Nordia Geographical Publications vol 24: 1 (1995):Pekka Kauppila (lisensiaatintutkimus):Matkailukeskuksen elinkaari. Esimerkkinä Kuusamon Ruka. [The Tourist Area Life Cycle. A Case
Study of the Ruka Ski Resort in North-Eastern Finland]
Sisällysluettelo: Johdanto
Tutkimuksen käsitteitä
Matkailualueen kehittyminen
Arvioita matkailualueen
kehittymisestä
Tutkimusalue, -aineistot
ja -menetelmät
Rukan kehittyminen
Summary
English abstract:In recent research into tourism, the tourist area life cycle, introduced by Butler (1980), has met both interest and criticism. In this study, the concept of life cycle is for the first time empirically applied to Finnish tourist resorts. The Ruka ski resort is introduced as a case study. This study also deals with the cycle of entrepreneurship in the Ruka resort. Because no data on the annual numbers of tourists in the resort is available, alternative source materials and methods have been employed.The following life cycle stages were identified in Ruka: exploration (1880(1955), involvement (1955(1975), development (1975(1990), and consolidation (1990(). The present stage of Ruka is consolidation at a national level. Ruka has not yet become an international resort. The first forms of entrepreneurship to emerge were accommodation and catering services and ski lifts. Activities and other supportive services were established later. As other researchers have pointed out, the tourist area life cycle contains several weaknesses. The main weakness is that the model fails to pay enough attention to factors determined by the broader historical, political, and economic context of the target resort. Nordia Geographical Publications vol 24: 2 (1995):NGP Yearbook 1995Edited by Heikki Riikonen 119 p. ISBN: 951-42-4220-3 Contents: Heikki Riikonen:
Pauli Tapani Karjalainen:
Anssi Paasi:
Petri J. Raivo:
Heikki Riikonen: Local community, nation and political conflicts in Finland 1917(1939: a case-study of collective identity and local political conflicts Jani Vuolteenaho:
Arvo Naukkarinen, Jarmo
Rusanen & Alfred Colpaert:
Mari Vaattovaara:
Jarmo Rusanen, Alfred
Colpaert, Arvo Naukkarinen & Satu Räisänen:
Jyrki Autio:
Elli Heikkilä
& Sirpa Korhonen:
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 25: 1 (1996):
[Transformation of Religious Landscapes:
The Finnish Orthodox Church]
Sisällysluettelo Esipuhe Johdanto Uskonnollisten maisemien
ikonografisen tutkimuksen lähtökohtia
Maisema ikonografia
ja sen ikonologinen synteesi
Tutkimuksen teemat
ja niissä käytetty aineisto
Suomen ortodoksinen
kirkkokunta ennen toista maailmansotaa
Suomen ortodoksinen
kulttuuriympäristö ensimmäisessä tasavallassa
Sietämisen rajat:
ortodoksisuus kansallisessa maisemassa 1917-1944
Ortodoksisuus sodanjälkeisessä
kulttuurimaisessa
Näkyväksi
tuleminen: jälleenrakennettu ortodoksisuus
Luostareiden maisemalliset
merkitykset pyhiinvaeltajien kokemina
Yhteenveto: Ortodoksinen kirkko suomalaisessa kulttuurimaisemassa Summary Viitteet Kirjallisuus Liitteet English abstract: The ideas of textuality and the interpretative aspect of research have often been part of critical studies of cultural landscapes within geography, and are often referred to with metaphors such as landscape as a text or iconography of landscape. Both of these metaphors emphasise the coincident existence of cultures in their social contexts and the representation of their ideological and symbolic values as a part of landscape reading and interpretation. This means that the traditional concept of the cultural landscape as an areal container of visible cultural elements is exchanged for the concept of a landscape as an intersubjective mental construction consisting of meanings and symbols which express the individual, communal and social values of a particular culture. This means that landscape is understood as a way of seeing ¾ a communicative device in which the reproduction of meanings, values and social order is mediated. The theme of this research is the iconographic landscape of the Finnish Orthodox Church. Before the Second World War the heartland of this church lay in the country parishes of eastern Finland, where the characteristic churches, small wooden chapels, old cemeteries and mystical monasteries were seen as a part of both physical and the mental "borderland" landscape. The war changed the situation permanently. The territories that Finland was forced to cede included this main heartland of Orthodox culture. Almost 90% of the churches and chapels were destroyed during the war and over the two thirds of the Orthodox people had to leave their home areas. Evacuation to the remaining parts of Finland meant both the dissolution of the existing parishes and the extension of the Church administration over a wider area and also the beginning of spiritual work under new circumstances. It marked the end of the previous religious territorial system and the beginning of a new one. After the war the church had to rebuild the majority of its