Personal Experiences by Lena Tambs

*** Paper presented at the European Association for Urban History 13th International Conference, Helsinki, Finland, August 24-27, 2016. *** Before World War II the medieval fortress town of Vyborg (then Viipuri) situated on the Gulf of Finland was Finland's second city and the capital of Finnish Karelia. It is now a Russian town in the Leningrad Oblast 40km from the Finnish border. The town has a twofold identity as a current lived Russian place and as a past Finnish place, a 'ghost town' of memory. This paper examines how the town is represented and remembered in Finland today as a 'lost' and 'perfect' past Finnish place. This paper examines current tabloid media and online representations of Vyborg in Finland. Using Paasi's theory of spatial socialization the constructed collective memory of Vyborg in Finland is placed into the wider contexts of the trans-border Karelia region and ideas about the 'correct' or 'natural' eastern border of the Finnish nation state. This paper traces the formation and circulation of an homogenised, simplistic collective memory of Vyborg in Finland shaped by the idealised memories of Finnish Vyborger evacuees. Using ideas of collective trauma and how this can be transmitted within and between generations the paper ponders how and why Vyborg remains such an importance place of memory in Finland and whether it will remain so in the minds of the next generation.

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

In this article, the authors present new results and discuss Finnish living historical memory in the 2010s. The data was collected as part of an international online survey in 2018–2019. The authors analyze the responses of 303 Finns who were asked to list three of the most influential events in Finnish history that had occurred in their lifetime or in the lifetime of someone they knew or had known. Cluster analysis is used to gain insight into the heterogeneous set of events that the respondents recalled. Finnish membership of the European Union (1995), recent global upheavals (e.g., 9/11), and historically more distant wars (1939–1944) characterize living historical memory. Five clusters—internationalizing nation, threatened nation, surviving nation, in favor of the European Union, and against the European Union—were discovered. Standpoints with regard to the European Union divide the respondent group. Political party preference and the level of identification with the world as a ...

New Directions May Emerge, 2023

Helsinki Biennial 2023 publication with an introduction by curator Joasia Krysa and texts by Curatorial Intelligences/co-curators: Museum of Impossible Forms (Giovanna Esposito Yussif and Ali Akbar Mehta), TBA21– Academy (Markus Reymann), Critical Environmental Data (Jussi Parikka, Paolo Patelli, May E Wong), ViCCA@Aalto ARTS (Patrizia Constantin and Bassam El Baroni), Digital Visual Studies, University of Zurich (Dario Negueruela del Castillo, Valentine Bernasconi, José Ballesteros Zapata, Iacopo Neri, Ludovica Schaerf, Jason Armitage, Tristan Weddigen). Artist contributions: Matti Aikio, Ahmed Al Nawas & Minna Henriksson, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Golden Snail Opera (Anna Tsing, Yen-ling Tsai, Isabelle Caronelle, & Joelle Chevrier), Asunci.n Molinos Gordo, Alma Heikkil., INTERPRT, Keiken, Sonya Lindfors, Tuula N.rhinen, Lotta Petronella with Sami Tallberg & Lau Nau, PHOSfate (Mohamed Sleiman Labat & Pekka Niskanen), Diana Policarpo, Sepideh Rahaa, Bita Razavi, RED FOREST, Remedies (Sasha Huber & Petri Saarikko), Tabita Rezaire, Yehwan Song, Jenna Sutela, Emilija Škarnulytė, Suzanne Treister, Adrian Villar Rojas, and Zheng Mahler. Visual contribution by creative collaboration of the design studio The Rodina and spatial consultancy Diogo Passarinho Studio. Colophon New Directions May Emerge Published by HAM Helsinki Art Museum and Helsinki Biennial 2023 Publications no. 154 ISSN 2489-3889 / ISBN 978-952-5939-44-6 Editors: Petronella Grönroos, Joasia Krysa Writers: The artists, The Curatorial Intelligences, Petronella Grönroos, Joasia Krysa, Johanna László. English Translations and Proofreading: Silja Kudel Visual Identity and Layout: The Rodina

