Papers by Katja Uusihakala
Suomen antropologi, 2008
In 1990 ex-Rhodesians-white former colonials who have emigrated from Zimbabwe after its independe... more In 1990 ex-Rhodesians-white former colonials who have emigrated from Zimbabwe after its independence in 1980-organized a commemorative event in South Africa in order to celebrate the Centenary of the founding of Rhodesia. In spite of the fact that Rhodesia no longer exists, it continues to have intrinsic weight in the present lives of former Rhodesians. It is held close by social memory practices, which are fundamental to how the diaspora community comes to understand itself and its place in the world. This article examines social memory practices in the context of the Centenary celebrations. The festivities involved the creation of an imaginary Rhodesianaland in a holiday resort in South Africa. The key event during the festivities was the re-enactment of the arrival of the Pioneer Column in Fort Salisbury (Harare) and the founding of colonial Rhodesia. The main objective of the commemorative event was the creation of a ceremonial site in which people could come together to recall and to reflect upon their shared past by re-telling the community's origin narrative. However, the article also suggests that the mnemonic power and emotional affectivity of commemoration rests on the fact that culturally meaningful experiences are bodily enacted.
Institute of Development Studies, 1996
Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura eBooks, May 28, 2019
British Journalism Review, 2012
Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society
A lectio præcursoria is a short presentation read out loud by a doctoral candidate at the start o... more A lectio præcursoria is a short presentation read out loud by a doctoral candidate at the start of a public thesis examination in Finland. It introduces the key points or central argument of the thesis in a way that should make the ensuing discussion between the examinee and the examiner apprehensible to the audience, many of whom may be unfamiliar with the candidate’s research or even anthropological research in general.
... Professor Siikala has been an encouraging source of scholarly inspiration throughout the cour... more ... Professor Siikala has been an encouraging source of scholarly inspiration throughout the course of this research. ... I also want to thank my preliminary examiners, Professor Blair Rutherford and Dr. Harri Englund whose constructive criticism and encouraging observations helped ...
Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society
Focusing on Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s apology to British child migrants in 2010, this article... more Focusing on Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s apology to British child migrants in 2010, this article proposes that public apology, as a moral and political act, is a compelling site for examining attempts to redefine and redress previously silenced pasts. Postwar child migration has been something of a silenced chapter in British history. In my research I examine one such child migration scheme, namely a project which sent select British children (aged 4 to 13) to colonial Southern Rhodesia—today’s Zimbabwe—between 1946 and 1962. Through this case, I discuss two intertwined aspects of the transformative intentions of apologizing. First, the apology aims at amending the relationship between the apologizer and the victims and at remodeling the recipients’ political subjectivities. Second, the apology discloses distinct, but contradictory, understandings about the relationship between past, present, and future. It emphasizes the continuous effects the past has in the present, but simultan...
... Professor Siikala has been an encouraging source of scholarly inspiration throughout the cour... more ... Professor Siikala has been an encouraging source of scholarly inspiration throughout the course of this research. ... I also want to thank my preliminary examiners, Professor Blair Rutherford and Dr. Harri Englund whose constructive criticism and encouraging observations helped ...
Ruoan kulttuuri: Antropologisia näkökulmia ruoan tutkimukseen, 2016
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Papers by Katja Uusihakala
few things launch the anthropologist into more profound methodological, ethical, and political deliberations than the silences one does unveil and the secrets one is made privy to in the field, many of these converging in the
question of how secrets and silence should be treated in one’s writing. This special issue delves into the interconnections between these two: silences and secrets in fieldwork encounters, and the silences that are produced through the knowledge we gain within them. The articles examine how secrets and silences are embedded in social structures: how they include and exclude people and map the operations of power, and how they are reproduced, transformed, and broken in the narratives people tell about
themselves.