Ethnologia Fennica https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn <p>Ethnologia Fennica is an international journal of the Association of Finnish Ethnologists (<a href="http://www.ethnosry.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ethnos</a>). The journal publishes original scholarly articles, review articles, congress reports, and book reviews from the field of ethnology and other related fields. The research articles undergo <a href="/index.php/ethnolfenn/about/editorialPolicies#peerReviewProcess" target="_self">double-blind peer review</a>. The language of the journal is English.</p> <p>Ethnologia Fennica is funded by the&nbsp;<a href="http://minedu.fi/en">Ministry of Education and Culture</a>. The journal has received <a href="https://www.tsv.fi/en/services/label-for-peer-reviewed-scholarly-publications">the Label for Peer-reviewed Scholarly Publications</a> by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies<em>, </em>and is ranked at the level two in <a href="http://www.julkaisufoorumi.fi/en">the evaluation of the Finnish publication forum</a> (leading publication in its field). &nbsp;<em> <br></em></p> <p>Please follow the journal’s <a href="http://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/about/submissions" target="_self">guidelines </a>when submitting your manuscript.</p> <p>Online ISSN&nbsp;2489-4982<br>Print ISSN&nbsp;0355-1776</p> en-US <p>Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:</p> <p>Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.</p> <p>The license of the published metadata is Creative Commons CC0 4.0 Universal (CC BY 4.0)</p> <p>Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.</p> maija.j.maki@utu.fi (Maija Mäki) eino.heikkila@helsinki.fi (Eino Heikkilä) Thu, 08 Jun 2023 09:56:48 +0300 OJS 3.2.1.4 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 Towards New Forms of Engagement https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/129311 Coppélie Cocq Copyright (c) 2023 Coppélie Cocq http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/129311 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Birth of the Sleepless Land https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/112816 <p>In this paper, I track the arrival of the sugar beet in Scandinavia and explore the technical changes, ecological implications and new social arrangements that followed in its wake. Based on ethnographic records and other historical material dealing with agricultural practices, I argue that an ethnological view that takes the agrarian landscape and the organisation of social life together as one analytical totality may be useful for addressing an important question: What are the implications in everyday life of an energy transition into—and out of—fossil-fuelled food production? The analysis demonstrates that the sugar beet arrived along with fossil fuels, steam ploughing, commercial fertiliser, migrant labour and agricultural consultants in a large infrastructural complex that significantly impacted the landscape. These material elements mirrored the historical victory of bourgeois industrial logic over peasant forms of life whose ecological cornerstone was the fallow land. Agricultural land became sleepless in the Anthropocene—and rural life became fossilised.</p> Simon Halberg Copyright (c) 2023 Simon Halberg http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/112816 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Experiencing a Lament Performance in a Mire https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/121289 <p>The article addresses the topical issue of environmental emotions from the perspective of individual experiences of environmental art reception. The research focuses on how the audience experienced lament performances by singer and musician Noora Kauppila in natural mires in Finland, and it asks the research question: What kinds of environmental emotions have laments in the mire provoked, and how are emotions contextualised in audience interviews? Art performances in the mire have become part of a growing international mire trend in the 21st century. I understand mires as a living heritage that reflects the diversity and inter-connectedness of heritage elements (e.g. practices and knowledge concerning nature) experienced by community members and individuals. The effectiveness of art (lament performances) is linked to reception research, which has not previously been applied to mire art performances. In the debate on the impact of art, the experiential perspective has been marginal. In the interview material, individuals’ experiences reveal strong emotions about the endangered environment. The lament performance transformed a mire into a culturally appropriated space for the collective and individual processing of emotions regarding a fragile natural environment. The interviewees reported unwanted changes in their own surroundings, and their feelings about the changes were reflected in the observed decline in the habitats of birds and other mire animals. In a broad sense, the article offers insights into the meanings and changes of an individual’s relationship with nature. The research evidence suggests that a communal context is needed to deal with environmental emotions, especially negative emotions like sorrow, hatred and grief. Likewise, the individual accounts reveal a need for a communal change in abandoning unsustainable lifestyles. The article is based on research that has been undertaken as part of the ‘Mire Trend’ research project at the University of Eastern Finland. </p> Pauliina Latvala-Harvilahti Copyright (c) 2023 Pauliina Latvala-Harvilahti http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/121289 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 The Material Agency of Crystals in New Spirituality https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/120977 <p>This paper studies crystals in New Spirituality in Estonia not only as things, or objects, used in certain practices, but also as agentive materials. My research participants, who wear crystals, take their material properties seriously, finding the properties to have supportive qualities, according to esoteric interpretation. Nevertheless, things and materials, objects and minerals, are never permanent; they have material lives of their own. Sometimes minerals lose their gloss, crack, break or just become lost. Physical decay and displacement, which are the focus of this paper, have meaning-making potential, which my interlocutors interpret within the framework of the esoteric. Their perception of these minerals can be understood in posthumanist and new materialist terms. The paper uses the concept of material agency to demonstrate how natural processes of decay acquire cultural meaning by connecting material properties and human interpretation.</p> <p><sub>This work was supported by an Estonian Research Council grant (PUT number PRG670), ‘Vernacular Interpretations of the Incomprehensible: Folkloristic Perspectives Towards Uncertainty’.</sub></p> Tenno Teidearu Copyright (c) 2023 Tenno Teidearu http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/120977 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Multiple Worlds of Sámi Research https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/120070 <p><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 399.363px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.982765);" role="presentation">In this text I discuss how Sámi ways of knowing could be woven into the prac</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 422.691px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02803);" role="presentation">tices of Sámi research. I introduce three stories of three research projects as </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 446.018px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02452);" role="presentation">examples of attempts to overcome the complex and multifaceted challenges </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 469.346px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.971936);" role="presentation">that Sámi society is currently facing. These examples place the Sámi perception </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 492.673px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03083);" role="presentation">of the world and its ontological and epistemological premises and practices </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 516.001px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.995301);" role="presentation">at the core of knowledge practices. Sámi knowledge and ways of knowing the </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 539.328px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0207);" role="presentation">world are jointly created and shared in the every-day activities of communi</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 562.656px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02637);" role="presentation">cating and acting, being in dialogue with the environment, caring for it, and </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 585.983px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03287);" role="presentation">engaging with the principle that a human being is not the master of nature.