physical artefacts and administrative systems, and, above all inspire a new sense of continuity, identity and sanctity. This mental and physical transformation and its representation in the landscape in the form of artefacts, meanings and images are the central topics of the present research, which studies how these intersubjective symbols and meanings have been encoded and decoded in the areas, places and landscapes of the Orthodox parishes and monasteries. The examples of this variation in ways of seeing and reading the religious landscape are taken from landscape discourses dealing with the anti-Russian attitudes of pre-war Finland (1917(1939), the representation and reproduction of the traditional orthodox landscape in post-war Finland (1945(1994) and pilgrims' impressions of the landscapes around the Finnish Orthodox monasteries. Keywords: iconography of landscape, cultural geography, religious milieu,
pilgrimage, Orthodox Church
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 25: 2 (1996):
Contents: Angela Manderscheid,
Pekka Kauppila & Arvo Naukkarinen:
Gang Wang, Jarmo Rusanen,
Mari-Anna Berg, Antti Uutela, Alfred Colpaert, Toivo Muilu & Arvo Naukkarinen:
Heikki Jussila:
P. T. Karjalainen:
Raine Mäntysalo:
Topi Antti Äikäs:
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 26: 1 (1997):
Contents: Jani Vuolteenaho &
Topi Antti Äikäs:
Matti Häkkilä:
Jarkko Kauppinen, Elli
Rissanen, Jarmo Rusanen, Arvo Naukkarinen, Toivo Muilu & Alfred Colpaert:
Elli Rissanen:
Jarkko Saarinen:
Angela Manderscheid,
Pekka Kauppila & Arvo Naukkarinen:
Raine Mäntysalo:
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 27: 1 (1998):
Contents: Jarkko Kauppinen, Elli
Heikkilä, Jarmo Rusanen, Arvo Naukkarinen, Toivo Muilu & Alfred
Colpaert:
Leo Koutaniemi:
Ari Lehtinen &
Teijo Rytteri:
Jacobo García
Álvares:
Petri J. Raivo:
Juha Ridanpää:
Pauli Tapani Karjalainen:
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 28: 1 (1999):
[Changing regional and urban structures - An interpretation
of coordinate-based data]
Sisällysluettelo: Esipuhe 1. Johdanto 2.
Alue- ja yhdyskuntarakenteen kehityksen teoreettinen tausta
3. Paikkatietojen
metodinen tarkastelu: karttatulkinnan ja aluerajausten ongelmakenttä
4. Aluerakenteelliset
muutokset vuodesta 1970 vuoteen 1992
5. Yhdyskuntarakenteen
kehitys
6. Pohdintaa
alue- ja yhdyskuntarakenteen kehityksestä
Summary Kirjallisuus English abstract: The purpose of this work was to explore how different kinds of urban areas have changed during recent decades. What kinds of changes have taken place at different levels in the urban hierarchy, and what has happened in the urban areas which have declined or grown? Has there been any change in the numbers of growing urban areas, how are they located, and what kinds of urban areas have grown or declined? Another purpose was to obtain new information on the development of urban structure in different urban areas. The work was concentrated on functional urban areas, analyzing them at a more detailed level. Particularly noticeable changes have taken place in the location of housing and jobs. In regional structure, the polarization of regional development is continuing and the group of growing urban areas has diminished in size. Developmental trends in urban areas have been clear for a long time: strong, versatile areas and university towns have grown and industrial towns have declined, but during the 1990's the growing urban areas have diminished in number and fewer areas have been able to grow in terms of population. Large rural peripheral areas and their small centres have also declined during recent decades, and the trend in rural areas seems to be continuing along similar lines. In addition, many regional centres which were still growing fast in the early 1980's have recently shown a declining trend as measured by their active population. The urban structure has developed along roughly similar lines in many urban areas in Finland during the last 20 years. Tendencies for a decline in population in the town centre, growth of the suburban zone and disintegration of the urban structure are visible in many towns and cities. The growth of the functional urban area is a predominant feature in recent development, but there are also differences, which are due to factors such as planning policies, natural conditions, competition from adjacent municipalities and differences in the demand for dwellings and in land ownership.The pronounced sub- and dis-urbanisation of the 1980's has been followed by a steady state in the structure of urban areas, because Finland's economic situation declined rapidly in the early 1990's. Similarly, because of the decline in housing the growth of the urban fringe has slowed down. Models of short-distance migration suggest that the growth of the city centres has strengthened . Since the topic is a very broad one and the material is derived from many urban areas, the amount of data involved is considerable