Ethnologia Fennica

Material culture

Arja Turunen — 2017-12-31

The study of material culture is one the core ﬁelds that characterize ethnology as a discipline. This year’s volume of Ethnologia Fennica presents contemporary ethnological research on material culture.

Kitchen as a material and lived space

Anu Kannike — 2017-12-31

Kitchen has been one of the most intensively lived spaces at home, yet, its furnishings have often vanished, especially in the 20^th-21^st centuries. Cooking tools and utensils have been part of museum displays dedicated to historical food culture but the complex materiality of the kitchen related to multiple practices going beyond food production and consumption has rarely attracted curatorial interest. This article examines comparatively how Estonian museums represent and interpret the materiality of kitchens and kitchen culture. Relying on ethnographic sources the analysis considers the aspects related to material culture as well as museum studies: how kitchen materiality and kitchen practices were represented according to curatorial concepts and how kitchen related objects were interpreted and displayed. The primary materials for the study come from four permanent and temporary exhibitions from 2015‒2016 explicitly dedicated to kitchens and cooking. Exhibiting the lived dimension of kitchens was a challenge for all museums, requiring special participatory actions for collecting stories and things. In all cases, the social life of things was evoked, either sheding light on the general and typical of particular periods, or emphasizing the individual choices and subjective experiences through the biographical approach.

New Objects, Old Age. The Material Culture of Growing Old

Åsa Alftberg — 2018-01-23

Ageing and old age has become a phase of life occupied with new, often medical, devices; for instances blood pressure meters, medication, hearing aids, dentures and walking aids. These material objects are intended for surveillance, as well as to compensate or replace parts of the ageing body and its altered abilities. This paper examines the material culture of growing old, using a phenomenological perspective as a point of departure and comprehending materiality as permeated with cultural norms and ideas that affect identity and agency. The paper is based on two studies consisting of interviews and participant observation with persons between 66 and 93 years. The analysis focuses on how to understand the process that occurs when older people are faced with new objects associated with a certain age and with certain health conditions, how the medical materiality of old age is accepted, internalized, questioned or resisted, and how these medical objects fit in with everyday life.

The Handwork of Folkloristic-Ethnological Knowledge

Kari Tapio Korolainen — 2017-12-31

Drawing is discussed here, both from the historical and from the contemporary folklore and material culture stance. Folklore collector Samuli Paulaharju’s (1875–1944) drawings serve as a point of departure; again, cultural studies constitute the background, as the notion of representation and the construction of folkloristic-ethnologic knowledge are stressed. Material and visual culture comprises yet other central viewpoints. The research material consists of Paulaharju’s folkloristic descriptions (at the SKS) of the interlacements, as knots and lattices. The materials are discussed in the context of magic and belief, at first, and of folk games and plays further back. The research question is: how Paulaharju constructs the meanings of the interlacements by means of drawings? The method of membership categorization analysis (MCA) is combined with multimodal analysis, since the drawing–texts relations are analysed in detail. Thus, the examination demonstrates, that not only several drawing methods are utilised, but also the contexts, as agrarian life, appear diversified when the drawings are concerned. Then, by applying drawing innovatively and experimenting with it, Paulaharju operated between distinct viewpoints, and also challenged the established folkloristic practises. Accordingly, wide interestedness and learning-by-drawing are emphasised more than drawing as a restricted – or restrictive – orientation.

An up-to-date study on mixed crews on Finnish cargo ships

Helena Ruotsala, PhD, Professor — 2017-12-31

Anne Ala-Pöllänen 2017. Happy Ship? Etnografinen tutkimus suomalaisista ja filippiiniläisistä merimiehistä suomalaisilla rahtilaivoilla. (English Summary: Happy Ship? An ethnographic study of Finnish and Philippine sailors aboard Finnish cargo ships.) Helsinki: The Finnish Antiquarian Society, 2017. 223 pp. Diss. ISBN 978-952-6655-04-8 (print). ISBN 978-951-51-3095-2 (electronic). ISSN 0355-1830.

