Aspects of Gender in Finnish Folkloristics

 

This article aims to outline some of the main trends in gender perspective in Finnish folkloristics. Even though the male bias has been obvious in Finnish folkloristics until recent decades, women have always played a visible role, at least as bearers of culture and performers of tradition, in our discipline[151]. This role is the focus here, while three contexts of interpretation are examined: first, the history of folklore studies, second, the social status of women and the development of feminist thought, and third, the impact of the international theoretical stimulus on women’s studies. Thus I see the scholarship of gender studies as having a long history within this field, but at the same time I consider the impact of theoretical and substantial achievements of gender studies as important too[152]. As for the terminology used, I mean by “gender studies” and “women’s studies” large and loosely defined viewpoints or fields of study, which highlight, question and discuss the meanings of gender in a culture and in cultural productions, as well as all the mechanisms and structures of culture as gendered.

I try to take into account recently published studies and the themes they have raised, not to paint a complete picture of the history of gender perspective in folkloristics. Nevertheless, as an introduction to this examination some milestones in the development of gender perspective in Finnish folkloristics are mentioned. In order to structure my examination I divide the history of gender perspective in Finnish folklore studies into three phases. These phases do not represent any unified ideology or methodology, but rather serve as a practical tool to assist in locating aspects of gender in a broader timeframe within folkloristics. These phases are: 1) the phase of searching for gender, when the gender difference – femaleness and maleness – was considered as given and natural (up to 1977); 2) the phase of building up the field of gender studies in folkloristics, when women’s culture and point of view was addressed (1977 onwards); and 3) the phase of questioning of gender meanings, when the objects and questions explored are continuously deconstructed (1995 onwards)[153]. The methodology applied here is purely practical. All disciplines in fact evolve in a more complicated way: theoretical discussions overlap each other. Moreover, if the horizontal aspect is considered, it may be observed that Finnish gender-specific study of folklore does not represent any uniform type of applied methodology, point of view or interests of research. On the contrary, there are many ways of carrying out gender studies even within the relatively small field of folklore studies in Finland[154].

The emphasis in this preliminary review is on the last phase, of contemporary research, while the first two phases are only briefly outlined since three Finnish scholars, Satu Apo, Aili Nenola and Laura Stark-Arola, have already published in English a review of the history of gender studies in Finnish folkloristics in an introduction to an anthology entitled Gender and Folklore [155]. This compilation and review offer valuable insight into the achievements and directions of gender in folklore studies in Finland. Thus I concentrate here on the more contemporary research and try to continue where Gender and Folklore leaves off[156].

In addition, the special nature of contemporary cultural disciplines is worth bearing in mind. Many scholars have described our disciplines as being in a phase of “blurred genres”, meaning that their boundaries are in part breaking down and being reconstructed elsewhere, and that interdisciplinary interaction is an everyday practice[157]. Contemporary popular thinking structures, methodologies and theoretical innovations can be traced back to old research traditions as well as to modern discussions within and between disciplines. In sum, the “contemporary” here forms only one aspect for examination, which is subjectively constructed here.