Keskustelu yliopiston uudesta palkkausjärjestelmästä - akateemisten arvojen murtaja vai toiveiden täyttäjä?

There has been a change in university´s position in society during the last of decades from traditional university to result-based university. Result-based is considered as a steering mechanism. The context in this study is the period when the New Salary System was introduced. In the New Salary System salary is based on the performance appraisal made by the supervisor. The purpose of the study was to understand the discussion of the New Salary System and how this discussion should be interpreted. The research task had two parts. In the first part the objective was to identify how the academic work was conceptualised. In the second part I analyzed how one related to the New Salary System and how this was interpreted in relation to representation of academic work. The research material consisted of webblogs from the year 2005. Webblogs were located in the internet and one had free access to them. Mostly employees from Finnish universities wrote to them. Besides the salary system writers discussed the university and the academic work. Two different ways of talking about the academic work were found in research material. In the first one the academic work was based on community and in the second one on individuality. When community was emphasized writers discussed also science and research and academic traditions such as peer review. When individuality was emphasized writers discussed individual performance and the importance of salary according to one´s performance. The analysis shows that the New Salary System was opposed and supported. Opposition was based on arguments for the traditional university; peer review, truth, academic profession, academic community and university’s autonomy are the most important arguments. Supporters used arguments such as the need to make individual´s performance visible and breaking the existing power structures.

Onnistuneen ikääntymisen ymmärrystä rakentamassa : Fysioterapeuttiopiskelijoiden oppiminen kestävää kehitystä edistävän kasvatuksen kehyksessä

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the possibilities and interconnec-tions that exist concerning the relationship between the University of Applied Sci-ences and the Learning by Developing action model (LbD), on the one hand, and education for sustainable development and high-quality learning as a part of profes-sional competence development on the other. The research and learning environment was the Coping at Home research project and its Caring TV project, which provided the context of the Physiotherapy for Elderly People professional study unit. The re-searcher was a teacher and an evaluator of her own students learning. The aims of the study were to monitor and evaluate learning at the individual and group level using tools of high-quality learning − improved concept maps − related to understanding the projects core concept of successful ageing. Conceptions were evaluated through aspects of sustainable development and a conceptual basis of physiotherapy. As edu-cational research this was a multi-method case study design experiment. The three research questions were as follows. 1. What kind of individual conceptions and conceptual structures do students build concerning the concept of successful ageing? How many and what kind of concepts and propositions do they have a) before the study unit, b) after the study unit, c) after the social-knowledge building? 2. What kind of social-knowledge building exists? a) What kind of social learn-ing process exists? b) What kind of socially created concepts, propositions and conceptual structures do the students possess after the project? c) What kind of meaning does the social-knowledge building have at an individual level? 3. How do physiotherapy competences develop according to the results of the first and second research questions? The subjects were 22 female, third-year Bachelor of Physiotherapy students in Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland. Individual learning was evaluated in 12 of the 22 students. The data was collected as a part of the learning exercises of the Physiotherapy for Elderly People study unit, with improved concept maps both at individual and group levels. The students were divided into two social-knowledge building groups: the first group had 15 members and second 7 members. Each group created a group-level concept map on the theme of successful ageing. These face-to-face interactions were recorded with CMapTools and videotaped. The data consists of both individually produced concept maps and group-produced concept maps of the two groups and the videotaped material of these processes. The data analysis was carried out at the intersection of various research traditions. Individually produced data was analysed based on content analysis. Group-produced data was analysed based on content analysis and dialogue analysis. The data was also analysed by simple statistical analysis. In the individually produced improved concept maps the students conceptions were comprehensive, and the first concept maps were found to have many concepts unrelated to each other. The conceptual structures were between spoke structures and chain structures. Only a few professional concepts were evident. In the second indi-vidual improved concept maps the conception was more professional than earlier, particulary from the functional point of view. The conceptual structures mostly re-sembled spoke structures. After the second individual concept mapping social map-ping interventions were made in the two groups. After this, multidisciplinary concrete links were established between all concepts in almost all individual concept maps, and the interconnectedness of the concepts in different subject areas was thus understood. The conceptual structures were mainly net structures. The concepts in these individual concept maps were also found to be more professional and concrete than in the previ-ous concept maps of these subjects. In addition, the wider context dependency of the concepts was recognized in many individual concept maps. This implies a conceptual framework for specialists. The social-knowledge building was similar to a social learning process. Both socio-cultural processes and cognitive processes were found to develop students conceptual awareness and the ability to engage in intentional learning. In the knowl-edge-building process two aspects were found: knowledge creation and pedagogical action. The discussion during the concept-mapping process was similar to a shared thinking process. In visualising the process with CMapTools, students easily comple-mented each others thoughts and words, as if mutually telepathic . Synthesizing, supporting, asking and answering, peer teaching and counselling, tutoring, evaluating and arguing took place, and students were very active, self-directed and creative. It took hundreds of conversations before a common understanding could be found. The use of concept mapping in particular was very effective. The concepts in these group-produced concept maps were found to be professional, and values of sustainable development were observed. The results show the importance of developing the contents and objectives of the European Qualification Framework as well as education for sustainable development, especially in terms of the need for knowledge creation, global responsibility and systemic, holistic and critical thinking in order to develop clinical practice. Keywords: education for sustainable development, learning, knowledge building, improved concept map, conceptual structure, competence, successful ageing

