A Snapshot of Helsinki Anthropology in Interesting Times

Looking Forwards

Authors

• Sarah Green https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7026-383X
• Matti Eräsaari https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7851-2685
• Lalli Metsola https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3540-8682
• Sanna Vellava https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4126-1031
• Heidi Härkönen https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9661-5912
• Maija-Eliina Sequeira https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2882-5381
• Pekka Tuominen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6941-1268
• Samuli Lähteenaho https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1757-2331

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.159802

Abstract

Sarah Green was invited by the editorial team of Suomen antropologi to write something for their Jubilee Edition about Finnish anthropology, perhaps about her experience as an outsider, having worked in anthropology departments for a couple of decades in the UK before coming to Helsinki in 2012. She gladly agreed to write a piece, but argued that she would find it difficult to compare UK and Finnish anthropologies. As a specialist on borders, location, space, and place, it was hard to imagine what she could say about that difference without creating, rather than reflecting, that difference. She suggested, instead, that she could both consider where Finnish anthropology is currently located and look forward—that is, where Finnish anthropology might be headed. She added that she preferred to do this collectively, together with other colleagues, to provide a range of views and suggestions from a small selection of those currently practising anthropology in Helsinki. The colleagues Sarah contacted were selected to reflect a range of experiences of anthropology in Helsinki—both long term and more recent, and across a range of potential perspectives. Furthermore, given the exceptionally precarious times in which we are living (early 2025), she suggested that our team effort could also consider how to draw on the skills that anthropology provides in order to intervene in some way. The editors readily agreed. This brief reflection piece is the outcome of that collective effort, and, in a sense, represents the middle of a conversation rather than its beginning or end.