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11. Fria föredrag / Free presentations

1. Tiina Vainio
University of Helsinki

Economy of hairy squares. On the questions of competition, growth and autism in design

Hairy square is a reference to the work of Leena Svinhufvud on the art history of ryas, the icon for the old as well as the other for the comtemporary Arts and Crafts in Finland. The name hairy square, according to Svinhufvud, was given to these objects by Architect Ervi. He did rename ryas in order to provide a proper context for the applicability of these design works in the context of the modern world and production. The above naming provides numerous questions to be studied in terms of sexuality and economy as far as sexual difference, or economy beyond its modern conceptualization, is of concern.

This paper is a part of a larger project on Economics and Deconstruction, where the aim lies in problematizing and pulling the seal of natural laws in economic thinking off its historical joints. The history of ideas referred to frames the androcentrism upon utility, the proto modern starting point for many genres of development studies. The issues discussed will be contextualized by the questions of spacing sense in economic thinking. What, how or where could the notion of spacing sense be reached, articulated and argued on the field of economics? In singular, if and when it corresponds to what might be comprehended as economic thinking beyond reach by the post-positivism currently reigning in economic studies.

Spacing sense of competition, growth and autism will introduce the notion of design from an other to modern point of view.

Historicity of modern economics needs to be addressed by each singular study instead of assuming its milestones as structural assets for economic life to maintain (which is the case in the post-positivist manner of deductive reasoning carried out by the discipline in its mainstream as of now). The conditions of possibility of the above setting should be brought into questions. Not least because the entanglement of the "natural" concerning sexual drives, their objects and the resulting assumption of the sexual setting carry the notions of competition, growth and right for signing on its shoulders, i.e. hidden by the frames of any modern economic institution.

2. Marina V. Vorobjova
Religious Studies Research Center "Ethna" (St.-Petersburg, Russia)

Gender Approach in Religious Studies: An Attempt of Interdisciplinary Discussion

If we try to compare two spheres of scholarly research - religious studies and gender studies - we will at first glance not find anything in common. These disciplines have their own subjects of research, different goals and methods of research. However, if we look closer we will find "black holes" - particular moments that cannot be explained from the point of view of only one discipline and require specialists from other areas of knowledge. There are such well-known examples of cooperation as sociology and religious studies (sociology of religion), psychology and religious studies (psychology of religion), history and religious studies (history of religion), or philosophy and religious studies (philosophy of religion). We also know about interrelations between such disciplines as theology, ethnography, linguistics etc. with religious studies, which testifies of marginal character of this discipline and of its openness to other spheres of knowledge. However, religious studies scholars have not been paying due attention to gender researches that, as we think, could assist in solving many "problematic areas".

Many researchers of religion have noted that the masculine and the feminine may show themselves differently in different religions. Shy steps in the direction of gender research have been taken (and are still being taken) by contemporary Russian and Western religious studies scholars but they are not structured and are founded more on an intuitive approach rather then a firmly based position.

If we take gender studies, we will see that the area of religion has been covered in them by both those who were the roots of the "feminist movement" to contemporary scholars (examples). Therefore, we can speak of an inter-intrestedness of religious and gender areas of study. This, in turn, means that there are some common problems which touch on interests of both of these areas. This is what we are led by when we turn to three "bordering" problems for Religious and Women's Studies:

1. Masculine and feminine gods: their images, functions and basic differences.
All of mythology is one way or another based on the opposition between masculine and feminine.
2. Perception of gender and the role of women in various religions.

As a rule, women in the social life have a role different from that which men have. This goes for religion also.

3. Woman and power: key to the problem

Different functions that gods play is nothing else but "competition" for power; the role women play in religion only proves that the struggle is still taking place. And this struggle goes on in order for the scale on which men and women are on the opposite ends to shift one way or another.

Thus, female religiousness is different from masculine religiousness and the very problem of gender must be taken in account when one or another religion or a religious belief is approached. Gender differences (superficial in rites or functional) may shed more light on the picture of religious life in case if a deep understanding of their essence is added to the fixation of superficial differences; sources of the problem and its "blasts" within history of feminism must also be understood on a deeper level.

Such interaction of gender and religious researches could do great good showing itself, for example, in NRM studies where masculine and feminine are not static things, but a way of religious life, that is built on particular stereotypes or, on the contrary, on denying them.

