Kulttuurisia kohtaamisia : Suomalaiset kuvataiteilijat ja Rooma 1800-luvulla

Dozens of Finnish artists, practically all the professional sculptors and painters, travelled to and stayed in Rome during the 19th century. The study at hand concentrates for the first time on the Finnish artists in Rome in corpore, and analyses their way of life based on a broad variety of previously unknown and unexplored sources from a number of archives in both Scandinavia and Rome. The extensive corpus of source material is scrutinized with microhistorical precision from the point of view of cultural history. The new information thus achieved adds to the previous knowledge of Rome s often overlooked importance as a source of inspiration in Scandinavian culture in general and significantly clarifies our understanding of the development of Finnish artistic life and cultural identity in the 19th century. The study proves that in Finland, like in all of Europe, the stay in Rome was considered to be a necessary part of becoming a true artist. Already the journey was an integral part of the encounter with Rome, corresponding with the civilized ideal of the period. The stay in Rome provided a northern artist with overwhelming opportunities that were incomparable to the unestablished and modest forms of artistic life Finland could offer. Without domestic artistic institutions or traditions, the professional status of Finnish painters and sculptors took shape abroad, firstly through the encounter with Rome and the different networks the Finnish artists belonged to during and after their stay in the eternal city. The Finnish artists were an integral part of the international artistic community in the cultural capital of Europe, which gave a totally new impetus to their work and contributed to their cosmopolitan identification. For these early masters of Finnish art, the Scandinavian communality and universal artistic identity seemed to be more significant than their nationality. In all, the scrutiny of Finnish artists in their wide social, ideological and international framework gives an interesting aspect to the cultural ambiance of the 19th century, in both Rome and Finland. The study highlights many long-forgotten artists who were influential in shaping Finnish art, culture and identity in their time.

Murtuva säätyvalta, kestävä eliitti : Senaattori Lennart Gripenbergin sukupiiri ja sääty-yhteiskunnan muodonmuutos

This study examines the transformation of the society of estates in the Finnish Grand Duchy through the case study of Senator Lennart Gripenberg and his family circle. While national borders and state structures changed, the connections between old ruling elite families remained intact as invisible family networks, ownership relations, economic collaboration and power of military families. These were the cornerstones of trust, which helped to strengthen positions gained in society. Also, these connections often had a central if unperceivable impact on social development and modernization. Broadly speaking, the intergenerational social reproduction made it possible for this network of connections to remain in power and, as an imperceptible factor, also influenced short-term developments in the long run. Decisions which in the short term appeared unproductive, would in the long run produce cumulative immaterial and material capital across generations as long-term investments. Social mobility, then, is a process which clearly takes several generations to become manifest. The study explores long-term strategies of reproducing and transferring the capital accumulated in multinational elite networks. Also, what was the relationship of these strategies to social change? For the representatives of the military estate the nobility and for those men of the highest estates who had benefited from military training, this very education of a technical-military nature was the key to steering, controlling and dealing with the challenges following the industrial breakthrough. The disintegration of the society of estates and the rising educational standards also increased the influence of those professionals previously excluded, which served to intensify competition for positions of power. The family connections highlighted in this study overlapped in many ways, working side by side and in tandem to manage the economic and political life in Finland, Russia and Sweden. The analysis of these ties has opened up a new angle to economic co-operation, for example, as seen in the position of such family networks not only in Finnish, but also Swedish and Russian corporations and in the long historical background of the collaboration. This also highlights in a new way the role of women in transferring the cumulative social capital and as silent business partners. The marriage strategies evident in business life clearly had an impact on the economic life. The collaborative networks which transcended generations, national boundaries and structures also uncover, as far as the elites are concerned, serious problems in comparative studies conducted from purely national premises. As the same influential families and persons in effect held several leading positions in society, the line would blur between public and invisible uses of power. The power networks thus aimed to build monopolies to secure their key positions at the helm. This study therefore examines the roles of Lennart Gripenberg senator, business executive, superintendent of the Department of Industry, factory inspector, and founding member of industrial interest groups as part of the reproduction strategies of the elite. The family and other networks of the powerful leaders of society, distinguished by social, economic and cultural capital, provided a solid backdrop for the so-called old elites in their quest for strategies to reproducing power in a changing world. Crucially, it was easier for the elites to gain expertise to steer the modernization process and thereby secure for the next generation a leading position in society, something that they traditionally, too, had had the greatest interest in.

