Ruumiillinen esine, materiaalinen suku : Tutkimus Pyhä Anna itse kolmantena -aiheisista keskiajan puuveistoksista Suomessa

Embobied Object, Material Family. Late-Medieval Wood Sculptures Depicting Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child in Finland Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was one of the most popular saints in Western Europe in the late Middle Ages. She was often depicted with two other figures, the Virgin and the Christ Child (Anna Selbdritt). The dissertation examines the polychrome wood sculptures showing this motif, with a special focus on those remaining in Finland. It investigates the meanings these sculptures had to their observers in the fifteenth-century Finland. The study sheds light to important material heritage which is little known and offers new insights into the cult and imagery of the holy grandmother. Methodologically the study is based on iconology and post-formalist art history, and it appropriates concepts such as spatiality, sanctity, corporeality, and gender. Taking a comparative approach it knits together larger tendencies and local people and incidents. By conflating methodological domains it renews the ways how fragmentary wood sculptures, lacking documentary written sources, can be contextually interpreted and comprehended. The sculptures are analyzed from three angles. Firstly, the study explores the sculptures by focusing on their materiality and facture, which is to consider them as records of their own making. The analysis provides new information concerning the quantity, location, and current condition of the sculptures and it also elucidates problems regarding attribution, dating, display, and craftsmanship. The book presents the results of the empirical study of 45 Saint Anne groups; these works are individually described in the large Appendix. Secondly, the works are contextualized to the specific historical conditions in which they were observed. The study discusses closely the circumstances in the Turku Cathedral around the shrine of Saint Anne, the popular belief, and the piety of individual persons. The sculptures, deemed as the embodiments of the holy characters, interacted with the devotees. Thirdly, the works are examined within the wider theological and ideological currents of the era centered on the body and Incarnation. Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child motif demonstrated the Carnal Trinity, the motherly side of the Holy Trinity. The dissertation argues that Saint Anne was interpreted as the female counterpart or, in a mythical sense, wife of God. Furthermore, the Child s implicit, simultaneous presence as a suffering or dead man imbues the sculptures with a sense of the Passion, thus associating them with the pietà and the Mater dolorosa motifs. The naked Christ Child underlines him as the offering and, eventually, the Eucharistic wafer. The study suggests that the sculptures mediate continuity and the bloodline between the generations by the intertwined and repeated gestures, clothing and positions of the portrayed figures. Regardless of the ostensible homeliness of the sculptures, so readily reiterated by earlier scholars, these sculptures represented creation and birth through the carnal yet holy mothers.

Reconstructions of past climates from documentary and natural sources in Finland since the 18th century

In this paper both documentary and natural proxy data have been used to improve the accuracy of palaeoclimatic knowledge in Finland since the 18th century. Early meteorological observations from Turku (1748-1800) were analyzed first as a potential source of climate variability. The reliability of the calculated mean temperatures was evaluated by comparing them with those of contemporary temperature records from Stockholm, St. Petersburg and Uppsala. The resulting monthly, seasonal and yearly mean temperatures from 1748 to 1800 were compared with the present day mean values (1961-1990): the comparison suggests that the winters of the period 1749-1800 were 0.8 ºC colder than today, while the summers were 0.4 ºC warmer. Over the same period, springs were 0.9 ºC and autumns 0.1 ºC colder than today. Despite their uncertainties when compared with modern meteorological data, early temperature measurements offer direct and daily information about the weather for all months of the year, in contrast with other proxies. Secondly, early meteorological observations from Tornio (1737-1749) and Ylitornio (1792-1838) were used to study the temporal behaviour of the climate-tree growth relationship during the past three centuries in northern Finland. Analyses showed that the correlations between ring widths and mid-summer (July) temperatures did not vary significantly as a function of time. Early (June) and late summer (August) mean temperatures were secondary to mid-summer temperatures in controlling the radial growth. According the dataset used, there was no clear signature of temporally reduced sensitivity of Scots pine ring widths to mid-summer temperatures over the periods of early and modern meteorological observations. Thirdly, plant phenological data with tree-rings from south-west Finland since 1750 were examined as a palaeoclimate indicator. The information from the fragmentary, partly overlapping, partly nonsystematically biased plant phenological records of 14 different phenomena were combined into one continuous time series of phenological indices. The indices were found to be reliable indicators of the February to June temperature variations. In contrast, there was no correlation between the phenological indices and the precipitation data. Moreover, the correlations between the studied tree-rings and spring temperatures varied as a function of time and hence, their use in palaeoclimate reconstruction is questionable. The use of present tree-ring datasets for palaeoclimate purposes may become possible after the application of more sophisticated calibration methods. Climate variability since the 18th century is perhaps best seen in the fourth paper study of the multiproxy spring temperature reconstruction of south-west Finland. With the help of transfer functions, an attempt has been made to utilize both documentary and natural proxies. The reconstruction was verified with statistics showing a high degree of validity between the reconstructed and observed temperatures. According to the proxies and modern meteorological observations from Turku, springs have become warmer and have featured a warming trend since around the 1850s. Over the period of 1750 to around 1850, springs featured larger multidecadal low-frequency variability, as well as a smaller range of annual temperature variations. The coldest springtimes occurred around the 1840s and 1850s and the first decade of the 19th century. Particularly warm periods occurred in the 1760s, 1790s, 1820s, 1930s, 1970s and from 1987 onwards, although in this period cold springs occurred, such as the springs of 1994 and 1996. On the basis of the available material, long-term temperature changes have been related to changes in the atmospheric circulation, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (February-June).