Keltaista ja kimaltavaa : kodin ja koulun yhteistyöstä koulun ja kodin yhteyteen

Through this study I aim to portray connections between home and school through the patterns of thought and action shared in everyday life in a certain community. My observations are primarily based upon interviews, writings and artwork by people from home (N=32) and school (N=13) contexts. Through the stories told, I depict the characters and characteristic features of the home-school interaction by generations. According to the material, in the school days of the grandparents the focus was on discipline and order. For the parents, the focus had shifted towards knowledge, while for the pupils today, the focus lies on evaluation, through which the upbringing of the child is steered towards favourable outcomes. Teachers and those people at home hold partially different understandings of home-school interaction, both of its manifested forms and potentials. The forms of contact in use today are largely seen as one-sided. Yearning for openness and regularity is shared by both sides, yet understood differently. Common causes for failure are said to lie in plain human difficulties in communication and social interaction, but deeply rooted traditions regarding forms of contact also cast a shadow on the route to successful co-operation. This study started around the idea, that home-school interaction should be steered towards the ex-change of constructive ideas between both the home and school environments. Combining the dif-ferent views gives to something to build upon. To test this idea, I drafted a practice period, which was implemented in a small pre-school environment in the fall of 1997. My focus of interest in this project was on the handling of ordinary life information in the schools. So I combined individual views, patterns of knowledge and understanding of the world into the process of teaching. Works of art and writings by the informants worked as tools for information processing and as practical forms of building home-school interaction. Experiences from the pre-school environ-ment were later on echoed in constructing home-school interaction in five other schools. In both these projects, the teaching in the school was based on stories, thoughts and performances put to-gether by the parents, grandparents and children at home. During these processes, the material used in this study, consisting of artwork, writings and interviews (N=501), was collected. The data shows that information originating from the home environments was both a motivating and interesting addition to the teaching. There even was a sense of pride when assessing the seeds of knowledge from one’s own roots. In most cases and subjects, the homegrown information content was seamlessly connected to the functions of school and the curriculum. This project initiated thought processes between pupils and teachers, adults, children and parents, teachers and parents, and also between generations. It appeared that many of the subjects covered had not been raised before between the various participant groups. I have a special interest here in visual expression and its various contextual meanings. There art material portrays how content matter and characteristic features of the adult and parent contexts reflect in the works of the children. Another clearly noticeable factor in the art material is the impact of time-related traditions and functions on the means of visual expression. Comparing the visual material to the written material reveals variances of meaning and possibilities between these forms of expression. The visual material appears to be related especially to portraying objects, action and usage. Processing through that making of images was noted to bring back memories of concrete structures, details and also emotions. This process offered the child an intensive social connection with the adults. In some cases, with children and adults alike, this project brought forth an ongoing relation to visual expression. During this study I end up changing the concept to ‘home-school collaboration’. This widely used concept guides and outlines the interaction between schools and homes. In order to broaden the field of possibilities, I choose to use the concept ‘school-home interconnection’. This concept forms better grounds for forming varying impressions and practices when building interactive contexts. This concept places the responsibility of bridging the connection-gap in the schools. Through the experiences and innovations of thought gained from these projects, I form a model of pedagogy that embraces the idea of school-home interconnection and builds on the various impres-sions and expressions contained in it. In this model, school makes use of the experiences, thoughts and conceptions from the home environment. Various forms of expression are used to portray and process this information. This joint evaluation and observation evolves thought patterns both in school and at home. Keywords: percieving, visuality, visual culture, art and text, visual expression, art education, growth in interaction, home-school collaboration, school-home interconnection, school-home interaction model.