A design history of design: Complexity, criticality & cultural competence

Les histoires de l’art et du design ont délaissé, au cours desquatre dernières décennies, l’étude canonique des objets, des artistes/concepteurs et des styles et se sont tournées vers des recherches plus interdisciplinaires. Nous soutenons néanmoins que les historiens et historiennes du design doivent continuer de pousser leur utilisation d’approches puisant dans la culturelle matérielle et la criticalité afin de combler des lacunes dans l’histoire du design et de développer des méthodes et des approches pertinentes pour son étude. Puisant dans notre expérience d’enseignement auprès de la génération des « milléniaux », qui sont portés vers un « design militant », nous offrons des exemples pédagogiques qui ont aidé nos étudiants et étudiantes à assimiler des histoires du design responsables, engagées et réflexives et à comprendre la complexité et la criticalité du design.

Ylirajaisia suhteita : Helsingin olympialaiset, Armi Kuusela ja ylikansallinen historia

In 1952 Helsinki hosted the Summer Olympic Games and Armi Kuusela, the current “Maiden of Finland”, was at the same time crowned Miss Universe. In popular history writing, these events have been designated as a crucial turning point – the end of an era marked by war and deprivation and the beginning of a modern, Western nation. Symptomatically, both events were marked by Finnish women’s sexual relationships with foreign men. The Olympics were shadowed by a concern over Finnish women’s “undue friendliness” with the Olympic guests, and Armi Kuusela's world tour was cut short by her surprise marriage in Tokyo and subsequent emigration to the Philippines. This study is an inquiry into the Helsinki Olympics and the public persona of Armi Kuusela from the point of view of transnational heterosexuality and the constitution of Finnish national identity. Methodologically the two main components of the study are intersectionality, defined here as a focus on the mutual histories and effects of discourses of gender, sexuality, race and nation; and transnational history as a way of exploring the ways that both nations and sexual subjects are embedded in global relations of power. The analysis proceeds by way of contextual and intertextual readings of various sources. Part one, centering on the Olympics, involves a campaign mounted by certain women’s organizations before the Games in order to educate young women about the potential dangers of the forthcoming international event as well as magazine and newspaper articles published during and after the Games concerning the encounter between young Finnish women and foreign, especially “Southern,” men. It places the debates during the Olympics within the framework of wartime understandings of women’s sexuality; the history of the concept of decency (siveellisyys); post-war population policy; the intersectional histories of conceptions pertaining to race and sexuality; and finally, the post-war concerns over women’s migration from rural areas to the capital city and their potential emigration abroad. Part two deals with the persona of Armi Kuusela and the public reception of her world tour and marriage, based on material from both Finland and the Philippines (newspapers, magazines, advertisements, books and films). It examines the persona of Armi Kuusela as a figure of national import in terms of the East/West divide; the racialized images of different geographic climates and Oriental “Others;” the meaning of whiteness in the Philippines; the significance of class and colonial history for the domestication of sexual and racial transgressions implied by an unconventional transnational marriage; as well as the cultural logics of transnational desire and its possible meanings for women in 1950s Finland. The study develops two arguments. First, it suggests that instead of being purely oppositional to national discourses, transnational desire may also be viewed as a product of these very discourses. Second, it claims that the national significance of both the Olympics and the persona of Armi Kuusela was due to the new points of comparison they both offered for national identity construction. In comparison with the sexualized Southern men at the Olympics and the racialized Orient in the representations of Armi Kuusela’s travels and marriage, Finland emerged as part of the civilized North, placed firmly within the perimeters of Western Europe. As such, both events mark a “whitening” of the Finnish people as well as a distancing from their previous designations in racial hierarchies. At the same time, however, the process of becoming a white nation inevitably meant complying with and reproducing racial hierarchies, rather than simply abolishing them.

