Mere Preservers of an Idyllic Tradition?

Authors

• Pirjo Korkiakangas, PhD, Docent University of Jyväskylä

Abstract

The theme at the 2003 autumn seminar of the Association of Finnish Ethnologists, Ethnos, was whether ethnologists have had any influence outside their own scientific community and whether they retain any contemporary influence. On the other hand, the subject of the seminar also touched partly on the core of ethnological research by differentiating how research in the field is understood and seen by the general public. Are ethnologists perceived as mere preservers of idyllic tradition or are they also seen as recorders and scholars of contemporary culture, and above all, as critical interpreters of their own age? The discussion associated with these themes continues in this issue of Ethnologia Fennica.