Gone with the Wind? : Immigrant Women and Transnational Everyday Life in Finland

Increased mass migration, as a result of economic hardship, natural disasters and wars, forces many people to arrive on the shores of cultures very different from those they left. How do they manage the legacy of the past and the challenges of their new everyday life? This is a study of immigrant women living in transnational families that act and communicate across national borders on a near-daily basis. The research was carried out amongst immigrant women who were currently living in Finland. The research asks how transnational everyday life is constructed. As everyday life, due to its mundane nature, is difficult to operationalise for research purposes, mixed data collection methods were needed to capture the passing moments that easily become invisible. Thus, the data were obtained from photographic diaries (459 photographs) taken by the research participants themselves. Additionally, stimulated recall discussions, structured questionnaires and participant observation notes were used to complement the photographic data. A tool for analysing the activities devealed in the data was created on the assumption that a family is an active unit that accommodates the current situation in which it is embedded. Everyday life activities were analysed emphasizing social, modal and spatial dimensions. Important daily moments were placed on a continuum: for me , for immediate others and with immediate others . They portrayed everyday routines and exceptions to it. The data matrix was developed as part of this study. The spatial dimensions formed seven units of activity settings: space for friendship, food, resting, childhood, caring, space to learn and an orderly space. Attention was also paid to the accommodative nature of activities; how women maintain traditions and adapt to Finnish life or re-create new activity patterns. Women s narrations revealed the importance of everyday life. The transnational chain of women across generations and countries, comprised of the daughters, mothers and grandmothers was important. The women showed the need for information technology in their transnational lives. They had an active relationship to religion; the denial or importance of it was obvious. Also arranging one s life in Finnish society was central to their narrations. The analysis exposed everyday activities, showed the importance of social networks and the uniqueness of each woman and family. It revealed everyday life in a structured way. The method of analysis that evolved in this study together with the research findings are of potential use to professionals, allowing the targeting of interventions to improve the everyday lives of immigrants.

Undead yakuza: The Japanese zombie movie, cultural resonance and generic conventions

The zombie has long been regarded as a “fundamentally American creation” (Bishop 2010) and a western monster representing the fears and anxieties of Western society. Since the renaissance of the zombie movie in the early 2000s, a subsequent surge in international production has seen the release of movies from Norway, Cuba, Pakistan and Thailand to name a few. Although Japanese zombie movies have been far more visible for Western cult audiences than in mainstream markets, Japanese cinema has emerged as one of the more prolific producers of zombie films outside of Anglophone or Western European countries in recent years. Films such as Helldriver (2010), Zombie TV (2013), Versus (2000), Tokyo Zombie (2005), Happiness of the Katakuris (2001) and anime television series High School of the Dead (2010) have generated varying degrees of popularity and critical attention internationally. At first glance Japanese zombie films, with musical zombie interludes, undead yakuza henchmen and revenge-seeking yūrei zombies, appear fundamentally different to their Western counterparts. Yet, on closer examination, the Japanese zombie movie could be regarded as a hybrid and intertextual generic form drawing on syntactic conventions at the core of a universal zombie sub-genre established by Western filmmaking traditions, while also distilling culturally specific tropes unique to various Japanese horror cinema sub-genres. Most importantly, the Japanese zombie film extracts, emphasises and revises particular conventions and motifs common within Western zombie films that are particularly relevant to Japanese audiences. This chapter investigates the cultural resonance of key generic motifs identifiable in the Japanese zombie film. It establishes a production context and the influence of Japanese horror cinema on style and thematic concerns. It then examines the function of prominent narrative conventions, namely: the source, outbreak and spread of infection; mutation and the representation of the monster; and the inclusion of supernatural and religious motifs.

