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I denna artikel diskuterar vi minnet av kvinnors förvärvsarbete och hemmafrutillvaro i det efterkrigstida Finland med hjälp av begreppen vanlighet och generationsberättelse. Vi frågar oss hur det vanliga livet tedde sig för unga kvinnor då och huruvida det går att tala om en generationsberättelse när vi studerar hur kvinnorna i vårt material berättar om sina erfarenheter gällande förvärvsliv och om hemmafruskap. I den finländska forskningen framkommer att denna tid kännetecknades av ambivalens gällande normer kring gifta kvinnors relation till arbete. Dels handlade det om att fanns en hög andel kvinnor i förvärvslivet, och att förvärvsarbete sågs som en normalitet åtminstone efter småbarnstiden. Dels uppfattades hemmet, med en hemmavarande mamma, som samhällets kärna. Vi tar vår utgångspunkt i denna ambivalens. De kvinnor vars erfarenheter vi studerat tillhör åldersmässigt samma generation men har ändå i hög grad olika erfarenheter och relation till arbete. Våra informanter upplever sina liv som ”vanliga” trots att de gestaltades på relativt olika sätt.

Oletko pitänyt tallessa lapsuutesi unilelun? Onko sinulla jokin perintöesine, johon liittyy sukutarina? Kuuluuko jokin tietty esine erottamattomasti juuri sinun kotiisi? Millaiset esineet luovat kodikkuutta? Millaiset raivostuttavat, turhauttavat tai ovat turhia? Omistatko esineitä, joista et haluaisi luopua koskaan? nonPeerReviewed

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Sensory ethnography is a reflexive and experiential process, in which the role of the researcher as embodied subject is crucial. It is based on the idea that all human beings are connected to materiality and the physical environment through their sensing bodies. At the core of sensory ethnography are sensory experiences (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch), and their role in social practices and relations. By studying sensory experiences, one can find nonverbal and seemingly meaningless and self-evident information that affects our everyday life and practices. Although sensory and embodied dimensions are often acknowledged as part of ethnographic knowledge production, textbooks about ethnographic methods often lack information on how to conduct sensory observations and analyze them. In this chapter, we turn our attention to this process of gaining and sharing sensory knowledge. We scrutinize a collaborative process of doing sensory ethnography and sharing the experience in written and verbal forms that took place in an experimental workshop at a conference where we invited the participants to explore how to use our senses to study the conference setting. Our chapter discusses the challenges faced by the participants of the workshop, who were all scholars with varied multidisciplinary backgrounds. peerReviewed

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The events of the Second World War left considerable material remains in Finnish Lapland, ranging from the remnants of structures that were destroyed in the 1944–45 Lapland War, through to small, portable objects connected to soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians. These material remains have variously been saved and cherished by survivors and their families, disregarded as ‘war junk’, ‘discovered’ by hobbyists exploring the landscape, amassed and exchanged by private collectors, and accessioned into official museum collections. These various processes represent transformations of material culture to take on various meanings and embodiments, depending on the different individuals and organizations involved. In this article we present and analyse data collected through ethnographic fieldwork in and around the Lapland village of Vuotso: primarily interviews and observations. We have conducted interviews with history hobbyists and museum professionals who engage with the WWII history of Lapland, and observed the treatment of ‘war material culture’, for example through exhibitions (both public and hidden) and through personal meaning-making practices. These encounters have centred around the material remains of the Second World War, and the ways in which different actors perceive, value and otherwise understand those remains. While some objects are transformed through musealisation, others remain ‘officially’ unknown and unrecognized (although known – even traded and exchanged – through private channels). Furthermore it may be as important for some actors to leave material culture in situ – for example as testimony to the past conflict or trauma – as it is for others to exercise personal ownership. Within this context, we deconstruct the notion of ‘expert’ as it relates to the local and historical knowledge. Being regarded by peers and others as an expert is not necessarily the same thing as having professional authority and status, for example as a museum curator or university-affiliated scholar. We draw upon theories of relational materiality, and suggest different typologies of engagement with the material culture. Different networks of interest and expertise emerge, dependent on the actors involved (including their status – e.g. museum professional, survivor, ‘incomer’, local activist – and how their knowledge is thus accepted, challenged or rejected by others), the context of ownership, situationality and perceived levels of authenticity.

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The so-called Lapland War between Finland and Germany at the end of the Second World War led to a mass-scale destruction of Lapland. Both local Finnish residents and the indigenous Sámi groups lost their homes, and their livelihoods suffered in many ways. The narratives of these deeply traumatic experiences have long been neglected and suppressed in Finland and have been studied only recently by academics and acknowledged in public. In this text, we analyze the interviews with four elders of one Sámi village, Vuotso. We explore their memories, from a child’s perspective, scrutinizing the narration as a multilayered affective process that involves sensual and embodied dimensions of memory. © 2019 Museum Tusculanum Press. All rights reserved.

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Hynninen, Anna 2017: Minä, lotta, vaimo, äiti. Kerronnan variaatio ja toimijuus aktiivikertojan muistelukerronnassa. Turku: Turun yliopisto. 406 sivua.