunity to "meet" Finland, and to get to know the other participants. I want to mention especially 'the Pikku Pukki evening', which I have tried to describe, but I still cannot find the words to do that. Finnish hospitality is an example to follow. And, a last thing to mention, is the opportunity we had to make new friendships and to learn through personal communication.

If I must summarize my impressions in some words, I choose: high level, kindness, conversational, and efficiency.

Thanks again, to all of you.

Best regards,

Dr. Marilena Papachristophorou
Mykinon 21-23, Kallithea 176-73
Athens, Greece
E-mail: marilenap@acropolis.net

Laura Jiga (workshop 3):

One of the effects that the study of orality and folk cultures has, is the creation of a "discursive reality" which belongs to the researcher and which doesn't dovetail with the reality that is to be studied. This fact, as evident as it is, cannot be avoided and it has been proved itself as one of the reasons of (new) methodological approaches, on one side, but also as a source of ontological issues. FFSS99 promoted, in the same measure, papers, panels and workshops concerning theoretical issues (like new approach represented by the concepts of "textualization", "variability" and "organicity"), practical problems of the field of folkloristic, and themes concerning the position and function of folklore, folkloristic and folklorists in the modern societies as well.

FFSS99 gathered scholars and researchers from different countries. This implies different richness of materials and cultural, ideological and political backgrounds. This might influence the attitude towards ourselves as folklorists and towards the use and priorities of our work. Without neglecting the differences, FFSS99 focused on those levels of approaching folklore (theoretically and comparatively), which might be operative for all of us.

I consider a good thing the fact, that we received in advance as preprints almost all papers, that has been presented at FFSS99. Thus, we were given the possibility to prepare ourselves in order to be active listeners. We had also the opportunity to take part on debates concerning the papers presented, (even though the time allotted for every paper was too short, and only for the last few days the young scholars got courage to participate in these public discussions).

The libraries and the archives were open for all of us. As the timetable of FFSS99 was full, we didn't have much time for reading or listening to folk music. But the staff of libraries was ready and very cooperative in order to make the copies we needed. Kalevala Symposium was included in our program providing the chance to listen interesting papers by some of the most important scholars of epic research.

As a member of Workshop III ­ "Principles of fieldwork and archiving" ­ I'd like to mention, that during our long discussions those ideas which, maybe, were intuitively known by us before, became concrete. Ethical issues risen from fieldwork and archiving practices, as well as the concept of "textualization" and its integrating within the framework of the analytical processes of collecting and archiving, became important themes of discussions. Because our final report was conceived and written by all of us (students and workshop leaders), I'm not going to write more about our workshop. I just want to stress the fact that we succeeded in working as a team. It was a good exercise and we are ready to repeat it. Though we had eight afternoons at our disposal, we couldn't cover all the problems we were interested in.

We had lot of discussions also in the evenings, sometimes till later in the night, in our "free time". One of the question that often occurred was how to define and delimit the fields of research dealing with folk cultures (folkloristic, ethnography, ethnology, cultural anthropology)? Is it a sign that the young (and also elder) scholars are still preoccupied on these problems? But we weren't so serious all the time, but laughed a lot, being delighted to learn that, beside our work, we have a lot in common. The "extra official" contexts which the organizers of FFSS99 prepared for the participants (excursions, parties, sauna sessions) were also good opportunities to get to know each other.

I don't know whether three weeks (since the FFSS99 has been finished) are enough for an objective and detached view upon it. But one thing is sure: it was a school.

Looking for further contacts and wishing you the best,

Laura Jiga, folklorists
The Institute of Ethnography and Folklore "C.Brailoiu", of Romanian Academy,
Bucharest, Romania.
Str. Tache Ionescu nr.25, sector 1.

E-mail: balaura@hotmail.com

Here comes the workshop 4:

Women from left: Margaret Mills, Sadhana Naithani, Karen Miller, Sabina Wienker-Piepho, Armi Pekkala, Sinikka Vakimo and Judy Rangnes. Lauri Honko in a voluntary kneeling position.