3. Ilona Hongisto
University of Turku/ Department of Media Studies

Situated objective knowledges

My paper deals with knowledge and documentaries. Documentary films have traditionally been analysed in constructivist terms, in which the intentions of the author have been seen as the strongest agent in producing knowledge. For example, Bill Nichols has sketched out a range of representational modes used in producing knowledge.

In my paper, I analyse documentaries in terms of situated knowledges. The term borrowed from Donna Haraway is in loose connection to Nichols' modes, but for Haraway situatedness is a possibility of objectivity. Nichols, on the other hand, leans towards documentary knowledge as a constructed representation. He thinks of representations as biased situated knowledges.

I will treat the idea of situated objective knowledge in terms of the audiovisual qualities of documentary films. Instead of understanding audiovisuality as a representation of knowledge, I see audiovisuality as a realm of knowledge. I analyse how knowledge takes shape as an audiovision. Haraway claims that it is in admitting the partiality of all visions that objectivity can be found anew. My idea of documentaries as situated sites of objective knowledge follows a similar path.

I am interested in how knowledge situates itself in an audiovision. I look for alternative ways of seeing to the totalizing vision that embraces the world from top to bottom. The aim of my paper is to sketch a model of documentary in which the production of knowledge lies in "the space between" visions - to borrow Trinh T. Minh-ha's words - and not in a hierarchical, omnipotent structure of vision.

4. Mervi Autti
University of Lapland, Cultural History, Women's Studies

How to write history according to photographs?

The microhistorical research on my great-aunts, Lyyli and Hanna Autti, is based on the photographic data produced by the women themselves or taken of them in the 1920s. In the pictures Rovaniemi at that time looks interesting; the frolicking young women take the viewer into their own time. Usually old Rovaniemi seems to be strongly defined by pictures of destruction maybe just because of the fact that also many photography archives from the lively time before the war were destroyed. The goal of my research is to investigate the forgotten life in the past through the unique photographic data by the Misses, to have a gaze at the undiscovered Northern modern through photography.

A classical approach in microhistory is Carlo Ginzburg's clue method. With the help of the clues the small hints in the data, in this case photographs, lead to the track of larger entities. Roland Barthes brings up the micrological idea as the signifier of photography. On one hand in a photograph there may be the interest which is based on the shared culture, studium; on the other, a good photograph may include a startling and attention awakening detail, the punctum which disturbs the studium's harmony. Like Ginzburg, Barthes shows the significance of details in photographs.

I also interpret the Autti photographs through the family album genre. In the context of album pictures which represent studium: the ideal-me in the way of being right which in the case of female image is produced and appropriated by the culture. But there is also a challenge to ask what is behind the studium. How relevant are the album photographs when we try to capture the real life behind the history? Are they only the field of impulses which leads us to the period of certain time.

It looks like the photographic data is very much depended on the other - more factual - sources as letters and other documents of the past. However, the album pictures are the frame and context of my interpretation. As primary source they illustrate the structures, cultures and periods of time.

5. Brit Stuksrud:
Universitetet i Bergen

Presentasjon av avhandling om kvinnestemmeretten i Vestfold.

Jeg arbeider med en avhandling som har tittelen "Engasjement og medieformidling. Kvinnestemmeretten i Vestfold-byene 1890 - 1913 belyst gjennom lokalavisenes formidling av kvinnestemmerettsspørsmålet og lokale kvinnestemmerettsforeningers arbeid."

En analyse av avisenes rolle og en studie av de lokale leddene av Landskvinnestemmerettsforeningens arbeid i det lokalsamfunnet Vestfold representerte, vil kunne utvide vår kunnskap om kvinnestemmerettens utvikling. Jeg ønsker å fokusere på endring av holdninger til kvinnenes samfunnsrolle i et lokalsamfunn. Vestfolds lokalaviser avspeilet i stor grad rikspressens stemmerettsdebatt, mange sakset artikler og informasjon fra den riksavisen som stod nærmest politisk sett. Men lokalavisene hadde sine mektige redaktører som i stor utstrekning "silte" informasjonen til leserne. Avisene ble også brukt som redskap av kvinnestemmerettskvinnene i arbeidet for å fremme deres sak, og lokalsamfunnets innsats i reformarbeidet har stor betydning for forståelsen av det komplekse samspillet mellom ulike typer aktører som gikk for seg i denne perioden.

Jeg vil forsøke å avdekke hvilke grupper kvinner som arbeidet for stemmeretten i Vestfold, hvordan de arbeidet, hva slags relasjoner disse kvinnene hadde til de landsomfattende organisasjonene og til hverandre i de ulike Vestfoldbyene. Hvilke menn hjalp dem åpent eller i det skjulte, hvilket nettverk ble dannet i denne sammenheng?

