Retorinen diskurssianalyysi suomalaisen identiteetin rakentumisesta saunan kontekstissa

Monet arjen käytännöt rakentavat ymmärrystä siitä, millaista on olla jonkin maan kansalainen ja millaista käyttäytymistä tähän liittyy. Yksi tällainen käytäntö Suomessa on saunominen. Sauna on tiivis osa suomalaista elämäntapaa ja monille suomalaisille viikoittain toistuva arkinen rituaali. Sauna on myös yksi keskeisistä kansallisista symboleista Suomessa. Tässä tutkielmassa tarkoitukseni on ensinnäkin selvittää, miten suomalaista identiteettiä rakennetaan kielellisesti, kun perustellaan, miten sauna liittyy Suomeen (l. kansallinen taso). Tutkielman toisena tehtävänä on analysoida, miten nämä merkitykset näyttäytyvät kertomuksissa, joissa kuvataan oman elämän saunakokemuksia (l. elämäkerrallinen taso). Tutkielman teoreettinen viitekehys muodostuu nationalismia ja kansallista identiteettiä koskevasta teoriasta ja aiemmasta tutkimuksesta. Tutkielman aineisto koostui 16–20-vuotiaiden saunaa käsittelevistä kirjoituksista, jotka on kerätty pääkaupunkiseudulla sijaitsevista kouluista vuosina 2002, 2008 ja 2014. Tutkimusmenetelmänä oli retorinen diskurssianalyysi, ja analyysissä pyrkimyksenä oli paikantaa nuorten kirjoituksista erilaisia kansallisen identiteetin rakentamisstrategioita. Analyysin perusteella nuoret käyttivät kuutta kansallisen identiteetin rakentamisstrategiaa, kun he perustelivat, miksi sauna on keskeinen kansallinen symboli. Näitä olivat jaetun kokemuksen strategia, ainutlaatuisuusstrategia, erottautumisstrategia, tunnettuusstrategia, jaettujen arvojen strategia ja etnisen ulkomuodon strategia. Näistä kolme esiintyi myös omasta elämästä kirjoitetuissa kertomuksissa. Nämä kolme strategiaa olivat jaetun kokemuksen strategia, ainutlaatuisuusstrategia ja erottautumisstrategia. Kansallisen tason perusteluissa jaetun kokemuksen strategiassa suomalaisesta identiteetistä rakentui yhtenäinen ja jatkuva nuorten korostaessa suomalaisten samankaltaisuutta sekä toisiin suomalaisiin nykyhetkessä että aiempiin sukupolviin menneisyydessä. Ainutlaatuisuusstrategiassa suomalainen identiteetti rakentui puolestaan ainutlaatuiseksi ja jatkuvaksi, kun nuoret viittasivat kansan yksilöllisyyttä esiintuoviin asioihin ja korostivat näiden erityistä historiallista yhteyttä Suomeen. Erottautumisstrategiassa nuoret tuottivat vertailuasetelman, jossa suomalainen identiteetti rakentui paremmaksi kuin vertailun kohteena oleva kansa. Tunnettuusstrategiassa suomalainen identiteetti sai merkityksensä muilta kansoilta saadun tunnustuksen kautta. Jaettujen arvojen strategiassa keskeistä oli suomalaisten samankaltaisuuden korostaminen perhearvojen suhteen, kun taas etnisen ulkomuodon strategiassa suomalainen identiteetti rakentui muista eroavasta tunnistettavasta ulkomuodosta. Elämäkerrallisella tasolla kertomukset vahvistivat kansallisen tason perusteluissa esitettyjä väitteitä. Jaetun kokemuksen strategiassa nuoret tuottivat yhtenäisyyttä sekä omaan lähipiiriinsä että suomalaisiin kansana, kun taas ainutlaatuisuusstrategiassa nuoret korostivat saunamuistojensa olevan vain suomalaisille ainutlaatuisia ja mahdollisia. Erottautumisstrategiassa nuoret vertasivat itsensä ja suomalaisten saunakäyttäytymistä muihin kansoihin korostaen suomalaisten paremmuutta. Kertomuksissa nuoret sitoivat koko kansaa koskevat väitteensä osaksi omalle elämälleen antamia merkityksiä. Näin nuoret rakensivat kertomuksissaan omaa identiteettiään suomalaisena. Tulokset osoittavat, että nuoret käyttivät osin samoja kansallisen identiteetin rakentamisstrategioita kansallisen tason perusteluissa ja oman elämän kertomuksissa. Näin nuoret rakensivat yhteyden kansallisen ja elämäkerrallisen tason välille ja merkityksellistivät omaa elämäänsä kansallisesti jaettujen merkitysten kautta. Tulos tarjoaa kansallisen identiteetin tutkimiseen uudenlaisen näkökulman, jota voidaan hyödyntää etenkin tutkittaessa kansallisten identiteettien rakentumista erilaisten symbolien ja rituaalien yhteydessä.Many routine practices in everyday life construct our understanding of what it means to have a national identity and belong to a nation. In Finland one such practice is sauna bathing, which is an important part of the everyday life in Finland. For many Finns taking a sauna is a weekly ritual. Sauna is also one of the key national symbols of Finland. This thesis had two objectives. The first was to examine how national identity was constructed in essays in which adolescents described why sauna is a national symbol of Finland (national level). The second objective was to study how these national meanings were expressed in the adolescents’ narratives based on their personal experiences on sauna (biographic level). The theoretical framework used in this thesis draws from previous theories and studies of nationalism and national identity. The data consisted of essays written by 16–20-year-old Finnish upper secondary school students in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The data were analyzed using rhetorical discourse analysis to identify strategies constructing national identity. At the national level, the analysis showed six national identity strategies: shared experience, uniqueness, positive comparison, recognition, shared values and ethnic appearance. Three of these strategies also appeared in the narratives based on the students’ personal experiences on sauna, including shared experience, uniqueness and positive comparison. At the national level, the shared experience strategy consisted of constructed national identity based on national sameness and continuity in the context of sauna. In the uniqueness strategy, adolescents distinguished Finnish identity from other national identities by emphasizing the unique and ancient connection between sauna and Finland. As for the positive comparison strategy, the adolescents evaluated Finnish identity positively compared to other national identities. In the recognition strategy, national identity was constructed around the acknowledgment Finns get from other nations in the context of sauna. The shared values strategy consisted of emphasizing national sameness in the context of shared family values. In the ethnic appearance strategy, national identity was constructed around a distinct Finnish look. At the biographic level based on the narratives, the shared experience strategy consisted of the adolescents’ sameness with their family and the Finnish people in general. The adolescents described their experiences of sauna as unique to Finland and Finnish people in the uniqueness strategy. In the positive comparison strategy, the adolescents constructed their national identity around their experiences of foreigners not being as tough as Finns when taking a sauna. In regard to these strategies, the narratives constructed Finnish identity equally compared with the national level. By using the same national meanings in the narratives, the adolescents emphasized their belonging to the Finnish people and constructed their own national identity. To conclude, the results indicated that three of the national identity strategies were used both at the national and biographic level in the context of sauna. This gives new understanding of how people construct their own life stories and narratives in relation to national meanings, thus binding them together. The results offer a new perspective on studying the ways national identities are constructed, especially in the context of national symbols and rituals

