University Home
University in Finnish
For Foreign Students
Faculties and Departments
University Library
Department of History
Tel. +358 8 553 3313
Fax +358 8 553 3315
P.O. Box 1000
FIN-90014 University of Oulu
Finland
 |
   |
|
Biographical writing has traditionally been one of the most accessible – and the most marketable – parts of historical scholarship. But the business of representing lives also raises some topical methodological and conceptual questions, relevant to any form of representing past. For instance, biographical research prompts us to ask what is the role of individual(s) in history, what is the position of the author in relation to the subject s/he writes about, how and why should one study "marginal" figures and underrepresented groups, how does one evaluate the importance and achievement of historical actors, how best to conceive and represent the relationship between "life" and "works" (if indeed they can be told apart at all), and how make use of "new" (e.g. digital) sources. Further questions of interest concern the role different narrative structures in representing the past, the relationship between fact and fiction, and the role of biographical representations in shaping the historical views of the so called general public.
Information for participants (maps, bus timetables etc.)
Programme
- updated 7 September 2011 -
THURSDAY 29 September
* Hotel and Conference Center Lasaretti, Seminar Hall 'Nukuttaja Näyhä' (Kasarmintie 13, Oulu) map of Oulu city centre / Lasaretti is nr 22 in the map
9:00–9:30 Registration and coffee
9:30–9:45 Welcome
Keynote address
Chair: Marianne Junila
9:45–10:45 Christina Florin, Professor, University of Stockholm
New ways of seeing: Life stories as history in the making10:45–11:00 Coffee
11:00–12:20 Collective biography and prosopography
Chair: Marianne Junila
1) Antti Harmainen (University of Turku), Searching for the dialogue between subject, idea and structure: Writing men, artistry and religion in early 20th-century Finland: Collective biography as a methodological approach
2) Tiina Kinnunen (University of Eastern Finland), But is it biography? The feminist standpoints of Ellen Key and Alexandra Gripenberg
3) Jaana Torninoja-Latola (University of Turku), Public and political sides of life: The Sinervo sisters in Finnish labour movement
4) Merja Uotila & Juuso Marttila (University of Jyväskylä), Studying artisans by prosopographical research methods. Two case studies: Finnish countryside and ironworks
Discussion 20 min.
12:20–13:30 Lunch
13:30–14:50 Making use of varied sources
Chair: Kimmo Laine
5) Anu Lahtinen (University of Helsinki), "I obeyed the will of my parents": How to read and write about early modern Swedish noblewomen's presentations of their lives
6) Erkki Urpilainen (University of Oulu), Anne Jaquette Rabenius (1816–1826): A short biography
7) Kirsti Salmi-Niklander (University of Helsinki), Myth, (auto-)fiction and “the own voice”: Exploring methodological temptations and solutions for biographical research on late 19th-century Finland
8) Katri Helminen (University of Oulu), Writing a biography of a horse
Discussion 20 min.
14:50–15:20 Coffee
15:20–16:40 Scientific and professional biography (1)
Chair: Tiina Kinnunen
9) Maija Kallinen (University of Oulu), Forgotten heroes of science? What to do with biographies of minor figures in the history of science
10) Seija Jalagin (University of Oulu), Missionaries as immigrants: How to write of a transnational life
11) Kimmo Laine (University of Oulu), Sibelius and banality: Biopic as argumentation
12) Heini Hakosalo (University of Oulu), Humble handmaidens or independent minds: Representation of men and women in scientific biographies
Discussion 20 min.
16:40–17:40 Scientific and professional biography (2)
Chair: Tiina Kinnunen
13) Minna Uimonen (University of Helsinki), Hanna Ongelin: A pioneer in no woman’s land?
14) Ulla Vuorela (University of Tampere), Biography of Hilma Granqvist
15) Heidi Kurvinen (University of Oulu), Writing a professional biography: The case of reporter Anni Voipio
Discussion 15 min.
19:00 Dinner at Restaurant Hella
FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER
* University of Oulu, Linnanmaa Campus, Yliopistokatu, Auditorium KTK112 (Faculty of Education)
Keynotes addresses
Chair: Heini Hakosalo
9:00–10:00 Maarit Leskelä-Kärki, Post-doctoral research fellow, University of Turku
Empathy and emotions: Encountering the other in biographical research
10:00–11:00 Birgitte Possing, Senior researcher, Danish National Archives & Professor, University of Copenhagen
Men, women and individualities: Reflections on the biographical turn, its concepts and its ethics
11:00–12:00 Lunch at Restaurant Julinia
12:00–13:00 Empathy and biography
Chair: Vappu Sunnari
16) Julia Dahlberg (University of Helsinki), Empathy in biographical writing?
17) Anneli Lehtisalo (University of Tampere), Reverent distance – emphatic closeness. Positing a spectator to a protagonist in Finnish biographical films 1937–1955
18) Veli-Pekka Lehtola (University of Oulu), A biographer between criticism and empathy: Narrating the life of a "fascist and racist" (Kurt Matti Wallenius)
Discussion 15 min.
13:00–14:00 Politics and biography
Chair: Sirpa Aalto
19) Katriina Lehto-Bleckert (University of Helsinki), The biography of Ulrike Meinhof as a key to the controversial points of the German recent past
20) Gunnel Karlsson (Örebro University), Ulla Lindström’s political diary
21) Mikko Pollari (University of Tampere), The role of individuals in history: The case of theosophy and socialism in Finland
Discussion 15 min.
14:00–14:30 Coffee
14:30–15:50 Identity and subjectification
Chair: Sanna Karkulehto
22) Kristina Hildebrand (Halmstad University), Between images: Understanding national identities
23) Erla Hulda Haldórsdóttir (University of Iceland), Letters to my brother: How to represent a life already represented?
24) Päivi Salmesvuori (University of Helsinki), Subjectification by losing the self: The transformation of the trance-preacher Helena Konttinen (1871–1916)
25) Visa Immonen (University of Turku), Coherent self and the tradition of scholar biographies: Writing the life of Finnish State Archaeologist Juhani Rinne
Discussion 20 min.
15:50–16:15 Closing discussion
Chair: Seija Jalagin
Practicalities
The language of the workshop is English.
The participants are asked to submit their papers for precirculation by August 20th by email to the organisers. The workshop is free of charge.
(Call for papers - ended on March 15, 2011)
Organisers
Heini Hakosalo |
Seija Jalagin |
Marianne Junila |