Hvilke faktorer som var viktigst i kvinnestemmerettssakens utvikling - den allmenne demokratiseringsprosessen, enkeltbegivenhetenes påvirkning, f.eks. kvinnenes innsats i 1905 eller enkeltindividenes engasjement og innsats - kan diskuteres. Men også i Vestfold stod innflytelserike aktører fram og styrte arbeidet i kvinnestemmerettskampen, noe av min agenda er å avdekke disse aktørene, deres intensjoner og makt og deres støttende nettverk. De var med i en offentlig diskurs knyttet til kvinnenes stilling og var med å definere begrepet femininitet.

Jeg ønsker å gi en framstilling av kvinnenes erfaringer, men også av deres relasjoner til menn og av samspillet mellom kjønnene for likestilling og demokrati. Kvinnene handlet også kollektivt, som kjønnsgruppe, dette skapte identitet som var en vesentlig side ved medborgerens rolle. Jeg vil forsøke å avdekke denne kollektive handlingen i Vestfoldbyene.

En demokratiseringprosess er et samspill mellom mikro- og makronivå. Hvilken betydning har samspillet mellom det lokale og det nasjonale hatt? Fantes der en relasjon mellom aktørene i Vestfoldbyene og aktørene på riksplan i Kristiania?

Det nye demokratiske samfunnssyn vant terreng i perioden jeg undersøker, og Vestfoldkvinnene måtte forholde seg til store omveltninger i samfunnet. I lokalsamfunnet foregikk diskusjonen om denne endringen og tanken om medborgerlige rettigheter for kvinner spredte seg. Hvem fortjente disse rettighetene?

De fem Vestfoldbyene var like på mange måter, likevel hadde de sine særegenheter og ulikheter. Jeg håper mitt empiriske materiell vil avdekke om byenes ulikheter påvirket kvinnestemmerettsarbeidets karakter i de ulike byene. Påvirket byenes særpreg kvinneaktivismen?

De lokale redaktørene var viktige i den offentlige samtalen, de var med på å forme og endre lokalsamfunnet. I hvilken grad var avisene med på å styre den offentlige diskurs i Vestfold knyttet til kjønnsroller og aksepten for kvinnenes samfunnsrolle?

Oppfatningen om at menn og kvinner var ulike av natur var grunnfestet i perioden hvor kvinnene kjempet for sin stemmerett. Godtok lokalsamfunnet kvinnens inntreden på den politiske arena ut fra tanken om likhet mellom kjønnene, eller ut fra tanken om kjønnenes komplementaritet og om at kvinnens særegne natur ville egne seg til positivt samfunnsarbeid og dermed være til samfunnets fremme?

Jeg håper avhandlingen min vil kunne gi svar på disse spørsmålene, og jeg vil gjerne gi en presentajon av arbeidet mitt.

6. Johanna J. Jochumsdottir
University of Rutgers, United States

"'As the Nation Should be Free so Women Should be Free': Suffragists Engaging with Icelandic Nationalism and Transnationalist Women's Organisations 1890-1920"

During the first wave of the women's movement, feminism drew women together across national boundaries and territories. Given the context of a rampant and aggressive nationalism in early twentieth-century Europe, it is in many ways remarkable that women organised themselves with the expressive aim of advancing the 'woman question' internationally. Although most women's organisations fell short of their global ambitions, their international consciousness was a threat to the political establishment in most national contexts. As stated in the official report of the 1915 Hague Congress, the women's aim was to raise their "voices above the present hatred and bloodshead" and however they might differ as to means they would "declare themselves united in the great ideals of civilization and progress."

However, not all the women came to this sense of sisterhood without ambivalence. The US and Britain were in the vanguard of the movement and in their notion of women being able to transcend nationalism, assumed an independent, secure, and perhaps even powerful national existence. This was, however, not the reality within Europe let alone in other parts of the world. Norway broke its union with Sweden in 1905 and Finland gained independence in 1917. Ireland was in a fierce struggle for Home Rule from Britain and Iceland was agitating for national independence from Denmark, gaining Home Rule in 1904. Expressions of nationalism and anti-imperialism threatened the unity of organisations such as the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). As early as 1909 the IWSA was forced to adopt a bylaw pledging "absolute neutrality on all questions that are strictly national" and promising to "respect the independence of each affiliated association, and to leave it entirely free to act on all matters within its own country." Feminists were thus in a peculiar situation as their nationalism estranged them from the internationalism of the transnational women's organisations and their feminism estranged them from the nationalists in their countries.