Palgrave Studies in the History of Experience, 2021

will publish works on the histories of experience across historical time and global space. History of experience means, for the series, individual, social, and collective experiences as historically conditioned phenomena. 'Experience' refers here to a theoretically and methodologically conceptualized study of human experiences in the past, not to any study of 'authentic' or 'essentialist' experiences. More precisely, the series will offer a forum for the historical study of human experiencing, i.e. of the varying preconditions, factors, and possibilities shaping past experiences. Furthermore, the series will study the human institutions, communities, and the systems of belief, knowledge, and meaning as based on accumulated (and often conflicting) experiences. The aim of the series is to deepen the methodology and conceptualization of the history of lived experiences, going beyond essentialism. As the series editors see it, the history of experience can provide a bridge between structures, ideology, and individual agency, which has been a difficult gap to close for historians and sociologists. The approach opens doors to see, study, and explain historical experiences as a social fact, which again offers new insights on society. Subjective experiences are seen as objectified into knowledge regimes, social order and divisions, institutions, and other structures, which, in turn, shape the experiences. The principle idea is to present a new approach, the history of experiences, as a way to establish the necessary connection between big and small history.

Biography, 2016

Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 2021

In the conclusions of the overall report we summarize the results of our research project on the Finland 100 anniversary year and present our reflections on the legacy of the centenary. Our objective has been to produce a picture of the impacts of the centenary on the Finnish society and its different actor groups. The Finland 100 anniversary year will leave as an example for future anniversary years an operating model based on broad participation which in its very openness is depictive of the functioning of Finnish society in 2017. The centenary did enable a wide range of actions, but on the other hand it did not really highlight any special theme in relation to the Finnish society. The centenary did not endeavor to reshape the great national stories or strongly bring the nation together. The program and tone of the anniversary year support the building of a national Finnish identity from a diversity of ingredients in the future as well. The anniversary year showed that the celebrations of a national centenary can also deal with smaller, more mundane and more cheerful aspects of Finnishness. The Finland 100 anniversary year presents itself first and foremost as an enabling and diverse "feel-good" celebration. In view of inclusion, the centenary comes across as an inviting but temporary phenomenon. The successful and cheerful anniversary year showed that Finns still can, if need be, get along with each other quite well or at least give each other space.

2012

UA: Ukraine Analytica , 2018

The history of the 21st century, both in Europe and globally, shows that the existent international system is getting into a deeper crisis. On the one hand, we see the erosion of the European system of cooperative security based on the CSCE Helsinki principles – non-legally binding political commitments of the states to respect each other’s sovereignty, adhere to human rights and international cooperation. On the other hand, even “hard” obligations under international law can be breached by states’ unilateral decisions. Does the spirit of Helsinki have a chance to survive under such circumstances? Is the simple political will of a group of states enough to face current challenges to the international order? Or should we frankly recognize that the principles of international law do not work, and try to elaborate a new system of rules for the modern world?

Creating the City. Identity, Memory and Participation. Conference proceedings. Malmö: University of Malmö. pp. 194 – 215. , 2019

Finland lost the now Russian city of Vyborg twice, once in 1940 and again in 1944. Before World War II the medieval fortress situated on the Gulf of Finland was Finland’s second city and the capital of Finnish Karelia. It is now a Russian town in the Leningrad Oblast, 40km from the Finnish border. Vyborg is remembered in Finland as a golden and perfect 1930s city and its loss is remembered as unjust and traumatic. This paper examines how, why, and for whom these collective memories are formed and circulated. What purposes does the keeping alive of nostalgic memories of a lost Finnish city serve? Whose memories and stories are cherished and passed on as postmemories and whose memories and stories are forgotten and silenced? Paasi’s theory of spatial socialization is used to place the answers to these questions into the wider contexts of the trans-border Karelia region and ideas about the ‘correct’ or ‘natural’ eastern border of the Finnish nation-state. I examine tabloid media and online representations of Vyborg to highlight which buildings, aspects of city life, and historical periods have formed the dominant collective memory of Vyborg in Finland. Based on these I will argue that a narrow Finnish popular history of the city prevails in Finland with any negative aspects of the city’s Finnish era silenced or forgotten. Presenting the first results of new research with high school students I explore whether the next generation of Finns are likely to take on the current collective memory of Vyborg as postmemories or whether the significance of this lost city is likely to change within Finland.

2023

This year, the Connected Past will be held in Helsinki with the theme: Digital Methods for Studying Networks and Complexity in the Humanities. The second circular is out now!