Researcher Jyrki Hakapää, FT.

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Contact Information Office: Porthania, room 391 Department of History PL 4 (Historian laitos) 00014 Helsingin yliopisto Telephone: +358-9-191 24327 E-mail: jyrki.hakapaa(at)helsinki.fi

I work as a researcher in the project ‘The Common People’, Writing, and the Process of Literary Attainment in Nineteenth-Century Finland funded by the Academy of Finland at the Department of History. I study the common people’s writing and publishing methods and possibilities in the 19th century Finland. My dissertation on the history of book markets Books’ Paths to Readers. How Book Stores Became the Norm for Book Distribution in Finland 1740–1860 (published in Finnish) was accepted in Spring 2008.

Education

My studies began at Helsinki in 1993. In addition to my studies there I spent the academic year 1996–1997 at the Université de la Sorbonne (Paris IV) as an Erasmus exchange student. In 1999 I graduated at the University of Helsinki.

I began my doctoral studies as a young researcher in the project Baltic Sea Area Studies: Northern Dimension of Europe (BaltSeaNet), working 2000–2002 at the Nordeuropa-Institut at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In 2003–2006 I continued again at the University of Helsinki as a researcher of the Finnish Graduate School of History.
During my doctoral studies I have concentrated on the Northern Europe and how the individuals, communities and states there have connected to each other or co-operated. As a member in the BaltSeaNet -project I have also taken part in examining the contemporary Baltic Sea Region, especially the various efforts to create international co-operation in this region – but also the obstacles on their way.

Doctoral Thesis Books’ Paths to Readers

My dissertation examines the first steps of modern book stores in the early nineteenth century Finland. I seek to reveal the possibilities and hindrances of their networks, which include both strong cultural and economic aspects: how do book distribution networks function, how do they create, deliver and help to adopt cultural influences.

The summary is available in English.

‘The Common People’ and the Process of Literary Attainment

This project seeks to understand how the great majority of Finnish people took hold of the literary attainment and used it to react to the modernisation and the national reshaping of their traditional society. An important uniting factor of the researchers in the project stems from the so called from below -approach that links social and book history as well as literary and cultural studies and socio-historical linguistics represented in the network's project. The history of the linguistic situation, nation building, print culture and literary attainment proper are seen from the point of view of the lower strata of the society.

The project’s homepage.

Other Projects

Hibolire – The Nordic-Baltic-Russian Network on the History of Books, Libraries and Reading, see the network’s homepage.

Henrik database – The database contains information about books and their owners in Finnish towns up to and including 1809. This information has been retrieved from estate inventory deeds and auction protocols. See database.

Main Publications

Kirjan tie lukijalle. Kirjakauppojen vakiintuminen Suomessa 1740–1860. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran Toimituksia 1166. SKS, Helsinki, 2008 (Transl: Books’ Paths to Readers. How Book Stores Became the Norm for Book Distribution in Finland 1740–1860).
”Les réseaux de distribution des imprimés en Finlande pendant la première moitié du XIXe siècle”, teoksessa Langue et identité. Colloque du Département d’Études Nordiques. Caen: Département d’Études Nordiques, Université de Caen, 2008.

”Book History’s Recent Methodological Trend: National and International Outlines”, Knygotyra – Book Science, vol. 44, 2005, 257–266.

”Kirjojen välittäminen lukijoille 1800-luvun alun Suomessa”, in Yhteistä kieltä tekemässä. Näkökulmia suomen kirjakielen kehitykseen 1800-luvulla (Eds. Katja Huumo, Lea Laitinen and Outi Paloposki). SKS, Helsinki, 2004, 18–40.(”Distributing Books to Readers in the Early Nineteenth Century Finland” in Making a Common Language. Aspects on the Development of the Finnish Language during the Nineteenth Century).

“Internationalizing Book Distribution in the Early Nineteenth Century: The Origins of Finnish Bookstores”, Book History, vol. 5, 2002, 39–66.

“Kirjakauppojen ensiaskeleet”, in Suomen kulttuurihistoria 2. Tunne ja tieto (Eds. Rainer Knapas and Nils-Erik Forsdgård). Tammi: Helsinki, 2002, 435–436. (“The First Steps of the Booksellers”, in Cultural History of Finland 2).

“Vem bryr sig om censuren? Försäljningen av förbjudna böcker i Finland i början av 1800-talet”, Historisk tidskrift för Finland. Vol. 87, 2/2002, 173–193. (“Who Cares about Censorship? Selling Forbidden Books in Finland in the Early 19th Century”.

”Philippe Ariès ja kuolema”, Tieteessä tapahtuu. 3/2005, 43–49. (”Philippe Ariès and Death”).

“National, Regional and European Energy Policies: Finland’s Choice between Nuclear Power and Natural Gas”, in Energy Resources, Energy Policy and Democratid Development in the Baltic Sea Region. BaltSeaNet Working Papers vol. 12, Gdansk-Berlin, 2004, 19–43.

Together with Jouko Nurmiainen: Mauss, Marcel. Lahja. Vaihdannan muodot ja periaatteet arkaaisissa yhteiskunnissa. Tutkijaliitto: Helsinki, 1999. A translation of Mauss. “Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l'échange dans les sociétés archaïques”, l'Année sociologique, 1923.