Intercultural bridges in teenagers' theatrical events : performing self and constructing cultural identity through a creative drama process

The overriding aim of this drama educational case study is to deepen the understanding of meaning making in a creative intercultural youth theatre process and to examine it in the context of the 10th European Children's TheatreEncounter. The research task is to give a theoretical description of some key features of a creative drama process as the basis for theory about meaning makingin physical theatre. The first task is to illuminate the culture-historical connections of the multilayered practice of the EDERED-association. The second taskis to analyse and interpret theatrical meaning making. The ethnographical research site is regarded as a theatrical event. The analysis of the theatrical eventis divided into four segments: cultural contexts, contextual theatricality, theatrical playing and playing culture. These segments are connected with four research questions: What are the cultural contexts of a creative drama process? How can the organisation of the Encounter, genres, aesthetic codes and perception ofcodes be seen to influence the lived experiences of the participants? What are some of the key phases and characteristics in a creative practice? What kind of cultural learning can be interpreted from the performance texts? The interpretative question concerns identity and community (re)construction. How are the categories, `community´ and `child´ constructed in the Encounter culture? In this drama educational case study the research material (transcribed interviews, coded questionnaire answers, participant drawings, videotaped process text and performance texts) are examined in a multi-method analysis in the meta-theoretical framework of Dewey's naturalistic pragmatism. A three-dimensional research interest through a combination of lived experiences, social contexts and cultural-aesthetical practices compared with drama-educational practices required the methodological project of cultural studies. Furthermore, the critical interpretation of cultural texts is divided into three levels of analyses which are called description, structural analysis and theoretical interpretation. Dialogic validity (truthfulness, self-reflexivity and polyvocality) is combined with contextual validity (sensitivity to social context and awareness of historicity) and with deconstructive validity (awareness of the social discourses). My research suggests that itis possible, by means of physical theatre, to construct symbolic worlds where questions about intercultural identity and multilingual community are examined and where provisional answers are constructed in social interaction.

Interaktion mellan teori och praktik inom sjöräddningsutbildningen : En vuxenpedagogisk ansats

Forskningen behandlar diskrepansen som kan uppstå då akademisk-pedagogiska utbildningssystem och – uppfattningar möter den mera praktiskt inriktade, och praktiskt utbildade utförande personalen vid Gränsbevakningsväsendet sjöbevakningsstationer och bevakningsfartyg. Syftet med forskningen är att ge läraren ett underlag till bredare förförståelse om fenomen som kan påträffas inom yrkesutbildningen, speciellt den kompletterande yrkesutbildningen. Som forskningsmetod har den hermeneutiska ansatsen valts, där den abduktiva interaktionen mellan teori och empiri har varit fungerande. Forskningen påvisar ingen förekomst av enskilda fenomen utan strävar endast till ökad förståelse om praktikens uppfattning i förhållande till teorin. Som teoretisk förankring har forskaren valt gällande paradigmer om pragmatism, nypragmatism och den postmodernistiska världssynen. Pragmatismen och nypragmatismen blir gällande och förklarande i analysen. En pragmatisk uppfattning av omgivningen på Gränsbevakningsväsendets fältenheter blir ett centralt resultat av denna forskning. Forskningens abduktiva analys ger tillhanda följande hypoteser: • Det förekommer en diskrepans mellan utbildningssystem (läraren) och den inlärningssyn som studeranden på sjöräddningskurser har. • Nypragmatismen som teori är möjlig att applicera på studerandes inställning till teoretisk undervisning. • Praktikens betydelse är av högsta prioritet på fältenheter. Delvis av helt förståeliga skäl men delvis av pragmatiska orsaker. • Studerandes beredskaper, dvs. utbildning och erfarenheter, gynnar ett praktikbetonat tänkande om egen inlärning. • Läraren bör beakta studerandenas beredskaper noggrant i sin elevanalys och anpassa sitt didaktiska tänkande därefter. • Ur en nypragmatisk synvinkel kan det vara skäl att inte använda ordet teori i styrdokument. Då behöver man inte ta ställning till begreppet och dess position. Detta eftersom begreppet teori är svårt att definiera i sjöräddningssammanhang. ”Sanningen” är alltid relativ till åhörargruppen.

