Call for Support: Folklore Studies at Helsinki

Dear colleagues,

The University of Helsinki established the academic chair of Folklore Studies in 1898, making it the oldest in the world. Since the beginning of 2010, it is situated administratively within the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, which is one of the four large departments in the Faculty of Arts.

The Department and the Faculty are presently considering measures that would, in the worst-case scenario, decrease the number of personnel in Folklore Studies by 50 per cent, from four to two. There is also a possibility that one of the two professor positions is changed to a lower position. We have already lost one staff position, and are presently losing another one. The considered measures, if implemented in full, would dramatically affect the discipline?s academic status as well as our ability to provide adequate teaching to our students, who number approximately 100 and range from undergraduates to doctoral students. Implementation of the considered measures would also threaten our ability to continue our more than 100 years long history in international cooperation and joint research projects.

In 2005, when Folklore Studies was administratively situated in the Institute for Cultural Research, an international Research Assessment Exercise stated in its Evaluation Report that ?Folklore is the strongest discipline and raises the grade for the Institute as a whole.? The evaluation report also stated that ?Thanks to its many-sided research activities and publications, the Department of Folklore Studies maintains its position as one of the leading centres of folkloristics in the world. Its visibility is remarkable not only among other Nordic and North-European centres of research, but also within the context of the European Union and world folkloristics.?

It appears to us now that the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, and the Faculty of Arts, are not fully aware of our high standards and esteemed international status. Nor do they seem to realize how much the maintaining of this status also benefits the University, the Faculty of Arts, and the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies. They need to be told.

In order to help us in our quest for survival, please submit, immediately, letters of support by email to the following persons, addressing them jointly and adding the address lotte.tarkka@helsinki.fi to the Cc field:

Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Anna Mauranen

Head of the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, Professor Hannes Saarinen

Thank you for kind support.

Anna-Leena Siikala
Academician, Professor Emerita

Satu Apo
Professor

Lotte Tarkka
Professor

Pertti Anttonen
Adjunct Professor