Makt, konst, elit - konstfältets positioner, relationer och resurser i 1940- och 1950-talens Helsingfors

The dissertation examines the power mechanisms and institutional power hierarchies of the 1940s-1950s era arts elite in Helsinki and their influence on issues of taste in the visual arts. For the purposes of this study, the elite is understood to consist mainly of the board members of the principal elected bodies in the field of the arts. The theoretical framework employed is based on Pierre Bourdieu s field theory and the network perspective. The author has examined what the key, pervasive valuations were that governed the exercising of power by the arts elite in issues of taste, involving determination of who was an acknowledged artist and what was good art. The dissertation demonstrates that this exercising of power was governed by certain collective practices which maintained the illusion that the exercising of power was democratic and based on artistic quality. These practices were the corporate system, using artistic arguments in issues of taste, and using networks in the exercising of power. The struggle in the field of the arts was about who ultimately was entitled to define the value of contemporary art; the issue did not arise regarding historical art. Artists managed to gain a leading position as gatekeepers in issues regarding contemporary art. The author discusses a number of conflicts in the field of the arts that highlight the institutional hierarchies and the capital held by the various players. The structural changes that occurred in administration in the field of cultural production in the 1950s led to the separation of bureaucratic competence on the one hand and aesthetic competence on the other. There was a hierarchy in the field of the arts between institutions, between instruments of legitimisation, and between the symbolic and social capital of players in the field. The hierarchy in the arts ultimately depended on how well the elite could influence tastes through the instruments at their disposal. The various instruments of legitimisation grants, purchases, etc. were ranked differently in the evaluation of acknowledged artists and good art. The dissertation discusses what values, in the form of types of symbolic capital, the arts elite embraced and what role these played in the elite s exercising of power, with particular focus on gender, language, region and economic capital. The aesthetic capital of an artist was of only minor importance in the exercising of power by the arts elite. The dissertation further discusses the points of contact between the arts elite and players in other fields, such as the economic, media and consumer fields. When the arts elite, through the Academy of Fine Arts, became an active player in the art market, this led to a hierarchy where the division between acknowledged and not-acknowledged galleries became sharper.

The effects of psychosocial factors on the emotional well-being of women during pregnancy: A cross-cultural study of Britain and Greece

The effects of life events, social support and the emotional well-being of partner on the emotional well-being of the mother during pregnancy was examined within the cultural contexts of Britain and Greece. It was proposed that social support, impact of life events and relationship of the mother with her partner would be affected by the different social structures of each culture and would influence emotional well-being. A sample of 200 Greek and 156 British mothers and their partners completed questionnaires which included a life event inventory, measure of social support and measure of emotional well-being (Crown-Crisp Experiential Index). Greek mothers were found to score significantly higher on measures of depression, anxiety and somaticism, experience more stressful life events (most relating to family issues) and report feeling less supported than British mothers. Life events, particularly those relating to family stresses were found to predict poor emotional well-being among Greek mothers. For British mothers, social support was the strongest predictor of emotional well-being. Findings were discussed in the light of differences in social structure and it was suggested that future research might focus on the disruption of established social support structures rather than the differences in availability of social support per se when considering maternal emotional well-being.

The effects of psychosocial factors on the mother's emotional well-being during early parenthood: A cross-cultural study of Britain and Greece

The effect of psychosocial factors on the emotional well-being of mothers following childbirth were examined within the cultural contexts of Britain and Greece. These mothers had already completed questionnaires during pregnancy and were contacted a second time in the postpartum period. At 4–6 weeks postpartum a sample of 165 Greek mothers and 101 British mothers and their partners completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The relationship between mothers' EPDS scores and measures of emotional well-being in pregnancy (CCEI), social support, life events, fathers' EPDS score, and father's perception of change in partner was examined in each culture. No difference in the distribution of EPDS scores in each culture was found. Social support and life events were found to predict postnatal depression in both cultures. Additionally, in Greece, emotional well-being in pregnancy made a separate contribution to prediction. The major difference between the two cultures was in the relationship between mothers and their partners. Greek fathers were more emotionally and physically distanced from their partners during pregnancy, birth and early parenthood and perceived their partners as being more changed by the transition to parenthood. These differences were not reflected in differences in emotional well-being possibly because they accord with social expectation in each culture.

Transition to fatherhood: A cross-cultural comparison

A prospective study was conducted of fathers' transition to parenthood from mid-pregnancy to 6 weeks postpartum. The subjects were 198 fathers from Greece (Athens) and 142 from Britain (Bristol). Social class, age and parity distributions were similar between the two populations. The culture and social structure experienced by each varied widely, however, and was a focus of interest. Two major themes in fatherhood across the two populations were explored: first, the father's instrumental role in provision of emotional and practical support to his partner and care for his child; and second the father's emotional reaction to his partner's pregnancy, the birth of his child and early parenthood. In both cultures fathers reported that they took an active instrumental role in supporting their partner and in participating in childcare. Markedly more British fathers attended the delivery. There were no overall differences in the degree to which fathers participated in childcare though the nature of this participation varied. British fathers more commonly took on housework duties. During their partner's pregnancy Greek fathers experienced significantly higher malaise than their British counterparts and also reported feeling that they had less social support. Common to many fathers in both cultures during this time were fears that their partner might change or be damaged by the pregnancy. After the birth, there was no difference in emotional well-being between the Greek and British fathers. Reactions to fatherhood and enjoyment of the child were similar for the two cultures also. Patterns of correlation between variables both within and across the antenatal and postnatal time periods were, for the most part, similar for the two cultures. Social support, however, was found to relate to father's emotional and instrumental reaction to parenthood only in the case of the British sample. Findings are discussed in terms of each culture's point on the continuum of social change.