Icelandic suffragists were intensely nationalist during the last decade of the nineteenth century. During the period 1890-1903 they saw freedom for Iceland and freedom for women as one and the same thing. They participated in nationalist debates and they had strong male supporters of women's rights inside and outside parliament. After the turn of the century construction of nationalism started to become increasingly gendered. The ideal citizen was perceived as a free and autonomous individual who could only thrive in a free democratic country and this individual was increasingly gendered male and was perceived in opposition to women. Women thus increasingly started to look toward the international women's movement for inspiration and validation of ideology of the politically strong and active woman. Yet, in 1906 when the Danish national suffrage organisation suggested that Iceland should join the IWSA as a branch of Denmark, Icelandic women were quick to respond asserting their national identity and entitlements. Transnationalist and nationalist goals were thus not always in agreement and Icelandic suffragists strategically employed the different discourses in asserting both their feminist and national identities.

7. Tiina Lintunen:
University of Turku/Contemporary history

In the heat of the moment or for the lack of money? Why did Finnish women join the Red Guard?

In 1918 women took also part in the Finnish Civil War. There were approximately 2000 women who joined the Red Guard as soldiers. Their role models were the women of both the French and the Russian Revolution who had actually climbed on the barricades demanding equality between a man and a woman. But there was a much greater number of women who worked in the service troops in such jobs as nurses, cookers and cleaning ladies. They did not act with a rifle in their hands, but their contribution to the Revolution was nevertheless remarkable. After the unsuccessful uprising, both armed and unarmed women were taken into the court.

In my thesis I have focused on a group of women (N = 270) who were condemned after the war in courts, dealing with crimes against the state. Most of them worked for the Red Guard as civilians, not as soldiers. The defendants were asked several things concerning they activity during the war. One of the main questions was why they joined the Guard. Reasons such as unemployment, lack of money and enforcement were mentioned in the hearings. Especially some of the younger girls said in their defence that they were being goaded into it and did not realise what they were actually doing. Certain women who worked as nurses on the Red side during the war could not believe that their actions would be illegal afterwards if the war was lost. They considered their work as human aid, not a high treason against their country, and were stunned after being convicted.

Several reasons for joining the Guard were given. The possible differences between the reasons stated and the actual truth are important to consider. It is very likely that a person lies in front of the judge, if that may save one's life or make the sentence considerably lighter. This should be especially significant in matters where one's commitment to the cause was of crucial importance while giving the sentence. Only one woman of the investigated 270 admitted in the hearings to having joined the Red Guard because of the socialistic ideology. Nevertheless many of them were politically active, for example in labour movement.

In my paper, I will discuss the reasons the Red women gave for their joining the Guard. I will also ponder the reliability of these answers and the significance they had for the sentences given.

8. Charlotte Tornbjer
Lunds universitet, Historiska institutionen

Möten med Alexandra Kollontay

Alexandra Kollontay, 1872-1952, var en färgstark person som det har skrivits många biografier om t ex Barbara Evans Clement, The Bolschevik Feminist. The Life of Alexandra Kollontay, Bloomington 1979, Beatrice B Farnsworth, Alexandra Kollontay, Socialism, Feminism and the Bolschevik revolution, Stanford 1980 och Arkadij Vaksberg, Alexandra Kollontai, Paris 1996. Hennes koppling till Sverige har däremot inte direkt varit föremål för några undersökningar, även om flera svenska forskare poängterar vilket inflytande hon hade på bland annat svensk kvinnorörelse under 1920- 40-talet. Att hon dessutom var Sovjetunionens ambassadör i Stockholm 1930-1945 gör henne ännu mer intressant ur en svensk synvinkel.

Vi vill i vårt föredrag undersöka det svenska mötet med Alexandra Kollontay ur några olika perspektiv. Vårt syfte är att presentera en utgångspunkt för ett gemensamt forskningsprojekt. De övergripande frågor vi ställer är följande: Hur har Kollontay skrivits in i den svenska historien? Hur har Alexandra Kollontay brukats av svensk kvinnorörelse?