Community forestry and environmental literacy in northern Thailand : Towards collaborative natural resource management and conservation

Conservation and sustainable management of tropical forests needs a holistic approach: in addition to ecological concerns, socio-economic issues including cultural aspects must be taken into consideration. An ability to adapt practices is a key to successful collaborative natural resource management. Achieving this requires local participation and understanding of local conceptions of the environment. This study examined these issues in the context of northern Thailand. Northern uplands are the home of much of the remaining natural forest in Thailand and several ethnic minority groups commonly referred to as hill tribes. The overall purpose of this study was to grasp a regional view of an ethnically diverse forested area and to elicit prospects to develop community forestry for conservation purposes and for securing people s livelihood. Conservation was a central goal of management as the forests in the area were largely designated as protected. The aim was to study local perceptions, objectives, values and practices of forest management, under the umbrella of the concept environmental literacy, as well as the effects of forest policy on community management goals and activities. Environmental literacy refers to holistic understanding of the environment. It was used as a tool to examine people s views, interests, knowledge and motivation associated to forests. The material for this study was gathered in six villages in Chiang Mai Province. Three minority groups were included in the study, the Karen, Hmong and Lawa, and also the Thai. Household and focus group interviews were conducted in the villages. In addition, officials at district, regional and national levels, workers of non-governmental organisations, and academics were interviewed, and some data were gathered from the students of a local school. The results showed that motivation for protecting the forests existed among each ethnic group studied. This was a result of culture and traditions evolved in the forest environment but also of a need to adapt to a changed situation and environment and to outside pressures. The consequences of deforestation were widely agreed on in the villages, and the impact of socio-economic changes on the forests and livelihood was also recognised. The forest was regarded as a source of livelihood providing land, products and services essential to the people inhabiting rural uplands. Traditions, fire control, cooperation, reforestation, separation of protected and utilisable areas, and rules were viewed as central for conservation. For the villagers, however, conservation meant sustainable use, whereas the government has tended to prefer strict restrictions on forest resource use. Thus, conflicts had arisen. Between communities, cooperation was more dominant than conflict. The results indicated that the heterogeneity of forest dwellers, although it has to be recognised, should not be overemphasised: ethnic diversity can be considered as no major obstacle for successful community forestry. Collaborative management is particularly important in protected areas in order to meet the conservation goals while providing opportunities for livelihood. Forest management needs more positive incentives and increased dialogue.

