The 1970s Rebirth of Finnish Anthropology

Authors

• Timo Kaartinen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9161-693X
• Eija-Maija Kotilainen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.159790

Abstract

The Finnish Anthropological Society (or simply Society) was founded during a period in which the number of academic students increased rapidly. In addition, many young people sought ways to participate in international politics, particularly in the Global South, then known as the ‘Third World’. Eija-Maija Kotilainen served as secretary of the Society in 1976–1979 and wrote the first PhD thesis produced by the newly established discipline of cultural anthropology at the University of Helsinki in 1992. Timo Kaartinen defended his PhD thesis in cultural anthropology in 1993, and chaired the Society from 2000 until 2006. What follows is an edited and abridged version of their discussion about the society’s role in re-establishing anthropology in Finnish universities.