Vapaus, velvollisuus ja vastavuoroisuus – käsityksiä kansalaisen suhteesta valtioon ja maanpuolustukseen (vertaisarvioitu)

Liberty, Duty and Reciprocity – Perceptions on Relations between Citizens, the State and National Defence. This article examines how citizenship is constructed in relation to citizens’ civic rights and duties in society and in national defence. The data consist of written open-end replies to a survey conducted in cooperation with The Finnish Reserve Officers’ Federation. The respondents are members of the organization. We analysed the data using discourse analysis identifying discourses that construct citizenship associated with the relationship between citizens, state and national defence. The analysis gave three discourses. First, citizenship was constructed highlighting a reciprocal relationship between the state and the citizens. Second, citizenship was constructed around citizens’ active fulfilment of their duties. Third, citizenship was constructed emphasizing citizens’ individual liberty in a neoliberalist way. These discourses differed on two dimensions: responsibility between the state and citizens and the range of this responsibility. In all three discourses citizenship was constructed as a form of active citizenship. Participation in work and in national defence emerged as the most important manifestations of active citizenship in all discourses

Adolescents and the dark side of social media—Law enforcement perspectives

Adolescents are the most active user group of social media sites. Due to being in a phase of both biological and psychological development, they may be particularly vulnerable to the darker side of social media, such as its illegal aspects or coordinated information influencing. With this research, we aimed to identify threats Finnish adolescents face on social media from a law-enforcement perspective. To reach this goal, we performed semi-structured interviews with police officers from Finnish preventive measures police units. To identify and structure threats that adolescents face, we employed a twofold analysis. In the first part, we conducted inductive content analysis, which revealed three primary threats: polarization, disinformation, and social media as a pathway to illegal activities. In the second part, we employed the Honeycomb-model of social media functionality as a classificatory device for structuring these threats. Our findings provide explorative insights into the threats social media might present to adolescents from the point of view of the Finnish law-enforcement system