Median muotoilema : Muotoilun mediajulkisuus suomalaisessa talouslehdistössä

Designed by the Media The Media publicity of Design in the Finnish Economic Press The meaning of design has increased in consumer societies. Design is the subject of debate and the number of media discussions has also increased steadily. Especially the role of industrial design has been emphasised. In this study I examine the media publicity of design in the Finnish economic press from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s. The research question is connected to media representations: How is design represented in the Finnish economic press? In other words, what are the central topics of design in the economic press, and to what issues are the media debates connected? The usually repeated phrase that design discussions take place only on the cultural pages of the daily press or in cultural contexts is being changed. Design is also linked to the consumer culture and consumers everyday practices. The research material has been collected from the Finnish economic press. The qualitative sample consists of articles from Kauppalehti, Taloussanomat and from several economic papers published by the Talentum Corporation. The approach of the research is explorative, descriptive and hermeneutic. This means that the economic press articles are used to explore how design is represented in the media. In addition, the characteristics of design represented in the media are described in detail. The research is based on the interpretive tradition of studying textual materials. Background assumptions are thus grounded in hermeneutics. Erving Goffman s frame analysis is applied in analysing the economic press materials. The frames interpreted from the articles depict the media publicity of design in the Finnish economic press. The research opens up a multidimensional picture of design in the economic press. The analysis resulted in five frames that describe design from various points of view. In the personal frame designers are described in private settings and through their personal experiences. The second frame relates to design work. In the frame of mastery of the profession, the designers work is interpreted widely. Design is considered from the aspects of controlling personal know-how, co-operation and the overall process of design. The third frame is connected to the actual substance of the economic press. In the frame of economy and market, design is linked to international competitiveness, companies competitive advantage and benefit creation for the consumers. The fourth frame is connected to the actors promoting design on a societal level. In the communal frame, the economic press describes design policy, design research and education and other actors that actively develop design in the societal networks. The last frame is linked to the traditions of design and above all to the examination of the cultural transition. In the frame of culture the traditions of design are emphasised. Design is also connected to the industrial culture and furthermore to the themes of the consumer culture. It can be argued that the frames construct media publicity of design from various points of view. The frames describe situations, action and the actors of design. The interpreted media frames make it possible to understand the relation of interpreted design actions and the culture. Thus, media has a crucial role in representing and recreating meanings related to design. The publicity of design is characterised by the five focal themes: personification, professionalisation, commercialisation, communalisation and transition of cultural focus from the traditions of design to the industrial culture and the consumer culture. Based on my interpretation these themes are guided by the mediatisation of design. The design phenomenon is defined more often on the basis of the media representations in the public discourses. The design culture outlined in this research connects socially constructed and structurally organised action. Socially constructed action in design is connected to the experiences, social recreation and collective development of design. Structurally, design is described as professional know-how, as a process and as an economic profit generating action in the society. The events described by the media affect the way in which people experience the world, the meanings they connect to the events around themselves and their life in the world. By affecting experiences, the media indirectly affects human actions. People have become habituated to read media representations on a daily basis, but they are not used to reading and interpreting the various meanings that are incorporated in the media texts.

The culture digitally festival of memeology: An introduction

The collection of essays set to roll out on Culture Digitally over the next month began its life as a pair of panels spanning the last two annual meetings of the International Communication Association. At the 2014 meetings in Seattle, Washington and the 2015 meetings in San Juan, Puerto Rico, various configurations of the contributors in this collection met to discuss the cultures and communicative practices associated with internet memes and viral media. Our shared goal was to bring smart people together to start to think about these digital media genres—still emerging only a few years ago and now seemingly ubiquitous—above the level of the individual example. Together, we asked questions about how internet memes and viral media might be defined, their roles in popular culture, their relationships to far older scientific and scholarly traditions, and their public implications. Two years and two discussions that ended too quickly later, we decided to write up some of our key arguments from the panels. We’ve compiled these write-ups here, in what we’ve taken to calling “The Culture Digitally Festival of Memeology.” - See more at: http://culturedigitally.org/2015/10/00-the-culture-digitally-festival-of-memeology-an-introduction-ryan-m-milner-jean-burgess/#sthash.2KzDogso.dpuf

Public history, private memories: Historical imagination in the new Italian cinema 1988-1999

The concern with the following arguments started during a study of national and international cinemas, from the desire to account for a cinema that internationally was doing well, but was undervalued domestically. The aims were to account for the renewal of Italian filmmaking from 1988, the New Italian cinema, and understand the conditions behind this renewal. The thesis identifies in the historical theme and in the recurrence of features from Italian cinema history elements of coherence with previous cinema production. The first consideration that emerges is that a triangulation between a new generation of filmmakers, their audience and recent history shaped the recovery of Italian cinema from 1988. A second consideration is that no discussion of Italian cinema can be separated from a discussion of that which it represents: Italian society and politics. This representation has not only addressed questions of identity for a cohort of spectators, but on occasions has captured the attention of the international audience. Thus the thesis follows a methodologic approach that positions texts in relation to certain traditions in Italian filmmaking and to the context by taking into consideration also industrial factors and social and historical changes. By drawing upon a range of disciplines, from political history to socio-psychological studies, the thesis has focussed on representation of history and memory in two periods of Italian film history: the first and the last decade of twentieth century. The concern has been not so much to interpret the films, but to understand the processes that made the films and how spectarors have applied their knowledge structures to make meaning of the films. Thus the thesis abstains from ascribing implicit meanings to films, but acknowledges how films project cultural contingencies. This is beacause film is shaped by production conditions and cultural and historical circumstances that make the film intelligible. As Bordwell stated in Making Meaning, "One can do other things with films besides 'reading' them" (1989, p. xiii). Within this framework, the thesis proposes a project that understands history films with the norms that govern Italian filmic output, those norms that regulate conditions of production and consumption and the relation between films from various traditions.