Karen Miller (workshop 4):

Where does a folklorist go to be pampered, saunaed, feasted and well entertained lavishly and found 30 or more scholars all as eager as oneself to talk folklore just about all the time. Where else! This year in Turku I found myself uniquely privileged participants at the FFSS99. I was impressed before I ever got to Turku by the efficient yet hospitable and kind care of Ingela Ollas, for every anxiety attack I had she smoothed it away with ease and grace. Finding myself coming to Turku early Ingela found and made a reservation for me with a local guest house in Turku. When FFSS began my accommodation were lovely, and much to my delight I had a double room to myself. My one regret at the beginning of FFSS had been learning that only a few of the participants had been housed in the hotel and it was a 20 min. walk to the campus where the FFSS was held. But as the days rolled by I found myself liking the distance from the campus. The lovely walk to and from in the morning, and the silence and especially sauna and pool at out disposal. The Staff was superb. They were not only efficient but helpful with whatever request was put to them. In every aspect of organisation and logistics the staff were without peer.

The daily program which was long and frankly after two or three days of it tiring. I felt that often my attention and compression was faltering after two or three hours of presentation. Although I understand wanting to fit a number of excellent papers into the session so as to spark discussion and debate. There was for me clearly a limit to my absorption rate in which I could meaningfully think or reply to all the papers. Only now that I have time for reflection and can ponder again some of the ideas presented, I feel I am taking in all the wealth of material presented. I was in the workshop that I felt I was thinking and interacting as I like to. The small size and centrality of a subject helped the discussion. I was in Workshop IV on 'Folklore Research Ethics', which turned out to be a lively and at time strained topic of debate, but that in itself was enlightenment and provoking for me. I would have liked to have been able to meet with some of the other workshops, so as to have been able to expand our discussion and views with others. We were lucky that we were able to meet with workshop III, which was a most rewarding experience.

The other highlight of the FFSS is of course the chance to meet and interact with the other participants from around the world. People working in areas of the world and folklore I know little about. The chance to meet, discuss and form friendship must be one of the most uniquely important aspects of the FFSS. Taken as a whole I found and think I will continue to find the FFSS99 pivotal point in my folklore education and work. I commend and applaud Dr. Honko and the organisation for having the vision and persistent hard work to implement the vision thus allowing myself and many other to benefit from it!

Karen Miller, M.A., Archivist
Folklore Archives, UCB
110 Kroeber Hall
Berkeley, CA, 94720
U.S.A
E-mail: thompst@uclink4.berkeley.edu

Sabine Wienker-Piepho (workshop 4):

Fast ein Tagebuch: FFSS Turku/Åbo

(Ziemlich persönlich. Jedenfalls nicht sehr wissenschaftlich...)

Man hätte ein Tagebuch führen sollen! Wie oft habe ich mir das schon gesagt, hinterher, immer hinterher, vorwurfsvoll. Dann hätte ich jetzt etwas "Authentisches" gehabt für Berichte aller Art ­ Turku! Vorher: ich war so lustlos, so satt von all dem Bla-Bla und dem "Rhabarbern" ­ nachher: ich war nicht mehr lustlos. Zwar erschöpft, burned-out, sprachgestört, aber doch neu motiviert und von der Leistung und der Disziplin und dem Stehvermögen der Älteren tief beeindruckt. Pfui! Nie mehr werde ich jammern, irgendetwas Volkskundliches sei mir zu anstrengend!

Turku, warum? Why Turku, why summer-school? Naja - unsere Disziplin ist massiv in der Krise, in Deutschland, in Europa, ja sogar in Bloomington gibt es so gut wie keine Folklore-Departments mehr, nur noch empirische Kulturwissenschaften, Kulturanthropologie, europäische Ethnologie, Soziologie, deutsche und vergleichende Volkskunde (ein Ekelwort für viele NS-Geschädigte und Sensibelchen!). Alles wird immer abstrakter und abstrakter, es gibt nur noch Jargon, Bürokratismus, Macht- und Positionsgerangel, lebensbedrohliche Kämpfe um die immer weniger werdenden Stellen, alles ist politisiert, alles ist online und auf hypertext, es ist ermüdend. Auf der einen Seite gibt es Wissenschaft als Theorie ohne Substanz, auf der anderen Folklorismus (revivalism), und man tanzt partiell mit, um nicht zu verhungern! Überall Populistisches für den "private sector", kaum noch ernste Feldarbeit. Aber nun die Finnen: ohne Juha Pentikäinen und ohne Lauri Honko hätten wir längst die Bodenhaftung verloren, sagt man, und das macht neugierig (How do they do it?). Und ohne die Frauen, die in Finnland offenbar besonders aktiv sind, schlau und ruhig oder auch schlau und unruhig, listig, mutig, hübsch, unarrogant, witzig und in einer Art und Weise emanzipiert, daß einem hin und wieder direkt mulmig wird.