and calls for an extensive data management capacity. Handling and analysis of this large body of georeferenced data is possible only by GIS. The GIS system and the extensive set of grid square data covering about twenty years were provided by Statistics Fysis of cartographic data were also encountered. There are many problems attached to the use of GIS and the production of maps by this method, and the user should be aware of these. It is possible to use maps to create images in the mind, and it is easy to generate maps with GIS, there is always a risk of manipulating them, consciously or unconsciously. Thus anyone who uses GIS to produce and study maps must be aware of the obligations that the method places upon the researcher in terms of objectivity. Keywords: regional structure, urban structure, regional development,
GIS, coordinate-based data
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 28: 2 (1999):
Contents: Jani Vuolteenaho &
Topi Antti Äikäs:
Mervi Tervo:
Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto:
Paula A. Pennanen:
Jani Vuolteenaho:
Topi Antti Äikäs:
Tommi Inkinen:
Mait Rei:
Harri Antikainen:
Annett Bartsch &
Jouko Kumpula & Alfred Colpaert:
Pauli Tapani Karjalainen:
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 29: 1 (2000):
[Hydrogeological features of lake Oulujärvi
and areal patterns of water quality]
Sisällysluettelo: Esipuhe 1. Johdanto 2. Tutkimuksen taustaa. tutkimusalue ja tutkimuksen tarkoitus 3. Tutkimusaineisto ja -menetelmät 4. Tutkimusalueen luonto
veden laadun näkökulmasta
5. Tutkimusalueen ihmistoiminta
veden laadun näkökulmasta
6.Oulujärven veden
ominaisuudet ja niiden alueellisuus
7. Veden laadun muuttujien
korrelaatiot ja regressio
8. Veden laadun alueellisuus
ja luokitus
9. Veden laatuun vaikuttavat
tekijät
10.Oulujärven veden laadun alueellisen vuorovaikutuksen malli 11. Johtopäätökset
Kirjallisuus
English abstract: Lake Oulujärvi, with a surface area of 950 km2, is the central water body of the Oulujoki river system. It has received loading from municipal and industrial effluent throughout the last century and its water level has been regulated for hydroelectric purposes since 1951. The research described here is concentrated on temporal and areal variations in its water quality in the years 1970-1991 and attempts to explain the reasons for these variations. To these ends a survey was carried out of the physical geography of the drainage basins of the rivers flowing into the lake, human activity in these areas and the geomorphology and hydrogeography of the regulated Lake Oulujärvi as far as factors affecting water quality are concerned. The material on the Oulujärvi basin and the drainage basins of the rivers flowing into it was compiled from previous research and from specialised maps, while the data on areal patterns in water quality were obtained from analyses of water samples and corresponding data on temporal variations in water quality in the open water areas of the lake from material compiled by the water authorities. The water analyses conform to international standards, and the results are interpreted by cartographical and statistical methods commonly employed in geographical research. The areal differences between the bays of Lake Oulujärvi are a product of the water quality of the rivers and streams entering them and diffuse loading from the lake shores. The high humus content of the rivers flowing into the lake detracts from the water quality in the bays of Jaalankalahti, Mieslahti, Vuoreslahti and Vuottolahti with respect to iron content, pH, colour value and suspended solids, while diffuse loading was found to be responsible for elevated nutrient concentrations in the bays of Painuanlahti, Kaareslahti and Jormuanlahti. The greatest water quality problems are experienced in Lake Sokajärvi, which receives municipal and industrial waste water from the town of Kajaani via the River Kajaaninjoki, while regulation of the water level has caused particular water quality difficulties in the case of the shallow bays of Kaareslahti, Jaalanganlahti and Painuanlahti. The other bays have broader connections with the open lake areas and are relatively deep, so that the lake currents ensure an influx of cleaner water. Lake Paltajärvi, which is in effect a broadening of the River Kajaaninjoki, is polluted by municipal and industrial effluent from the town of Kajaani. Improvements in all the water quality parameters examined here were observed over the period concerned in the case of the hypolimnion of the Sokajärvi, Paltajärvi, Ärjänselkä and Niskanselkä areas, and the reduction in waste water entering the lake from the River Kajaaninjoki was reflected in an improvement in the quality of the open water areas in the 1980's. On the other hand, a negative correlation was found between the time variable and Secchi depth, pointing to deterioration in water quality in this respect, possibly as a consequence of increased diffuse loading. The