Steven M. Lowenstein Collection - Addenda. 1960s-2007

The Steven Lowenstein Collections documents professional activities of Steven Lowenstein, writer, researcher, historian, and teacher. Documents comprising the collection reflect his interests in a wide spectrum of topics related to Jews and Judaism, such as modernity and tradition and their influence on the religion and common folks; Berlin Jews of the upper strata; similarities and differences between agrarian/rural and urban Jews; popular and official Judaism; secular and religious Jews; and other Jewish related topics. However, there is a very small amount of materials related to his professional activities other than research and writing.

Identiteettien maisemat Saskatchewanin Uudessa Suomessa : Uudisasutuksesta uusidentifikaatioon

The present study examines how the landscape of the rural immigrant colony of New Finland (Saskatchewan, Canada) has reflected the Finnish origins of the about 350 settlers and their descendants, their changing ideologies, values, sense of collectiveness and the meanings of the Finnish roots. The study also reveals the reasons and power structures behind the ethnic expressions. Researched time period runs from the beginning of the settlement in 1888 to the turn of the millennium. The research concentrates on buildings, cemeteries, personal names and place names which contain strong visual and symbolic messages and are all important constituents of mundane landscapes. For example, the studied personal names are important identity-political indexes telling about the value of the Finnish nationalism, community spirit, dual Finnish-Canadian identities and also the process of assimilation which, for example, had differences between genders. The study is based on empirical field research, and iconographical and textual interpretations supported by classifications and comparative analyses. Several interviews and literature were essential means of understanding the changing political contexts which influenced the Finnish settlement and its multiple landscape representations. Five historical landscape periods were identified in New Finland. During these periods the meanings and representations of Finnish identity changed along with national and international politics and local power structures. For example, during the Second World War Canada discouraged representations of Finnish culture because Finland and Canada were enemies. But Canada s multicultural policy in the 1980s led to several material and symbolic representations indicating the Finnish settlement after a period of assimilation and deinstitutionalization. The study shows how these representations were indications of the politics of a (selective) memory. Especially Finnish language, cultural traditions and the Evangelical-Lutheran values of the pioneers, which have been passed down to new generations, are highly valued part of the Finnish heritage. Also the work of the pioneers and their participation in the building of Saskatchewan is an important collective narrative. The selectiveness of a memory created the landscape of forgetting which includes deliberately forgotten parts of the history. For example, the occasional disputes between the congregations are something that has been ignored. The results show how the different landscape elements can open up a useful perspective to diaspora colonies or other communities also by providing information which otherwise would be indistinguishable. In this case, for example, two cemeteries close together were a sign of religious distributions among the early settlers.

Luke, The Friend of Sinners

I examine the portrayal of Jesus as a friend of toll collectors and sinners in the Third Gospel. I aim at a comprehensive view on the Lukan sinner texts, combining questions of the origin and development of these texts with the questions of Luke s theological message, of how the text functions as literature, and of the social-historical setting(s) behind the texts. Within New Testament scholarship researchers on the historical Jesus mostly still hold that a special mission to toll collectors and sinners was central in Jesus public activity. Within Lukan studies, M. Goulder, J. Kiilunen and D. Neale have claimed that this picture is due to Luke s theological vision and the liberties he took as an author. Their view is disputed by other Lukan scholars. I discuss methods which scholars have used to isolate the typical language of Luke s alleged written sources, or to argue for the source-free creation by Luke himself. I claim that the analysis of Luke s language does not help us to the origin of the Lukan pericopes. I examine the possibility of free creativity on Luke s part in the light of the invention technique used in ancient historiography. Invention was an essential part of all ancient historical writing and therefore quite probably Luke used it, too. Possibly Luke had access to special traditions, but the nature of oral tradition does not allow reconstruction. I analyze Luke 5:1-11; 5:27-32; 7:36-50; 15:1-32; 18:9-14; 19:1-10; 23:39-43. In most of these some underlying special tradition is possible though far from certain. It becomes evident that Luke s reshaping was so thorough that the pericopes as they now stand are decidedly Lukan creations. This is indicated by the characteristic Lukan story-telling style as well as by the strongly unified Lukan theology of the pericopes. Luke s sinners and Pharisees do not fit in the social-historical context of Jesus day. The story-world is one of polarized right and wrong. That Jesus is the Christ, representative of God, is an intrinsic part of the story-world. Luke wrote a theological drama inspired by tradition. He persuaded his audience to identify as (repenting) sinners. Luke's motive was that he saw the sinners in Jesus' company as forerunners of Gentile Christianity.