Toimintatavoista sosiaalisiin rakenteisiin ja takaisin

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Forming i barnehagen i lys av Reggio Emilias atelierkultur

Forming (Arts and crafts) and children’s creative action with materials and tools are less in use in the kindergarten than before. Political focus on children’s early learning has led to shifts in kindergartens toward other specific disciplines, and requirements for individual testing also of the smallest children’s competencies within these. Kindergarten teachers, educators, researchers and participants in social debate have pointed out that there are epistemological contradictions in descriptions of kindergarten quality as well as between current kindergarten policy documents and requirements for the kindergartens’ staff. Meanwhile, the content and methods in many kindergartens are inspired by practice and philosophy in the municipal kindergartens in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Correlation between kindergartens’ formingprojects and experiences from Reggio Emilia is actualized in particular through the workshop and the studio’s role in children’s learning processes. One starting point for the thesis’ problem area is a documented need for more knowledge about kindergarten’s educational content. The overarching goal of the thesis is to develop new knowledge about how learning takes place in kindergarten through examining the field of forming in kindergartens inspired by Reggio Emilia’s atelier culture. The thesis is theoretically anchored within pragmatism, and ties kindergarten’s aesthetic operations with materials and tools to socio-cultural perspective, social constructivism and post humanistic theory. The empirical material is obtained through a qualitative study with ethnography as methodological approach. The fieldwork is conducted in kindergarten, with two leading research questions: 1) How is atelierism perceived and unfolded in Norwegian Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergartens, and 2) how is forming perceived and unfolded in Norwegian Reggio Emilia-inspired kindergartens. A comprehensive and multifaceted material is analyzed, and the results are presented in the form of three themes: The physical environment, Relations and actions in interplay, and Expression forms and forms of expression. Each of these topics are supported by examples from kindergartens’ adult voices and the constructed empirical material. Insights into how learning takes place in the kindergarten subject of forming with inspiration from the Reggio Emilia atelier culture is discussed in the tension between educational philosophy, Nordic kindergarten tradition and neoliberal trends that kindergarten teachers must adhere to. Learning potentials in children’s opportunities for action in forming in light of the atelier appears in the results of the empirical study. The educational context described is characterized by experimental and playful actions where children’s sensations, curiosity and resistance are interacting with the identity of materials and tools. The results imply aesthetic, ethical, democratic and ecological reflections, which are also valid on a practical action level. The thesis contributes to description and understanding of kindergarten’ content and young children’s learning, the importance of atelier culture as inspiration for the kindergarten, and the further development of methodology and documentation of knowledge expressions.

A year after Crimea: continuity and change of Finnish-Russian relations reflected in the views of the government officials of Finland and Russia

This thesis discusses the dynamism of bilateral relations between Finland and Russia and their interconnection with wider EU-Russia relations in the sight of the recent conflict in Ukraine. In particular, incorporation of Crimea in the territory of Russia in March 2014 is believed to have triggered a series of disputes between the European Union and Russia and thus, have impacted the course of the bilateral Finnish-Russian relations. The study leans on a premise that there are some historical traditions and regularities in the Finnish foreign policy course towards Russia which make the bilateral Finnish-Russian relations special. These traditions are distinguished and described in the book “Russia Forever? Towards Pragmatism in Finnish/Russian relations” (2008) edited by H. Rytövuori-Apunen. Assuming that the featured traditions take place in modern relations between Finland and Russia, the aim of the thesis is to find out how these traditions reappear during the year shaped by the events in Ukraine. In order to do that, author follows the timeline of happenings around the Ukraine crisis starting with Crimea’s referendum on independence, and exams the way these events were commented on and evaluated by the key government officials and political institutions of Finland and Russia. The main focus is given to the Finnish official discourse on Russia during the study period. The data collection, consisting of mostly primary sources (ministerial press releases and comments, statements, speeches and blog posts of individual policy makers) is processed using the thematic analysis supported by the content analysis. The study reveals that the consequences of the Ukraine crisis have brought, among others, complications to the economic cooperation between Finland and Russia, and have stimulated the increased attention of the Finnish decision makers to the country’s security questions. As a result, the character and importance of some historical regularities of the Finnish foreign policies on Russia, like the Continental Dilemma, have taken new shape.