correlation analysis also pointed to positive relationships between water level and the water quality variables. Regression analysis indicated that the rise in total nitrogen concentrations in the open water areas in the course of the period examined was most pronounced in Niskaselkä. Separate divisions of the Oulujärvi lake area are outlined on the basis of the water quality results for the rivers, bays and open water areas, expressed in terms of three classes. Employing the customary classification of lakes, the water of Lake Oulujärvi as a whole can be said to be dystrophic and oligohumic. The work concludes with a hydrogeographical model explaining areal variations in water quality within the lake. Keywords: water quality, hydrogeography, drainage basin, diffuse loading,
land use
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 29: 2 (2000):
Contents: Pauli Tapani Karjalainen
Päivi Kymälainen
Topi Antti Äikäs
Juha Ridanpää
Toivo Muilu
Elli Heikkilä
& Timo Jaakkola
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 30: 1 (2001):
105 s. ISBN: 951-42-5975-0 Contents Preface 1. Introduction (to Tourism) 2. Structure
and Process of the Research
3. Tourism Studies
in Geography
4. The Transformation
of Tourist Destinations
5. Future Challenges:
Sustainability and the Transformation of
References Abstract: The process of transformation of tourist destinations is examined by summarising the theoretical arguments and geographical context of a research project aimed at understanding in a theoretically informed way the nature of tourist destinations - tourism regions - and how they emerge and change with time. Destinations are approached as socially constructed spatial units that evolve through certain discourses and discursive practices, which are conceptualised through a discourse of development and a discourse of region in the context of this work. The latter discourse signifies and spatialises the practices of development, while the former produces the medium, infrastructure and new dimensions for place marketing and the whole process of social construction of a tourist destination. Tourist destinations are seen as dynamic, historical units with specific identities characterised by hegemonic and other discourses, which all produce a notion of what the destination is and represents at the time. The identity of a tourist destination not only gives meaning to it and differentiates it from other destinations and the surrounding environment, but also characterises the tourists visiting that destination and their motives. From this geographical perspective, tourist motives are interpreted as formations and ideal types spatialised in a specific destination and/or tourist destinations of a certain kind. Towards the end of the thesis the future challenges in tourism and geographical tourism research are discussed in the context of the sustainable development of tourism. It is stated that in order to achieve sustainability in tourism, the industry and other actors involved need to have and accept values, principles and ideologies beyond present-day issues in tourism policy and to be committed truly to the idea of sustainable development. The present thesis is based on six previously published articles, some of the empirical results contained in which are briefly summarised or reiterated here as statements of the main results and illustrative examples in the context of the theoretical considerations. The empirical cases demonstrate the production of local geographies in tourism in Finnish Lapland and are related to the Sami culture and northern landscapes, the transformation of Saariselkä and the spatial nand the position of tourism research in academic geography are both briefly discussed. Keywords: tourism, tourism geography, tourism development, locality,
Sami culture, sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, tourism in Lapland
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 30: 2 (2001):
[From Urban Image to Urban Landscapes. The Cases
of Turku and Oulu as an Example of the Construction of City Images]
Sisällysluettelo 1.Kaupunki, maisema
ja tutkimus
Summary: From Urban
Image to Urban Landscapes
Abstract This research was carried out during the research period 1999-2001. The project was financed by the Academy of Finland. The actual research was produced in two parts. First, the preliminary research was prepared as a licentiate thesis. It was approved in the spring 2000 at the Faculty of Science of the Oulu University. Since then the research has been basically rewritten. Also new empirical material was collected during the summer of 2000. The research has four sections. The first section (chapters 1-2) works as an introduction to the research. It shows the aims of the research and presents the research questions. The second section (chapters 3-8) introduces the recent trends in cultural geography. The recent developments in postmodern geography and new cultural geography are