Communicating cultural heritage expertise effectively in the media

Tiina-Riitta Lappi, Adjunct Professor, University Researcher — 2017-12-31

Aura Kivilaakso 2017. Suojelevat sanat. Puu-Käpylän kaavoituskiista esimerkkinä vaikuttavasta kulttuuriympäristön asiantuntijaviestinnästä. (English Summary: Protective Words: The Wooden Käpylä Planning Dispute as an Example of Influential Expert Communications Concerning Cultural Environment.) Turun yliopiston julkaisuja 435. Turku: Turun yliopisto. 285 pp. Diss. ISBN 978-951-29-6788-9 (print). ISBN 978-951-29-6789-6 (pdf). ISSN 0082-6995 (print). ISSN 2343-3205 (pdf).

Scenarios for ethnological research

Pia Olsson, PhD, Adjunct Professor — 2017-12-31

Lehtonen, Jussi 2015. Skenaarioita maaseudun palveluista. Kaupat, kirjastot, pankit ja postit historiasta tulevaisuuksiin. (English Summary: Scenarios of services in the countryside: shops, libraries, banks and post offices of the past, present and future.) Turun yliopiston julkaisuja. Sarja – ser. C osa – tom. 429. Scripta Lingua Fennica Edita. Turku 2016. 335 pp. ISBN 978-951-29-6599-1 (print). ISBN 978-951-29-6600-4 (PDF). ISSN 0082-6995 (print). ISSN 2343-3205 (electronic).

Expeditions to the Children’s Wear Islands and Museum Collections

Leena Paaskoski, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Collections Mana — 2017-12-31

Päivi Roivainen 2017. Puettu lapsuus. Löytöretkiä lastenvaatteiden saarille. (English Summary: Dressed Childhood. Journeys to the Children’s Wear Islands.) Kansatieteellinen Arkisto 56. Helsinki: Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistys 2016. 335 pp. ISBN 978-951-9057-98-9 (print) ISBN 978-951-29-6658-5 (electronic). ISSN 0355-1830. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-6658-5.

Born in the digital age!

Maija Mäki, MA, Doctoral Student — 2017-12-31

Kimmo Elo (ed.) 2016. Digitaalinen humanismi ja historiatieteet. Historia mirabilis 12. Turun Historiallinen Yhdistys. Turku: Painosalama Oy. 258 pp. ISBN 978-952-7045-05-3, ISSN 1795-0759.

Affects matter

Leena Rossi, PhD, B. A. (education) — 2018-02-01

Jonas Frykman & Maja Povrzanović Frykman (eds.) 2016. Sensitive Objects. Affect and Material Culture. Lund, Nordic Academic Press. 285 pp. ISBN 978-91-87675-66-9.

Summer life - memories, dreams and materiality

Sarah Hagström, MA — 2018-02-01

Kerstin Gunnemark (ed.) 2016. Sommarliv. Minnen, drömmar och materialitet. Göteborg: Makadam. 335 pp. Ill. ISBN: 978-91-7061-218-3.

How to make science easily understood

Leena Rossi, PhD, B. A. (education) — 2018-02-01

Tiina Raevaara 2016. Tajuaako kukaan? Opas tieteen yleistajuistajalle. Tampere: Vastapaino. 202 pp. ISBN 978-951-768-546-7.

Windows to the Past and the Future

Ildikó Lehtinen, PhD, Adjunct Professor — 2018-02-01

Tuukka Talvio 2016. Ikkuna menneeseen ja tulevaan. Suomen kansallismuseo. (Windows to the past and the future. The National Museum of Finland.) Museoviraston julkaisuja 7. Helsinki: Museovirasto. 374 pp. Ill. ISBN 978-951-616-279-2. ISSN 2243-1357.

Understanding animal cognition

Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, PhD — 2018-02-01

Helena Telkänranta 2016. Eläin ja ihminen. Mikä meitä yhdistää? Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. 181 pp. ISBN 978-952-222-710-2.

Departures and Arrivals – The Second Finnish-Hungarian-Estonian Ethnological Symposium

Maija Mäki, MA, Doctoral Student — 2017-12-31

Ways of Dwelling: Crisis, Craft, Creativity

Lauri Turpeinen, MA, Doctoral Student — 2017-12-31