Das Besondere an Turku, ja, was war es eigentlich? Mir schien, es war dies ein "event" (ein neudeutsches Modewort), ein Ereignis, das derart perfekt organisiert war, daß einfach nichts schief gehen konnte. Raffiniert, ausgefeilt bis ins Letzte. Gruppendynamisch hochdifferenziert ausgetüftelt! Das Vorfeld mit den Preprints und den ermutigenden Schreiben von Honko selbst! Die nahezu unerträgliche Spannung des Landes und der Menschen wegen: ich war noch nie in Skandinavien (eine kleine Balladentagung in Stockholm zählt nicht)! Un die "Finnische Schule" ­ sie zu kennen, gehört bei uns zum Basiswissen für Erstsemester. Gibt es sie noch? Wie definiert sie sich heute? Dann die kluge Auswahl: möglichst wenig Teilnehmer aus möglichst vielen Ländern. Das kniffelige Prinzip des konsequenten Abbaus von Hierarchien als Versprechen: "...the line between 'teacher' and 'student' will be thin indeed at the FF Summer School, for which even professors, department heads and chief arcivists apply (but are not always accepted)". That sounded promising!

Erste Woche: Die Ankunft, die Unterbringung: liebenswürdig, hell, ausfgeräumt, ausgeschlafen, gut riechend. Hilfsbereite, freundliche und zumeist auch sprachenkompetente Menschen, überall. Die erste Vorstellung im Hörsall des "Fennicum" ­ viel Gelächter ­ zu Recht, völlig zu Recht. Danach Lauri Honko: "And now: Get youself organized!" Mit dem anfänglichen Fremdeln war es nicht so schlimm: immerhin, einige Teilnehmer kennt man ja doch, von den ISFNR-Tagungen, vom DGV-Kongreß, von ihren Publikationen. Die Verköstigung: kulinarisch einwandfrei, überzeugend ­ zu reichlich genossen (Folge: "Thick corpus"!). Hinreißend: das berühmte finnische Brot. Es machte wie immer allein schon Spaß, sich an gedeckte Tische zu setzen und nicht ständig ­ als Frau ­ auch noch mit Haushaltspflichten abgelenkt zu werden, das hat Feriencharakter. Relativ rasch hatte ich dann auch die Struktur begriffen, das morgendliche Ritual der Vorlesungen und der darauffolgenden "Panels", welche keine Gemütlichkeitsnischen zuließen, sondern auch die eher Passiven, die Stillen sanft aber entschieden in die Bütt zwangen. Dann die Nachmittage mit Arbeit in den kleinen, sorgfältig zusammengestellten Workshops zu den vier Themenkreisen. An den Nachmittagen ging es dann wirklich zur Sache, aufgemischt wie wir waren, gab es kein Vertun: es mußte etwas dabei herauskommen, irgendetwas. Möglichst was Schriftliches. Möglichst ein Entwurf für einen FF-Ethic-Code, den Lauri Honko der UNESCO hätte vorlegen können. Ich war nämlich in Honkos Gruppe "Research Ethics". Großes Abenteuer, erst dachte ich "Hier bist du fehl am Platze, du hast nie Feldforschung gemacht, Du bist ein Schreibtischtäter, ein armchair ­ researcher, hast immer mit Archivalien gearbeitet, was willst Du eigentlich hier?" Dann wurden Fälle aufgetischt, zunehmende Sensibilisierung machte sich breit, ich erinnerte mich plötzlich, daß ich selbstverständlich doch viele Male im Feld war. Und Ethik gibt's schließlich auch in Archiven, selbst in noch so harmlos daherkommenden wie dem Deutschen Volksliedarchiv, in dem ich ein Jahrzehnt lang meine Erfarungen habe sammeln können. An archive is not an archive, it depends...! Die aberwitzigsten und prekärsten Situationen, "cases", nebeneinandergestellt, ergaben zunächst Ratlosigkeit, zuweilen Peinlichkeit, Stille, Nachdenken. Auch die großen, die ganz doll berühmten Volkskundler ­ hier saßen sie mit den Studenten auf einer Bank und grübelten gemeinsam. Nein, Antworten, vorschnelle gar, die hatten auch sie nicht parat. Menschen offenbar! Eigenartig. Man sah förmlich die Denkwölkchen aufsteigen (wie im Comic, wie bei "Akku Ankka" ­ es ist nicht zu fassen: in der ganzen Welt heißt Donald Duck Donald Duck, in Finnland heißt er "Akku Ankka!"- schreibt man es mit zwei "K"s? (- No, only with one 'K': Aku Ankka - Sinikka's comment)). Sympathisch, sehr sympathisch! Humor hatten sie auch, so schien es, ziemlich ausdifferenzierten, und Anfälle von Selbstironie. Angenehm.