discussed in this section. The fourth section (chapters 9-14) concentrates on the case studies of the research. The main interest is paid to the cities of Turku and Oulu. Turku is located in south-west Finland. It is the oldest city in Finland and its image is strictly based on history. The city of Turku has strong material resources to promote its marketed image. Oulu, for its part, is comprehended as a new centre of the high technology industry in Finland since the 1980's. Due to its distant location from the traditional growth centres of southern Finland, Oulu has actively managed its image in terms of the hi-tech industry. Today, Oulu is well known for its multinational hi-tech companies and research and development centres. Both Finnish case studies are supplemented by minor cases from England and Scotland. The role of the English and Scottish cases is to comment on the corresponding stages of development in Finland and, at the same time, to set up an international perspective for the trends of image making practices in Finland. The final section (chapters 15-17) presents the results and critical discussion of the research. These chapters deal with theoretical findings, arguments of case studies and further applications of the presented approach in a more reflective light. As a whole the research is aimed to offer a coherent and well-articulated interpretation of produced city images and their influence on the urban environment. The main argument is that production of an urban image has to be based on a city's own strengths and widely recognised image resources. The image-making strategies have twofold meanings for cities and take place on two separate levels: on the one hand intentionally projected images create a certain image-orientated language as a part of city planning and promotional actions. On the other hand, concrete image actions, i.e. construction of new image places or landscapes, are materialised in the second phase of the image-making processes. At that time, the clear influence on the urban landscape is implemented. The process can be analysed as follow: produced images construct real landscapes which, finally, contribute psychological (or mental) images of the city. This research includes several photos, maps and other illustrations. Most of the photos come from the author's own files. They were collected during fieldtrips to research areas in Oulu, Turku, England and Scotland. Additional figures are based on the research material that is used to analyse image-making campaigns in the above-mentioned places. Photos without mentioning the actual source are taken by the author. Otherwise the source is mentioned in the figure text. The idea of using multiple illustrations is based on the logic of the images in general and especially on the central character of the produced images. They (as the city, too) are more or less visual research objects. However, visualisation and visual representation cannot be the main idea of the research; the text comes first and the role of the figures is to support the main thread of the research. During the project I have had the privilege to work with acknowledged geographers both in Finland and abroad. First, I have had great pleasure to work with my supervisor professor P. T. Karjalainen. He has guided me forward in both difficult and happy times in the academic life. He has been my guide in concrete museums and conceptual roads. - It is hard, even impossible, to explain what does it mean, when one has a good and equal relationship with his/her professor and supervisor. Other main figures in my academic career come from the vivid research group of the Department of Geography, University of Oulu. Professor Anssi Paasi and Docent Petri Raivo have both shown the realistic example of the hard working academic enthusiasm. Anssi's and Petri's support in both empirical and theoretical questions has had great influence on my thinking about 'doing' geography and 'being' a geographer. Other members of the group of the cultural geography on the Department, MSc Jani Vuolteenaho, Phil.Lic Juha Ridanpää, MSc Mervi Tervo, MSc Mika Anttonen and MSc Katja Niemelä have offered a profound surface for all the questions which a lonely researcher needs. When I was moving from the University of Joensuu to the University of Oulu in the turn of the years 1995 and 1996 Phil.Lic Heikki Riikonen and Jani helped me greatly. Somehow it was surprising how well all the staff of Oulu's Department received and accepted me into their team. Many thanks to all! In addition, I'd like to express my gratitude to my dear colleague, MSocSc Ilkka Luoto, whose intellectually and mentally inspiring company I have enjoyed during all these years. Also many foreign lecturers in the Geography Graduate School have influenced me greatly. The lectures of Peter Jackson, Phil Crang, Susan Smith, Michael Dear and Derek Gregory, for instance, have offered a good and up-to-date knowledge in thinking