Meillä ei ole ikuisia ystäviä eikä ikuisia vihollisia. Ikuisia ovat meidän omat etumme. : Suomen suhteet Kiinan kansantasavaltaan 1949 - 1989

"We have neither Eternal Friends nor Eternal Enemies. We have only Eternal Interests .Finland's Relations with China 1949-1989 The study focuses on the relations between Finland and the People s Republic of China from 1949-1989 and examines how a small country became embroiled in international politics, and how, at the same time, international politics affected Finnish-Chinese relations and Finland s China policy formulation. The study can be divided into three sections: relations during the early years, 1949-1960, before the Chinese and Soviet rift became public; the relations during the passive period during the 1960s and 1970s; and the impact of China s Open Door policy on Finland s China policy from 1978-1989. The diplomatically challenging events around Tiananmen Square and the reactions which followed in Finland bring the study to a close. Finland was among the first Western countries to recognise the People s Republic and to establish diplomatic relations with her, thereby giving Finland an excellent position from which to further develop good relations. Finland was also the first Western country to sign a trade agreement with China. These two factors meant that Finland was able to enjoy a special status with China during the 1950s. The special status was further strengthened by the systematic support of the government of Finland for China's UN membership. The solid reputation earned in the 1950s had to carry Finland all the way through to the 1980s. For the two decades in between, during the passive policy period of the 1960s and 1970s, relations between Finland and the Soviet Union also determined the state of foreign relations with China. Interestingly, however, it appeared that President Urho Kekkonen was encouraged by Ambassador Joel Toivola to envisage a more proactive policy towards China, but the Cultural Revolution cut short any such plan for nearly twenty years. Because of the Soviet Union, Finland held on to her passive China policy, even though no such message was ever received from the Soviet Union. In fact, closer relationships between Finland and China were encouraged through diplomatic channels. It was not until the presidency of Mauno Koivisto that the first high-level ministerial visit was made to China when, in 1984, Foreign Minister Paavo Väyrynen visited the People s Republic. Finnish-Chinese relations were lifted to a new level. Foreign Minister Väyrynen, however, was forced to remove the prejudices of the Chinese. In 1985, when the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, Erkki Pystynen visited China he also discovered that Finland s passive China policy had caused misunderstandings amongst the Chinese politicians. The number of exchanges escalated in the wake of the ground-breaking visit by Foreign Minister Väyrynen: Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa visited China in 1986 and President Koivisto did so in 1988. President Koivisto stuck to practical, China-friendly policies: his correspondence with Li Peng, the attitude taken by the Finnish government after the Tiananmen Square events and the subsequent choices made by his administration all pointed to a new era in relations with China.

Writing Otherwise than Seeing : Writing and Exteriority in Maurice Blanchot

Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003), the French writer and novelist, is one of the most important figures in post-war French literature and philosophy. The main intention of this study is to figure out his position and originality in the field of phenomenology. Since this thesis concentrates on the notion of vision in Blanchot s work, its primary context is the post-war discussion of the relation between seeing and thinking in France, and particularly the discussion of the conditions of non-violent vision and language. The focus will be on the philosophical conversation between Blanchot and his contemporary philosophers. The central premise is the following: Blanchot relates the criticism of vision to the criticism of the representative model of language. In this thesis, Blanchot s definition of literary language as the refusal to reveal anything is read as a reference pointing in two directions. First, to Hegel s idea of naming as negativity which reveals Being incrementally to man, and second, to Heidegger s idea of poetry as the simultaneity of revealing and withdrawal; the aim is to prove that eventually Blanchot opposes both Hegel s idea of naming as a gradual revelation of the totality of being and Heidegger s conception of poetry as a way of revealing the truth of Being. My other central hypothesis is that for Blanchot, the criticism of the privilege of vision is always related to the problematic of the exteriority. The principal intention is to trace how Blanchot s idea of language as infinity and exteriority challenges both the Hegelian idea of naming as conceptualizing things and Heidegger s concept of language as a way to truth (as aletheia). The intention is to show how Blanchot, with his concepts of fascination, resemblance and image, both affirms and challenges the central points of Heidegger s thinking on language. Blanchot s originality in, and contribution to, the discussion about the violence of vision and language is found in his answer to the question of how to approach the other by avoiding the worst violence . I claim that by criticizing the idea of language as naming both in Hegel and Heidegger, Blanchot generates an account of language which, since it neither negates nor creates Being, is beyond the metaphysical opposition between Being and non-Being.

