The Making and Breaking of Boundaries
Abstract
The Finnish-Hungarian ethnological symposia have become both an arena for the discussion of current themes and an excellent forum for young researchers to present their own ongoing work. The atmosphere of the symposia since the first meeting in 1984 has been supportive and encouraging. The 7th Finnish-Hungarian Symposium in Ethnology was held in Finnish Lapland, above the Arctic Circle. The Kevo Subarctic Research Institution, a field station of the university of Turku, is located in Utsjoki, the northernmost municipality of Finland. During the symposium, held 17-22 June 2000, the nature of Lapland presented its best side: the sun never set. The theme of the symposium, The Making and Breaking of Boundaries, was in fact highly consistent with the subarctic conditions. We too were located both at a border between different cultures and in the middle of the boundless Sápmi.