Image Heritage - The Temporal Dimension in Consumers' Corporate Image Constructions

Images and brands have been topics of great interest in both academia and practice for a long time. The company’s image, which in this study is considered equivalent to the actual corporate brand, has become a strategic issue and one of the company’s most valuable assets. In contrast to mainstream corporate branding research focusing on consumerimages as steered and managed by the company, in the present study a genuine consumer-focus is taken. The question is asked: how do consumers perceive the company, and especially, how are their experiences of the company over time reflected in the corporate image? The findings indicate that consumers’ corporate images can be seen as being constructed through dynamic relational processes based on a multifaceted network of earlier images from multiple sources over time. The essential finding is that corporate images have a heritage. In the thesis, the concept of image heritage is introduced, which stands for the consumer’s earlier company-related experiences from multiple sources over time. In other words, consumers construct their images of the company based on earlier recalled images, perhaps dating back many years in time. Therefore, corporate images have roots - an image heritage – on which the images are constructed in the present. For companies, image heritage is a key for understanding consumers, and thereby also a key for consumer-focused branding strategies and activities. As image heritage is the consumer’s interpretation base and context for image constructions here and now, branding strategies and activities that meet this consumer-reality has a potential to become more effective. This thesis is positioned in the tradition of The Nordic School of Marketing Thought and introduces a relational dynamic perspective into branding through consumers’ image heritage. Anne Rindell is associated to CERS, the Center for Relationship Marketing and Service Management at the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration.

Time Dimension in Consumers’ Image Construction Processes: Introducing Image Heritage and Image-in-use

This paper focuses on the time dimension in consumers’ image construction processes. Two new concepts are introduced to cover past consumer experiences about the company – image heritage, and the present image construction process - image-in-use. Image heritage and image-in-use captures the dynamic, relational, social, and contextual features of corporate image construction processes. Qualitative data from a retailing context were collected and analysed following a grounded theory approach. The study demonstrates that consumers’ corporate images have long roots in past experiences. Understanding consumers’ image heritage provides opportunities for understanding how consumers might interpret management initiatives and branding activities in the present.

Basic Income Grant in Namibia, a Viewpoint on the Proposal and on the Work of the BIG Coalition

This thesis studies the basic income grant proposal in Namibia. The proposal suggests a monthly grant of N$100 (approximately 10€) to all those Namibian citizens who do not receive the state pension. This thesis concentrates on the Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition and on its work. The formation and transformation of the coalition during the time period between 2003 and 2009 is analyzed with the help of data collected during two field work periods in 2008 and 2009. The data includes interviews, newspaper articles, observations and other background material. The analysis of this material is mainly conducted from organizational viewpoint. The final part of the thesis applies the results to the theory of Mosse, whose propositions about policy and practice will be discussed in relation to the basic income grant pilot project. The thesis argues that social legitimacy has been a vital resource for the work of the BIG Coalition and it has sought for it in various ways. The concept of social legitimacy originates from the resource dependence perspective of Pfeffer and Salancik, who propose that organizations are dependent on their environments, and on the resources provided by the surrounding environment. This thesis studies the concept of social legitimacy in the context of resource dependence theory. Social legitimacy is analyzed in the relations between the coalition and its environment, in the formation of the coalition, in the responses towards criticism, and finally in relation to the propositions concerning policy and practice. The work of the coalition in the pilot project will be analyzed through the propositions of Mosse concerning policy and practice. The results will describe and analyze key events in the formation of the BIG Coalition from the South African proposal until the end of the basic income pilot project. This BIG pilot project conducted in 2008-2009 is one of the most well-known activities of the coalition. The clashes between the coalition and its environment will be analyzed through four case studies. It will be shown that the project has been conducted in order to gain more legitimacy to the basic income grant proposal. The conclusion questions the legitimacy of the BIG Coalition as a research and development organization, and requests for more transparent research on the basic income proposal in Namibia.