Minding the gaps: Disability culture + cultural competence in interior design

Despite the increased attention to the relationship of disability and design, this area still suffers from terminological confusion, oversimplification and a positivist bias that continues to produce ableist space. Here, I am suggesting that space is not a fixed container or a pochéd plan that needs to be ‘altered’ in order to accommodate, but that space is a fundamental element of social life and that space continually reproduces the social and cultural relations of its production. This paper serves as a critical foundation for ongoing explorations into how disability culture is situated within interior design. A shift towards disability as culture is necessary to move our understanding of how to design for those with disabilities out of the objective realm (prescriptive codes and guidelines) and into a subjective realm (the lived experience and embodied know-how of those with disabilities). By framing disability around a cultural model rather than a medical model it allows for epistemological and pedagogical shifts in our ways of knowing in interior design. In defining culture as “a way of life” it is important to look at disability as both a diverse way of living and a diverse way of knowing. Most significant, is that the everyday expertise of people with disabilities is recognized as knowledge that can inform the field of interior design. The urgency for defining disability culture is essential to our understanding of cultural competence in interior design education and practice. The aim of this paper is to challenge our current understanding of how to design for those with disabilities and to shift our ways of knowing in interior design towards a deep understanding of the lived experience, embodied know-how and culture of those with disabilities. This paper will begin by analysing the different models of disability and how interior design education and practice has shifted to reflect these different models. Defining disability culture and all of its complexities is also an essential component of this paper. Finally, this paper will present best practices and case studies of how a cultural model of disability can shape interior environments and interior design pedagogy.

The regional differences between countries in traffic safety: A cross-cultural study and Turkish Case

Road traffic accidents are a large problem everywhere in the world. However, regional differences in traffic safety between countries are considerable. For example, traffic safety records are much worse in Southern Europe and the Middle East than in Northern and Western Europe. Despite the large regional differences in traffic safety, factors contributing to different accident risk figures in different countries and regions have remained largely unstudied. The general aim of this study was to investigate regional differences in traffic safety between Southern European/Middle Eastern (i.e., Greece, Iran, Turkey) and Northern/Western European (i.e., Finland, Great Britain, The Netherlands) countries and to identify factors related to these differences. We conducted seven sub-studies in which I applied a traffic culture framework, including a multi-level approach, to traffic safety. We used aggregated level data (national statistics), surveys among drivers, and data on traffic accidents and fatalities in the analyses. In the first study, we investigated the influence of macro level factors (i.e., economic, societal, and cultural) on traffic safety across countries. The results showed that a high GNP per capita and conservatism correlated with a low number of traffic fatalities, whereas a high degree of uncertainty avoidance, neuroticism, and egalitarianism correlated with a high number of traffic fatalities. In the second, third, and fourth studies, we examined whether the conceptualisation of road user characteristics (i.e., driver behaviour and performance) varied across traffic cultures and how these factors determined overall safety, and the differences between countries in traffic safety. The results showed that the factorial agreement for driver behaviour (i.e., aggressive driving) and performance (i.e., safety skills) was unsatisfactory in Greece, Iran, and Turkey, where the lack of social tolerance and interpersonal aggressive violations seem to be important characteristics of driving. In addition, we found that driver behaviour (i.e., aggressive violations and errors) mediated the relationship between culture/country and accidents. Besides, drivers from "dangerous" Southern European countries and Iran scored higher on aggressive violations and errors than did drivers from "safe" Northern European countries. However, "speeding" appeared to be a "pan-cultural" problem in traffic. Similarly, aggressive driving seems largely depend on road users' interactions and drivers' interpretation (i.e., cognitive biases) of the behaviour of others in every country involved in the study. Moreover, in all countries, a risky general driving style was mostly related to being young and male. The results of the fifth and sixth studies showed that among young Turkish drivers, gender stereotypes (i.e., masculinity and femininity) greatly influence driver behaviour and performance. Feminine drivers were safety-oriented whereas masculine drivers were skill-oriented and risky drivers. Since everyday driving tasks involve not only erroneous (i.e., risky or dangerous driving) or correct performance (i.e., normal habitual driving), but also "positive" driver behaviours, we developed a reliable scale for measuring "positive" driver behaviours among Turkish drivers in the seventh study. Consequently, I revised Reason's model [Reason, J. T., 1990. Human error. Cambridge University Press: New York] of aberrant driver behaviour to represent a general driving style, including all possible intentional behaviours in traffic while evaluating the differences between countries in traffic safety. The results emphasise the importance of economic, societal and cultural factors, general driving style and skills, which are related to exposure, cognitive biases as well as age, sex, and gender, in differences between countries in traffic safety.