Föredraget kommer att vara uppbyggt i tre delar som var och en representerar olika empiriska material där möten med Alexandra Kollontay, både som verklig person och en bild av henne, förekom. Först talar Charlotte Tornbjer om hur Kollontay uppfattades av de svenska resenärer som åkte till Sovjet under 1920-talet. Alla ville tala med den karismatiska kvinnliga kommunisten som tjusade med sin elegans och både skrämde och lockade med sina radikala idéer. Kollontay uppfattades av dessa både som sinnebilden för den nya sovjetiska kvinnan och som ett undantag. Kollontay med sin elegans gick inte att jämföra med de mer ordinära skräniga revolutionära kvinnorna. Därefter tar Irene Andersson vid för att diskutera den svenska pressens möte med Kollontay när hon väl kommer till Sverige 1930, men också det avsked pressen ger henne när hon 1945 lämnar landet. Både kommunistisk och borgerlig press konstruerade bilder av henne som person och som diplomatiskt sändebud. Slutligen riktar vi tillsammans blickarna framåt och gör några nedslag i användningen av Kollontay i 1970-talets nya kvinnorörelse i Sverige. Kollontay kom att bli en kvinnohistorisk förebild i en ny tid och hennes böcker översattes. Vårt intresse handlar om dels om henne som förebild och dels vilka av hennes tankar den nya kvinnorörelsen ansåg sig kunna bruka och därmed tog upp.

9. Kaat Wils:
Departement Geschiedenis, KULeuven

Gender and knowledge in the commemoration of female scientists

The history of science is a highly gendered history, not only because of the age-long underrepresentation of women in the sciences and because of the gendered character of scientific knowledge of the past. The memory of past science is gendered as well. Within this broad field of memory and historiography of science, the practice of commemorating 'great scientists' has played an important role since the 18th century. In my paper, I will focus on the gendered character of this specific commemorating genre, the genre of the 'scientist portrait', in its visual as well as its written appearance.

The cult of commemorating scientists which originated at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to an 'imagined community' of male modern scientists (Ludmilla Jordanova). The intricate interwovenness of male characteristics (both visually and intellectually) and important scientific 'inventions', made it very difficult for a female scientist to enter in the collective memory of science through some sort of portrait.

The mechanisms which explain the difficulty for women to enter this genre, as well as the mechanisms which were at work when, exceptionnally, women were respresented as great scientists, will be analysed. I will develop this analysis by focussing on an interesting and well-known case, the commemoration of the French scientist Marie Curie. The different aspects of this process of commemoration will be enriched by references to the commemoration of (lesser known) Belgian and Dutch female scientists.

The memory of Curie as a scientist has very long been dependent of the memory of her husband, Pierre Curie, affirming thus the fact that the formula of being part of a 'creative couple' (Helena Pycior), was often the most convenient way for women to enter in the collective memory of science. In the case of Marie Curie, it is only in recent historiography which does not only look at scientific results, but also at the role of scientific strategies and networks, that she not only has earned an autonomous memory - symbolized by her admission in the Panthéon in 1997 - , but that the relationship between Mary and Pierre has come to be seen as a relationship of interdependence.

Trough this evolution, the gendered but also the broader conventions of this stereotyped genre of the 'scientist portrait' has been put into question.

10. Tuula Juvonen
Department of Women's Studies, University of Tampere

Queering the Archives: Action Research on Finnish Archival Practices

This paper will present the idea of a forthcoming (2005-2007) Academy of Finland funded research project From Thinking Archives to Doing Archives: Queer Action Research on Finnish Archiving Practices. The interdisciplinary project seeks to develop a Queer Action Research approach to document, evaluate and theorize recent innovative initiatives that have taken place in publicly funded Finnish archives and museums to incorporate records of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans people (LGBT) in their collections. Moreover it explores additional needs and possibilities to modify and advance archiving practices to become even more inclusive to LGBT materials.

The project will be realised by using by three different approaches. Firstly the current initiatives will be mapped out through interviews with archiving professionals, and the usefulness of current approaches will be offered for discussion within the LGBT community in order to receive constructive feedback for improved initiatives in the future.

Parallel to the research a web based course Using Archives for Queer History will be designed and taught. The course, combining theoretical considerations with small research projects conducted by students working with various archives, will help to highlight the crucial problems faced by researchers when they aim at using archives for queer history writing.

Thirdly, in order to disseminate the research results, a new web portal will be established. The web portal will present best practices and new innovations on LGBT inclusion in archives and museums in Finland, as well as include scholarly texts about particular theoretical questions and ethical issues in relation to LGBT archiving.