Kirkko sydämessä : Uskonnon muokkautuminen ja individuaatio inkerinsuomalaisten elämänvaiheissa 1900-luvulla

The Church in one s heart. The formation of religion and individuation in the lives of Ingrian Finns in the 20th century. Sinikka Haapaniemi University of Helsinki, Finland 302 pages The study falls within the sphere of religious views and the problematique of the life trajectory. The target group comprises those Finnish speakers (Ingrian Finns, Ingrians) living in what was historically Ingermanland and who in varying circumstances became scattered. These times were characterized by pressures for change due to societal reasons and reasons of war. In conditions of change external living conditions matters of religious conviction may assume new meaning and form. The examination focuses on sustaining personal faith in difficult life situations and on how crises affected religious views. Another level of scrutiny takes shape through the terminology of the analytic psychology of C.G. Jung. Individuation is deemed to occur as a cumulative process through the stages of life. The basic data for the study comprises interviews with twenty (20) natives of Ingria and their biographical narratives written in standard language. Many biographical accounts and memoirs serve as secondary data. The interviewees, who were largely selected at random, recounted their lives without questions formulated in advance. The study falls within the field of comparative religion and adheres to the principles of qualitative research practice and the case-study method. Effort was made to get to know each interviewee in the situation which his/her narrative presents. The aim is to pay attention to the interpretations given by the narrators of their various experiences and to understand their meanings on a personal level. The years during which the Ingrians were scattered, wandering and returning raise problems of survival. An individual s own initiative assumes individual forms and emphases. Religion was part of the narrators lives as one factor in the quality of life. Their religious thinking was influenced by both their home upbringing and the teaching of the Church. The interviewees took a serious attitude to the informative teaching of confirmation training. When there was no longer a church, it was claimed that the church travelled with them. Changed circumstances tested the validity of the teachings. The message of the Church institution persisted and helped them to preserve their traditions. A striving for unity and for the presence of a community emerged both in the form of ritual behaviour and in a predilection to sociability. Gradually, as they returned, the activity of the Church of Ingria began to revive. At the turn of the millennium the network of parishes was extensive and cultural activity flourished wherever the Ingrians settled in the postwar decades. Religion is part of the process of individuation. Examination of religion and individuation shows that religion remained an individual view, whose factual base was formed by Christianity and the tradition of the Church. Home upbringing served to orientate, but not to bind. With ageing the importance of independent thought is emphasized, for example in relation to confession, it did not pose a threat to individuality. Keywords: Life story, Religiosity, individuation, Ingrian, the Church of Ingria

