Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies

Anna Kuismin

Ph.D, Docent in Comparative and Finnish Literature, University of Helsinki, Kone Foundation Senior Fellow

Mailing address:
Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
P.O. Box 4
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland

Tel +358-(0)9-191 23421, +358 44 995 7050 (mobile)                       
Fax +358-(0)9-191 24509
Email anna.kuismin(AT)helsinki.fi

Selected publications
Curriculum vitae

Areas of Expertise:

• Finnish Literature
• 19th Century Cultural History
• Literacy Studies
• LIfe Writing

Research Title and Abstract:

From Plough to Pen: Vernacular Life Writing in 19th Century Finland

Like in most Nordic countries, the Lutheran church taught Finns to read, but knowing how to write was not considered necessary for everyone. However, there were farmers, crofters, rural craftsmen, church wardens and even beggars who used their self-taught skill for producing poems, diaries, memoirs and ethnographic narratives, among others.

What kind of an impact did writing have on the unschooled writer’s mental world, the society at large and the Finnish-language literary institutions created in the 19th century? These kinds of questions have been largely neglected, partly because it has been assumed that documents are rare and hard to find, but recent surveys have brought to light a rich corpus of “vernacular” texts, proving material for interdisciplinary studies from below.

Anna Kuismin’s research project contributes to the early, mostly uncharted territory of Finnish cultural and literary history, with the emphasis on vernacular life-writing. The corpus of texts consists of some 50 autobiographies, reminiscences and autobiographical fiction, written by 47 men and 3 women, most of them born between 1830 and 1870. The length and scope of these texts vary a lot. Apart the main corpus, diaries, letters, autobiographical fiction, ethnographic narratives and correspondence will be used as research material.

Vernacular writing will be set against the background of nation building, revivalist movements and modernisation. Data is drawn from various branches of history, folklore studies and the new literacy studies. Questions dealing with identity, models for representing one’s life and the meaning of the autobiographical act will be examined from the angles of literary scholarship and interdisciplinary life history research.

The project has its origin in Anna Kuismin’s interdisciplinary research network that brings together scholars united by an interest in the processes through which Finnish society became increasingly permeated by writing.

Research Projects:

• Reading and writing from below
  (see also Vernacular Literacies, an upcoming conference in Umeå University, Sweden)
• Exploring Social Boundaries From Below: Class, Ideology and Writing Practices in Nineteenth Century Finland

Research Network:

• Kansanihmiset ja kirjallistuminen 1800-luvun Suomessa