‘Africans’ and the ‘Chinese’ Exhibited in Finland in the years 1926–1928

This article analyses two peculiar cases of ‘otherness’ (alterity), as witnessed on stage at an exhibition of Chinese and African cultures presented by the Finnish Missionary Society from 1926-1928. This exhibition consisted of a man-made figure (re)presenting the Ovambo (African) culture of South-West Africa, in concert with Chinese figures who were made to represent the contemporary culture of China. Of note is the fact that the Chinese part of the exhibition was not as contemporary as proposed. In fact, it had imperial qualities. Both sections of the exhibition were ‘made-in-Finland’ type artificial representations which bordered on total inauthenticity as the organizers did not have any…

Between the Darkness of Barbarism and the Light of Civilization: British Images of the Finn in the Late Eighteenth Century

This article aims to show that it was the British travellers (Coxe, Tooke, Clarke,et al.) to Finland in the late eighteenth century who discovered Finland for theBritish reading public. As they distinguished the Finns as a separate ‘race’ fromthe Russians, the Swedes, and the Lapps, they contributed to the proto-racialistimage of them that would become popular in the nineteenth century. BecauseSweden had become an important maritime trading partner (in iron ore, tar, andtimber) to the British, its eastern part, Finland, also became an interesting countryto visit en route from Stockholm to Saint Petersburg (or from Saint Petersburgto Stockholm). The travellers were astonished to realize that…

Vapauden kapea polku : István Bibón julkinen moralismi

The task of this study is to listen to the moral voice of István Bibó, a Hungarian democrat. Listening to past ‘voices’ is an approach of intellectual history introduced by Stefan Collini, who has eavesdropped on the conversations of ‘public moralists’ in the British intellectual life from the period c. 1850–1950. What has been translated of and written on Bibó’s thought in Hungary – irrespective of a couple of notable exceptions not much is found abroad – is very ‘Hungarian’ in tone in particular, note the very productive workshop (Bibó Szellemi Műhely), whereas I have tried independently to develop Collini’s approach. Instead of uncovering the meanings of ideas and concepts in the context…

W.H. Walsh’s Idea of Colligation Reconsidered

Essay on: W.H. Walsh´s Idea of Colligation Reconsidered

Emancipation through Sports : Doctors and the Rise of the Female Body in Finland c. 1900-1920

Kun ryssä löi vyötärön alapuolelle : urheilu ja maanpuolustus talvisodan aikana

This article analyses how the role of sportsmen as defenders of the country was seen during the Winter War (1939–1940) and how their performance as soldiers was evaluated by sports experts. The image of the Finnish sportsman (cf. Paavo Nurmi) as physically and mentally particularly fit type of soldier was disseminated by the Finnish sports journal Suomen Urheilulehti and the characteristics of the Finnish sportsmen as soldiers were compared with the ‘average’ soldiers and the attacking Russians, ‘Ruskies’, the Red Army soldiers. ‘Ruskie’, in Finnish ryssä, is a term of abuse to designate Alterity that could never be domesticated, hateful and fearful Otherness beyond history for the Finn. On…

’Valmistusta’ Tukholman olympialaisiin 1912

Cultic revelations : studies in modern historical cult personalities and phenomena

This collection of articles contains history papers of the third conference of the joint project of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Finland titled Cult and Community , held in Jyväskylä, 6 7 September, 2007. They are complemented by a couple of specialized, independent contributions by scholars working in the field of cults. It may be noted that the Finnish participants were newcomers in the cult research group since the Hungarian cult studies draw on traditions in the history of literature (e.g. Péter Dávidházi on Shakespeare-cult, the publications of the Petőfi Museum of Literature, Budapest and the Déri Múzeum, Debrecen) and critical studies. Also studies in per…

Monelta kantilta : Ilkka Nummelalle omistettu juhlakirja

Emancipation Through Sports: Doctors and the Rise of the Female Body in Finlandc.1900–1920

While the cultural history of body and sports have become well-established fields of historical studies since the 1980s, it has been demonstrated that medical practice has functioned as a moral discourse which produces a regulation of the female body. It has been realised that theories (e.g. of ‘degeneration’) concerning the functioning of the human body bore a great significance to planning and defining the programmes of physical education, gymnastics and sports in the spirit of muscular nationalism. Doctors studying human physiology and training were eager to control not only the female body but also the mind of a gymnast or a sportswoman. This is what happened also in Finland from the la…