</span></p> Sanna Valkonen Copyright (c) 2023 Sanna Valkonen http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/120070 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 The Fight for Better Rules https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/115635 <p>Rules are a basic property of human societies and yet they occupy a historically contested place in the modern narrative about what makes us human. Rules are infinitely malleable and ambivalent, at the same time a reflection of power inequities, a mechanism for reinforcing these inequities and a means to challenge them. Transgressing them can both create new spaces of freedom and reinforce the norms that they seek to establish. Reframing rules as potentialities helps break this spell. It allows us to ask not what we should do but what we can do, and to take the measure of the limits of our actions, as humans and as social scientists.</p> Ellen Hertz Copyright (c) 2023 Ellen Hertz http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/115635 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Dreaming Cultural Heritage https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/128725 Pasi Alfred Enges Copyright (c) 2023 Pasi Alfred Enges http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/128725 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Practicing Museums https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/127360 Lizette Gradén Copyright (c) 2023 Lizette Gradén http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/127360 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Rhizomatic LGBTIQ+ Activism in St. Petersburg https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/128728 Riikka Taavetti, Olga Tkach Copyright (c) 2023 Riikka Taavetti, Olga Tkach http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/128728 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Resistance through the Temporality, Placement, and Modification of Street Art in Scotland’s Streets https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/116242 <p>Through a methodology of ethnographic walking and photographic documentation this article considers and redefines street art within the contexts of the disciplines of Ethnology and Folklore. By considering wide-ranging Scottish examples of public-facing interventions through the concepts of temporality, placement and location, and modification and defacement, this article contributes to a wider scholarly and general discussion on the role and importance of street art in our everyday lives. It argues for the significance and usefulness of these conceptual frameworks, which not only link street art in Scotland to street art around the world, but also reveal the common hybrid physical and online nature of much street art. The examples included of public interventions are almost all connected through the theme of resistance, whether personal, local, national, or international. Examples explored relate to the Scottish Independence Referendum, anti-gentrification campaigning, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, trans rights activism, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.</p> Nicolas Le Bigre Copyright (c) 2023 Nicolas Le Bigre http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/116242 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Cycloactivism in Mexico City https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/115168 <p><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 404.089px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00399);" role="presentation">Cycling in Mexico City is dangerous. But over the last two decades it has be</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 427.417px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00481);" role="presentation">come less so. New cycleways, a large public bicycle-sharing scheme, various </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 450.744px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02117);" role="presentation">government cycling promotion projects and an abundance of official signal</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 474.072px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01136);" role="presentation">ling demanding respect for cyclists have made bicycles visible as worthy ve</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 497.399px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00348);" role="presentation">hicles on city streets. For cycloactivists, however, such improvements are not </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 520.727px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02807);" role="presentation">enough. Cyclists are frequently harassed, attacked or run over by motorists. </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 544.054px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03111);" role="presentation">Cycloactivists thus demand more and better cycleways as well as increased </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 567.382px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02811);" role="presentation">measures to address injustices in mobility issues across the city. They do so </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 590.709px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02629);" role="presentation">through protests, information campaigns, public performances and academ</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 614.037px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0009);" role="presentation">ic debates, and crucially, by cycling through city streets. This means that they </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 637.364px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0334);" role="presentation">use their bodies as symbols, to highlight their vulnerability. Along the way, </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 660.692px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01933);" role="presentation">they often break existing traffic rules to highlight how unfair they are and to </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 684.019px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01388);" role="presentation">draw attention to other demands. I refer to their efforts as experiential cyclo</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 707.347px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0068);" role="presentation">activism, which highlights cyclists making themselves vulnerable as a means </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 730.674px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02251);" role="presentation">of denouncing illegitimate rules and policies that need to be changed. I con</span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 754.002px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02626);" role="presentation">clude the analysis by suggesting that their style of rule-breaking is a type of </span><span dir="ltr" style="left: 141.732px; top: 777.329px; font-size: 17.5px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02365);" role="presentation">ritual with which they seek to improve the city, not burn it down.</span></p> Raúl Acosta García Copyright (c) 2023 Raúl Acosta http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/115168 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 Editorial https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/130542 Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, Maija Johanna Mäki, Hanna Snellman, Kirsi Sonck-Rautio, Tiina Suopajärvi Copyright (c) 2023 Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto, Maija Johanna Mäki, Hanna Snellman, Kirsi Sonck-Rautio, Tiina Suopajärvi http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 https://journal.fi/ethnolfenn/article/view/130542 Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300