So verging die erste Woche. Am Ende stellte sich bei mir eine massive Sprachkrise ein: ich wachte nachts schweißgebadet auf, nach irgendeinem englischen Wort suchend. Und tagsüber war ich wie gelähmt: ich verstummte förmlich, weder Deutsch noch Englisch war mir spontan parat. Seltsam, das war mir noch nie passiert. Vielleicht hatte ich irgendeine gefährliche linguistische Krankheit? Wohlmöglich was Ansteckendes? Inzwischen war die Sache "in full swing": wir hatten uns wundersam auf circa 100 Teilnehmer vermehrt ­ dank des Kalevala-Symposions. Jetzt wurde es ernst für mich, denn vom Kalevala kannte ich kaum mehr als das Skelett der dürftigsten Daten. Da geschah etwas Seltsames: in der Bibliothek des Instituts fand ich eine deutsche Übersetzung des Kalevala, die erste überhaupt, die von 1852! Sie stand da einfach so rum. Und man lieh sie mir fürs Wochenende. Einfach so! Unglaublich! Ich muß eben doch einen relativ seriösen Eindruck machen! Mit diesem bibliophilen Schatz verkroch ich mich in mein Hotelzimmer und las und las und las. Freitag nacht und den ganzen Samstag! Es war beeindruckend. Am Sonntag fragte Dell Hymes entzückt und vielleicht auch ein klein wenig eifersüchtig, woher ich denn dieses kostbare Buch hätte? Und ich sagte ihm, sowas stünde in Turku eben einfach so in den Regalen herum... Nun jagte ein Höhepunkt den anderen: die Exkursion barg eine Sensation, die kein Mensch vorher hatte einkalkulieren können: wir trafen auf einen uralten Sänger, einen international berühmten Kalevala-Interpreten, der etwa an sich hatte, das uns Teilnehmer alle, abgebrüht und zynisch wie wir waren, weinen machte. Wir tafelten und zechten in einer Art Höhle und bekamen fabelhafte Urkunden mit Siegel und Stempel von Lauri Honko überreicht, mit "huggings" von Anna-Leena Siikala, die sich dazu extra verkleidet hatte. So muß man es machen. Urkunden! Wir Deutschen sind da einfach nicht auf der Höhe der Zeit: man muß Urkunden und Zeugnisse bei Festen verteilen, das sollte ich mir für meine eigenen Vereinigungen, Symposien und Tagungen mal hinter die Ohren schreiben.

Und dann noch etwas wirklich Kurioses am Rande: Ich saß mit Vilmos Voigt, den ich vor genau zehn Jahren in Budapest kennengelernt hatte, am Frühstückstisch und ein weiterer Symposion-Teilnehmer gesellte sich zu uns. Sie redeten, vermutlich irgendwas Finn-Ugrisches, Gutturales, im leichten, freundlich-rhythmischen Singsang dieser eigenwilligen Sprachfamilie. Sie lachten viel, ich lächelte höflich, verstand aber - wieder einmal - nichts. Dann war ich wieder mit Vilmos alleine und er fragte mich grinsend, ob ich jemals mit einem König gefrühstückt hätte ("have you ever had breakfast with a king?"). Als ich verneinte, meinte er lakonisch: "Now you had". Habt Ihr das gewußt, liebe Kollegen? Einer unserer Teilnehmer ist König. Ich hab's zwar nicht ganz verstanden und dummerweise habe ich auch seinen Namen und sein Land vergessen, aber es ist wohl ein kleines Völkchen, eine Minderheit von ca. 2700 Menschen, die eine eigene Sprache haben und nun, nach so viel Kommunismus, auch wieder eine eigene Monarchie haben wollten. Sie haben ihren Professor zum König gewählt, das hat was, nicht wahr? Und das Schönste ist noch, daß er eine Brauereigerechtsame aus dem Mittelalter herleitet, die ihn dazu berechtigt, in bestimmten Abständen eigenes Bier zu brauen. Charmant! Das freut ihn sichtlich, und das steht auch auf seinem Briefpapier. Am anderen Morgen habe ich ihn mutig im Lift begrüßt, mit "Good morning, Majesty, has his Royal Highness had a good sleep?" Da hat er gelacht... - Ich habe diese wunderbare Geschichte schon mindestens zwanzigmal hier in meiner Heimatstadt erzählt und alle sind sehr beeindruckt, daß sie mit einer Märchenforscherin reden dürfen, die schon einmal mit einem König gefrühstückt hat. Aber der Adel ist allem Anschein nach auch nicht mehr das, was er mal war: der König, so hieß es, fuhr mit dem Bus wieder zurück in sein Königreich! Nicht mit der Kutsche und nicht mit dem Flugzeug. Ach ja! So geht's in der Welt...