Who is expected to make contact? Interpretative repertoires related to an intergroup encounter between Finnish majority mothers and immigrant mothers

Although the benefits of contact for positive intergroup relations are widely acknowledged, less is known about how group members construct the agency and responsibility of contact participants in intergroup encounters. Using critical discursive psychology, we analysed the interpretative repertoires that Finnish majority mothers (N = 13) and mothers with an immigrant background (N = 10) used when talking about a hypothetical intergroup encounter among Finnish and immigrant mothers in a ‘family café’ (a group for mothers and children). Our analysis identified five interpretative repertoires that differed in terms of the levels of categorization used (individual, group, motherhood) and how agency and responsibility for initiating contact were discursively attributed to the parties in the intergroup encounter. Overall, constructing someone as agentic did not automatically result in their being portrayed as more responsible for making contact. Respondents described contact to occur with only two repertoires, in which both agency and responsibility for initiating contact were discursively attributed to the same party. This highlights the need to consider both agency and sense of responsibility as possible factors preceding intergroup contact.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Keeping Apart on the Playground : Construction of Informal Segregation on Public Playgrounds in Multiethnic Neighborhoods

Informal segregation has been widely studied in various public settings but not on public playgrounds. Drawing on an 11-month ethnography among mothers of young children, we examine how informal segregation is (re)produced on public playgrounds in two ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Finland. Our findings reveal different normative practices. First, normative rhythms and parenting practices structure playground activities by limiting opportunities for contact between ethnic minority and majority groups and producing exclusive spaces. Second, group norms and the seeking of ethnic/racial ingroup members together regulate mothers’ interaction with outgroup mothers on playgrounds; mothers are inclined toward their ingroup while outgroup mothers are often ignored, resulting in only illusory contact. Based on our analysis, we argue that by better understanding the normative roots of segregation, more comprehensive and effective interventions can be designed to facilitate positive contact in this population.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Co-Designing Urban Carbon Sink Parks: Case Carbon Lane in Helsinki

In order to achieve the goals of carbon (C) neutrality within next 20 year, municipalities worldwide need to increasingly apply negative emission technologies. We focus on the main principles of urban demonstration areas using biochars for C sequestration and explore the lessons learned from a co-creation process of one such park, Hyvantoivonpuisto in Helsinki, Finland. Demonstration sites of urban C sinks in public parks must be safe, visible and scientifically sound for reliable and cost-effective verification of carbon sequestration. We find that different interests can be arbitrated and that synergy that emerges from co-creation of urban C sink parks between stakeholders (scientists, city officials, companies, and citizens) can result in demo areas with maximized potential for impact, dissemination and consideration of principles of scientific experimentation.Peer reviewe

Lägesbild av regional säkerhet (ATT) – en modell för uppföljning, bedömning och framsyn som stöder regional säkerhetsplanering och beredskap

ATT-modellen som utvecklats för uppföljning av förändring i säkerhetsmiljön (Lägesbild av regional säkerhet) stöder den regionala säkerhetsplaneringen samt beredskapen för störningar och exceptionella situationer. Modellen vägleder en organisering av uppföljningen av säkerheten som ett samarbete mellan flera myndigheter och för att välja säkerhetsindikatorer som lämpar sig för området. Införandet av ATT-modellen får stöd av anvisningar för metoder med vilka man kan identifiera de grundläggande orsakerna till utmaningar i säkerhet och fenomen i anknytning till dessa samt ta i bruk framsynsmetoder som lämpar sig för regional säkerhetsplanering. ATT-modellen är en del av informationsstyrd säkerhetsplanering och beredskap. I kärnan av verksamhetsmodellen finns en framsynsgrupp med många aktörer, vars uppgift är att analysera information från området som beskriver säkerheten och att göra bedömningar av hur situationen utvecklas. Informationen som gruppen får grundas till stor del på verksamheten i framsynsnätverket som följer säkerhetsindikatorerna, statistiken och tyst kunskap som rör området enligt anvisningar från framsynsgruppen. Säkerhetsforumet tolkar den analyserade informationen från framsynsgruppen och lägger fram förslag antingen till en enskild ledningsgrupp eller exempelvis till ledningsgrupper i olika organisationer angående åtgärder som förbättrar säkerhetssituationen. I ATT-modellen granskas regional säkerhet med hjälp av fyra teman som riskerar och/eller försvagar säkerheten: naturfenomen och miljö, funktionen i tekniska system, mänskliga förhållanden samt avsiktlig skadegörelse och brottslighet. Det tvärsektoriella valet av teman stöder samarbete mellan många aktörer. Projektet gav indikatorer för olika teman som områdena kan ta i bruk för att bedöma sin säkerhetssituation. En övergripande utvärdering av säkerhetsmiljön förutsätter också att indikatorerna beskriver både upplevd (subjektiv) känsla av säkerhet och säkerhet som är oberoende av personen som tolkar den (objektiv). ATT-modellen utvecklades i VN-TEAS MATTI-projekt i samarbete med olika myndigheter och aktörer. Stöd och hjälp gavs av närmare 100 personer från 43 olika organisationer, däribland 16 kommuner. EKTURVA som fungerar i Södra Karelens område var en betydelsefull hjälp tack vare kommentarer och hjälp vid organisering av två arbetsgrupper. Projektet förverkligades av Teknologiska forskningscentralen VTT, Polisyrkeshögskolan, Räddningsbranschens Centralorganisation i Finland och Försvarshögskolan.Den här publikation är en del i genomförandet av statsrådets utrednings- och forskningsplan. (tietokayttoon.fi) De som producerar informationen ansvarar för innehållet i publikationen. Textinnehållet återspeglar inte nödvändigtvis statsrådets ståndpunkt