Peilissä oma kuva : Tutkielma Einojuhani Rautavaaran omaelämäkerrasta

Tutkielma käsittelee Einojuhani Rautavaaran omaelämäkertaa (Omakuva, 1989). Työssä on lähdetty liikkeelle Omakuvan lehdistövastaanotosta, jossa kyseenalaistettiin teoksen "totuudellisuus". Useat arvostelijat esimerkiksi pohtivat Omakuvan asemaa fakta-fiktio-akselilla ja viittasivat teoksen romaanimaisuuteen.Tutkielmassa on etsitty selityksiä sille, miksi lukija joutuu kyseenalaistamaan teoksen 'totuudellisuuden' sekä lisäksi sitä, millaisia merkityksiä teoksessa annetaan omalle menneisyydelle. Rautavaaran Omakuva on suhteutettu työssä autobiografian genren kanssa ja analyyttisen tarkastelun lähtökohtana on käytetty Philippe Lejeunen narratologista autobiografiateoriaa. Rautavaaran omaelämäkerta sisältää hyvin heterogeenista ainesta, mutta teos on mielestäni autobiografia eikä se kuulu esimerkisi muistelmien tai omakuvan lajiin. Omakuva kuitenkin horjuttaa lukijan kanssa tehtyä autobiografista ja referentiaalista sopimusta, joka on Lejeunen teorian lähtökohta, eikä siten sopeudu autobiografian lukemisen konventionaalisiin pelisääntöihin. Omakuvan teksti on lisäksi narsistisesti itsetietoista omasta kerronnallisesta identiteetistään, ja teksti pakottaa lukijan havaitsemaan, että tarina on vain tekijän retrospektiivisesti kirjoittama tulkinta elämästään. Rautavaara näkee peilissä paitsi oman kuvansa myös kuvan romanttisesta taiteilijasta. Romanttisen taiteilijamyytin representoituminen tekstissä on keskeinen teoksen 'totuudellisuutta' horjuttava piirre, koska se pakottaa lukijan kysymään, onko peilissä nähty omakuva aito ja todellinen vai onko se kenties tuotettu tietoisesti ja manipuloiden. Omakuvan Rautavaara on romanttinen taiteilija, joka tahtoisi vetäytyä norsunluutornin/erakkoluolan yksinäisyyteen ja pystyttää muurin taiteen ja elämän arvojen välille. Säveltäjän minä on myös konfliktissa häntä ympäröivän yhteiskunnan kanssa ja esimerkiksi kriitikot, muusikot ja kapellimestarit uhkaavat hänen olemassaoloaan. Omakuvan päähenkilö muistuttaakin hyvin paljon Maurice Beeben (1964) tutkimien taiteilijaromaanien päähenkilöitä ja erityisesti James Joycen romaanin Taiteilijan omakuva nuoruuden vuosilta päähenkilöä Stephen Dedalusta. Omakuva lähestyy taiteilijaromaaneille tyypillisiä tapoja kuvata taiteilijaa. Teoksessa käsitellään elämää sekä autobiografisessa että taiteilijaromaanin genren tilassa. Omakuva onkin rajateksti, joka horjuttaa autobiografian lajikonventioita. Lisäksi teoksen minä piiloutuu arkkityyppisten kuvien ja myyttien taakse kieltäen jähmettymisen yhdeksi kuvaksi. Lukijalle tarjoutuukin tekstissä monta mahdollista kuvaa Rautavaarasta ja Omakuvasta tulee erilaisten subjektien näyttämö. Avainsanat: säveltäjäautobiografia, romanttinen taiteilijamyytti, kulttuurinen musiikintutkimus

Luonnoksia käsityön ruumiillisuudesta. : Käsityö Maurice Merleau-Pontyn ruumiinfenomenologian valossa.

Purpose This study focused on craft from a standpoint of phenomenological philosophy and craft was interpreted through Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body. The main focus was the physical phase of the craft process, wherein a product is made from material. The aim was to interpret corporality in craft. There is no former research focusing on lived body in craft science. Physical, bodily making is inalienable in craft, but it is not articulated. Recent discussion has focused on craft as ”whole”, which emphasizes designing part in the process, and craft becomes conceptualized with the theories of art and design. The axiomatic yet silenced basis of craft, corporality, deserves to become examined as well. That is why this study answers the questions: how craft manifests in the light of phenomenology of the body and what is corporality in craft? Methods In this study I cultivated a phenomenological attitude and turned my exploring eye on craft ”in itself”. In addition I restrained myself from mere making and placed myself looking at the occurrence of craft to describe it verbally. I read up Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body on his principal work (2002) and former interpretations of it. Interpreting and understanding textual data were based on Gadamer’s hermeneutics, and the four-pronged composition of the study followed Koski’s (1995) version of the Gadamerian process of textual interpretation. Conclusions In the construction of bodily phenomenology craft was to be contemplated as a mutual relationship between the maker and the world materializing in bodily making. At the moment of making a human being becomes one with his craft, and the connection between the maker, material and the equipment appears as communication. Operational dimension was distinctive in the intentionality of craft, which operates in many ways, also in craft products. The synesthesia and synergy of craft were emphasized and craft as bodily practice came to life through them. The moment of making appeared as situation generating time and space, where throwing oneself into making may give the maker an experience of upraise beyond the dualism of mind and body. The conception of the implicit nature of craft knowledge was strengthened. In the light of interpretation it was possible to conceptualize craft as a performance and making ”in itself” as a work of art. In that case craft appeared as bodily expression, which as an experience approaches art without being it after all. The concept of aesthetic was settled into making as well. Bodily and phenomenological viewpoint on craft gave material to critically contemplate the concept of “whole craft” (kokonainen käsityö) and provided different kind of understanding of craft as making.