2. Woche: Das Wetter wurde immer besser. Samt, Seide und Champagner - Honko ließ wirklich alle seine Beziehungen spielen. Um so unvorstellbarer erschienen mir nun die finnischen Winter! Meine Sprachkrisis wich langsam zögerlichem Selbstvertrauen. Aber es ärgerte und lähmte mich doch, daß ich keine flotten Witze machen konnte, wie zuhause, und mir das ironische Spiel mit der Sprache ganz schnell abgewöhnen mußte. Ab und an verstand ich jedoch nun auch längere Passagen, streckenweise sogar die englischen Alltagsworte ­ die Fachtermini waren zwar harte Nüsse, aber die kannte man schließlich als EM-Autorin, als mehr oder minder regelmäßige Leserin des "Journal of American Folklore". Auch war ich mittlerweile dazu übergegangen, mit Hilfe meines kleinen Lexikons (ich hatte es von meiner Mutter geerbt, es war von 1911!) die für den nächsten Tag zu erwartenden Vorlesungen und Panel-Sujets am Vorabend durchzuarbeiten (gepriesen seien die Preprints!). Ein Gewinn für das social life der FFSS war ich deshalb gewiß nicht, abendliche Sauna-Exzesse beispielsweise, bei denen die Kollegen angeblich Bier getrunken haben sollen, fielen meiner verzweifelten Leseversuche wegen weitgehend flach.

Am Ende verabschiedete ich mich mit einer kleinen Feldstudie, die ich verdeckt ("clandestine observation!") durchgeführt hatte - ich schrieb, um nachdenklich zu machen, alle jene Composita mit "TEXT" an die gute alte Tafel des Hörsaals, die während der Summer-School und während des Symposions gefallen und in den Preprints und Handouts abgedruckt waren: Hier meine Sammlung nochmals zum Abschied:

FFSS-Enigmata (- a short poem)

cotext, context, pretext, mental text, meta text, subtext, oral text (short: "oxt"),
texture, textuality, intertextuality, intertext, textation,
texticity, texturity, textility, hypertext, hypotext, entextualization,
recontextualization, extratext, intratext...etc.etc.

Dr. Sabine Wienker-Piepho, PD
Freiburg/Munic/Göttingen
Germany
E-mail: Wienker-Piepho@t-online.de

Part of the assisting staff smiling with release after the course:

First line from left: Kirsi Hänninen, Pia Hirvonen, Anu Laukkanen, Nancy Pettersson and Eija Riitakorpi.

Back line from left: Ingela Ollas (Course Secretary), Pasi Enges (Assisting-Staff Coordinator, 'handyman'), Päivi Hämäläinen and Janne Perätalo.

All photos presented here are from The TKU Archive of Folkloristics and Comparative Religion at the University of Turku (www.utu.fi/hum/uskontotiede/collcard/english.htm) taken by Jouni Hyvönen. The TKU Archive retain full copyright in their photos. They are allowed to be copyed for public use only with a TKU Archive's permission. More pictures will be shown in the 'Photo-gallery of FFSS' collected by TKU Archive in the following address: www.utu.fi/hum/uskontotiede/ffss99/index.htm.

FFSS Recollections edited by

Sinikka Vakimo
Ph.D.-student
Dept. of Folklore Studies
University of Joensuu
P.o. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu
E-mail: sinikka.vakimo@joensuu.fi