Ethics in a Technological World : Framing the Questions and Three Approaches

This study addresses the following question: How to think about ethics in a technological world? The question is treated first thematically by framing central issues in the relationship between ethics and technology. This relationship has three distinct facets: i) technological advance poses new challenges for ethics, ii) traditional ethics may become poorly applicable in a technologically transformed world, and iii) the progress in science and technology has altered the concept of rationality in ways that undermine ethical thinking itself. The thematic treatment is followed by the description and analysis of three approaches to the questions framed. First, Hans Jonas s thinking on the ontology of life and the imperative of responsibility is studied. In Jonas s analysis modern culture is found to be nihilistic because it is unable to understand organic life, to find meaning in reality, and to justify morals. At the root of nihilism Jonas finds dualism, the traditional Western way of seeing consciousness as radically separate from the material world. Jonas attempts to create a metaphysical grounding for an ethic that would take the technologically increased human powers into account and make the responsibility for future generations meaningful and justified. The second approach is Albert Borgmann s philosophy of technology that mainly assesses the ways in which technological development has affected everyday life. Borgmann admits that modern technology has liberated humans from toil, disease, danger, and sickness. Furthermore, liberal democracy, possibilities for self-realization, and many of the freedoms we now enjoy would not be possible on a large scale without technology. Borgmann, however, argues that modern technology in itself does not provide a whole and meaningful life. In fact, technological conditions are often detrimental to the good life. Integrity in life, according to him, is to be sought among things and practices that evade technoscientific objectification and commodification. Larry Hickman s Deweyan philosophy of technology is the third approach under scrutiny. Central in Hickman s thinking is a broad definition of technology that is nearly equal to Deweyan inquiry. Inquiry refers to the reflective and experiential way humans adapt to their environment by modifying their habits and beliefs. In Hickman s work, technology consists of all kinds of activities that through experimentation and/or reflection aim at improving human techniques and habits. Thus, in addition to research and development, many arts and political reforms are technological for Hickman. He argues for recasting such distinctions as fact/value, poiesis/praxis/theoria, and individual/society. Finally, Hickman does not admit a categorical difference between ethics and technology: moral values and norms need to be submitted to experiential inquiry as well as all the other notions. This study mainly argues for an interdisciplinary approach to the ethics of technology. This approach should make use of the potentialities of the research traditions in applied ethics, the philosophy of technology, and the social studies on science and technology and attempt to overcome their limitations. This study also advocates an endorsement of mid-level ethics that concentrate on the practices, institutions, and policies of temporal human life. Mid-level describes the realm between the instantaneous and individualistic micro-level and the universal and global macro level.

Sankarihautaus vapaussodassa : valkoisten kaatuneiden hautaaminen Suomessa vuonna 1918

Civil War Hero Burials the funerals of the fallen White in Finland in 1918 This study focuses on the burial with honours of fallen White combatants during the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as well as on the reasons underpinning the practice. The main sources of the study included the archives of the White army, the Civil Guard organisation and the Church, as well as the newspapers. The genetic method of history research was used. Both the existing tradition of military burials and the ecclesiastical burial culture influenced the burials of those who fell during the Civil War. The first war hero funerals took place as early as the beginning of February 1918, and the first larger-scale collective funerals were organised in Laihia and Vaasa in the Ostrobothnia province, with the latter attended by the supreme civil and military leaders of White Finland. From early on, these funerals assumed their characteristic features, such as the lion flag a design for the Finnish national flag proposed immediately upon the declaration of the country s independence military parades, lines of honour guards, eulogies, salutes and common war hero graves. As a result of the general offensive begun in mid-March 1918, the numbers of the fallen multiplied, so special organisations were established to handle the burials of the fallen. At the same time, the war hero funerals became more frequent and diffused, and the numbers of the buried grew throughout the country. In early March, the advocates of the republican system of government published their appeal in the newspapers, requesting that collective graves for those who fell in the war prepared in every locality. They motivated their request by stating that it was the funerals in particular that had inspired many men to join the ranks voluntarily in the first place, and that the large collective soldiers graves increased the numbers of those who answered the call and left for the front. The Civil Guard organisation arranged the burials of war heroes. The clergy contributed by officiating the religious service and by clearly aligning themselves with the Whites in their eulogies. The teachings of the Lutheran Church suggest that they found the Whites to be the temporal authority instituted by God, and therefore authorised raising the sword against the Reds. Speaking at the funerals with great pomp and sentimental power, the leaders of the Civil Guard and the exponents of the learned classes instigated their audiences against the Reds. The funeral speeches idealised the war hero s death by recalling military history since the times of ancient Greece. Being of the emblematic colour of the Whites, the white coffin assumed a particular importance connected to ideas of biblical purity and innocence. By the end of May 1918, almost 3,300 Whites were buried in the soldiers graves prepared by the burial organisation in some 400 localities. Only about 200 men remained missing in action or unidentified. The largest common graves accommodated over 60 fallen combatants. Thus, the traditions of the 1918 Civil War directly influenced war hero burial practices, which continued into the Finnish Winter War of 1939.