Empowering PNG Women through Building Media Arts Production Capacity as Cultural Drivers: Showreel

The creative work comprises six short digital screen stories and emerges from a collaboration between the Discipline of Film Screen and Animation at Queensland University of Technology and the Centre for Social and Creative Media at University of Goroka, funded via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Australia Awards Fellowship. Six fellows traveled from Papua New Guinea to Brisbane for a two-week intensive course to learn the advanced skills necessary in order to create media that will empower women and girls to make more of their own economies in Papua New Guinea, and increase the representation of women and their well-being through leadership and decision-making. The resulting creative work is evidence of innovative media teaching-making methods designed to build human and cultural assets in PNG and address the increasing demand for media materials driven by the influx of mobile phones and internet services. The creative work provides a platform to directly address and positively impact gender issues in PNG and builds on the success of the Pawa Meri project, which trained six female directors to tell stories of women in leadership roles in PNG. One of the directors was a producer of this creative work. The creative work frames but problematises the complex issues influencing gender equity through the selection of content and narrative structures in ways which address the dynamics of male/female relationships and power in PNG society and will include strategies to illustrate transformed male and female behaviours. The creative work adopts a scaffolded approach, incorporating the findings of the Train the Trainer approach developed by UoG and QUT for the Life Drama research project. The creative work takes into account current developmental themes and approaches in the production of rich media products, and skills the key participants so that they are able to in turn train others in the wider community. The creative work was presented to partners and key stakeholders on 3 July 2015 at the Glasshouse, QUT Creative Industries Precinct and at the Dean’s Research Seminar Poster Exhibition 15 July 2015 at Room 212-213, Level 2, J Block, Gardens Point QUT and subsequent eBook. It has since returned to PNG to be showcased and distributed, and the skills and strategies disseminated.

"Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal": Cultural practices of repetition in visual social media

Looping media are recurring components of online content, from gifs to Vine videos, in addition to the conceptual repetition of memes and related practices. This paper analyses practices around looping visual media as examples of vernacular creativity, social media literacies, and internet culture, especially for irreverent and playful purposes. Focusing on the LGBTQ digital cultural context as a pilot study, this research examines multi-platform uses of looping media, including personal narratives through Vine videos and animated gifs on Tumblr. In addition to textual analysis of LGBTQ looping visual social media content, the study will further explore the platform context as part of the experience of looped media. The research will address how these factors may also contribute to practices of irreverence and play, both within the specific case of LGBTQ culture and internet culture more generally.

Cucumber mosaic virus infection of kava (Piper methysticum) and implications for cultural control of kava dieback disease

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was found by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to be not fully systemic in naturally infected kava (Piper methysticum) plants in Fiji. Twenty-six of 48 samples (54%) from various tissues of three recently infected plants were CMV-positive compared with 7/51 samples (14%) from three long-term infections (plants affected by dieback for more than 1 year). The virus was also found to have a limited ability to move into newly formed stems. CMV was detected in only 2/23 samples taken from re-growth stems arising from known CMV infected/dieback affected plants. Mechanical inoculation experiments conducted in Fiji indicate that the known kava intercrop plants banana (Musa spp.), pineapple (Ananas comosus), peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and the common weed Mikania micrantha are potential hosts for a dieback-causing strain of CMV It was not possible to transmit the virus mechanically to the common kava intercrop plants taro (Colocasia esculenta), Xanthosoma sp., sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), yam (Dioscorea alata), papaya (Carica papaya) or the weed Momordica charantia. Implications of the results of this research on a possible integrated disease management strategy are discussed.