Keratoendotheliitis Fugax Hereditaria : A Novel Cryopyrin-Associated Periodic Syndrome Caused by a Mutation in the Nucleotide-Binding Domain, Leucine-Rich Repeat Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 (NLRP3) Gene

PURPOSE: To describe the phenotype and the genetic defect in keratoendotheliitis fugax hereditaria, an autosomal dominant keratitis that periodically affects the corneal endothelium and stroma, leading in some patients to opacities and decreased visual acuity. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, hospital-based study. METHODS: PATIENT POPULATION: Thirty affected and 7 unaffected subjects from 7 families, and 4 sporadic patients from Finland. OBSERVATION PROCEDURES: Ophthalmic examination and photography, corneal topography, specular microscopy, and optical coherence tomography in 34 patients, whole exome sequencing in 10 patients, and Sanger sequencing in 34 patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical phenotype, disease causing genetic variants. RESULTS: Unilateral attacks of keratoendotheliitis typically occurred 1-6 times a year (median, 2.5), starting at a median age of 11 years (range, 5-28 years), and lasted for 1-2 days. The attacks were characterized by cornea pseudoguttata and haze in the posterior corneal stroma, sometimes with a mild anterior chamber reaction, and got milder and less frequent in middle age. Seventeen (50%) patients had bilateral stroma! opacities. The disease was inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. A likely pathogenic variant c.61G > C in the NLRP3 gene, encoding cryopyrin, was detected in all 34 tested patients and segregated with the disease. This variant is present in both Finnish and non-Finnish European populations at a frequency of about 0.02% and 0.01%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Keratoendotheliitis fugax hereditaria is an autoinflammatory cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome caused by a missense mutation c.61G > C in exon 1 of NLRP3 in Finnish patients. It is additionally expected to occur in other populations of European descent. ((c) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.Peer reviewe

Discovery and development of ODM-204: A Novel nonsteroidal compound for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer by blocking the androgen receptor and inhibiting CYP17A1

We report the discovery of a novel nonsteroidal dual-action compound, ODM-204, that holds promise for treating patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), an advanced form of prostate cancer characterised by high androgen receptor (AR) expression and persistent activation of the AR signaling axis by residual tissue androgens. For ODM-204, has a dual mechanism of action. The compound is anticipated to efficiently dampen androgenic stimuli in the body by inhibiting CYP17A1, the prerequisite enzyme for the formation of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and testosterone (T), and by blocking AR with high affinity and specificity. In our study, ODM-204 inhibited the proliferation of androgen-dependent VCaP and LNCaP cells in vitro and reduced significantly tumour growth in a murine VCaP xenograft model in vivo. Intriguingly, after a single oral dose of 10-30 mg/kg, ODM-204 dose-dependently inhibited adrenal and testicular steroid production in sexually mature male cynomolgus monkeys. Similar results were obtained in human chorionic gonadotropin-treated male rats. In rats, leuprolide acetate-mediated (LHRH agonist) suppression of the circulating testosterone levels and decrease in weights of androgen-sensitive organs was significantly and dose-dependently potentiated by the co-administration of ODM-204. ODM-204 was well tolerated in both rodents and primates. Based on our data, ODM-204 could provide an effective therapeutic option for men with CRPC.</p