in the research on cultural and human geography. Especially I'd like express my thanks to professor John R. Gold (Oxford Brookes University ) and Dr. Mike Crang (University of Durham) who both influenced me greatly during their teaching in our national research seminars in 1999. I also met both of them during my fieldtrip to England and Scotland in 2000, and those discussions that I have with them deepened my ideas of doing this sort of geography. Mr. James Nimmo from Corporate Communications Ky (CoCom) has checked the English sections of the research. The service of CoCom has been swift and flexible. That is the help, which is needed especially in the finishing phases of the research work. Mrs. Anja Kaunisoja from the Department of Geography, University of Oulu, has put her finishing touch to my maps in the research. Many thanks to Anja for her patience. In the final phase to prepare my thesis I had very good opportunity to receive many-sided and reflective feedback from professor Jussi S. Jauhiainen and Docent Sirpa Tani (both from the Department of the Geography, University of Helsinki) who worked as preliminary examiners of my thesis. They executed their task in the most serious way. Therefore during in the early summer of 2001 I had many things to re-think before finishing the final version of these pages. It is interesting how people's routes come across: the first academic dissertation that I witnessed was professor Jauhiainen's dissertation in Turku in 1995. I dedicate this research to family and to my friends. The greatest support for my time-and thinking-consuming work I have received from my wife Eija and our son Kerkko. Eija has kicked me forward in my project but, at the same time, kept my feet on the ground. And as for Kerkko, I'm glad he only asks some simple questions of his parents, yet. His example shows, however, that for learning one has to pose as many questions as possible. Keywords: cultural geography, image studies, landscape research, produced
city images, urban landscape, Turku, Oulu, England, Scotland
Nordia Geographical Publications vol 30: 3 (2001):
[A city where the work ends. Everyday geography,
unemployment and cultural change.]
Sisällysluettelo 1.Paikkoja ja tiloja (jälki)modernissa kaupungissa *Johdanto
2.Urbaanin syövereissä? Asumalähiö ja työttömän arki *Johdanto
3.Katukulttuurin renessanssi ja paikallinen muutos: näkökulmia (jälki)moderniin kaupunkiyhteisöllisyyteen *Kerran kaukana pohjoisessa
4.Työttömät ostoksilla: pieniä tragedioita ja hetken hurmaa kulutuksen kaupunkitilassa *Uusköyhyyden
jäljillä
5.Televisiomainonta
ja kulttuurinen muutos: hyvän elämän paikkoja olohuoneen
kuvavirrassa
*Mainonnan paikat ja
hyvä elämä
6.Koti, ambivalenssi
ja työttömyyden takaportit
*Johdanto
7. Johtopäätöksiä
Summary
Abstract
The city of Oulu in
northern Finland has been a rapidly growing centre of thousands of new
jobs during the 1990's, yet it has also been a city where the work has
ended (at least temporarily) for thousands of locals. This study explores
the meanings of everyday urban places in the lives of the unemployed women
and men of different ages. Based on ethnographic material that is collected
among existing local social groups, the study traces the ways how individuals,
as bodily subjects, live their unemployment in local social space, embedded
in the wider processes of societal and cultural transformation. Through
exploring the meanings of the immediate neighbourhood, (semi)public consumer
spaces and the private home (contextualised with analyses of two specific
showcases of cultural change, the history of a local pedestrian street
and representations of the good life in advertising), the study documents
that while the narratives of joblessness express an impressive variety,
they have crucial common features as well. Despite outstanding gender and
generation bound differences, as well as disparities in economic situations,
the spontaneous willingness to perform acts of individual independence
in everyday spatial practices appears to be the cornerstone of the sense
of belonging that the narratives mirror. On the other hand, the local narratives
of joblessness do not only speak of practical routes to the places of belonging,
but also (most manifestly in life situations where, in an individualised
culture, one feels secluded in the private home) of feelings of insufficiency,
fragility of social ties, fears of future and other ambivalences of relative
poverty in the middle of growth.
Keywords: unemployment,
urban space, cultural change, globalisation, consumption, spatial practices,
geography of exclusion, places of belonging
Esipuhe
Väitöskirjani
oululaisen työttömyyden arjen maantieteestä on kesällä
1995 käynnistyneen työrupeaman tulos. Onnistumisen ja epäuskon
hetket, joita työn tekemiseen liittyy, ovat myös itselleni kuuden
vuoden ajoilta hyvin tutuksi käyneitä tuntemuksia. Eräs
työn tekemisen kaikkein palkitsevimmista hetkistä on tietysti
käsillä silloin, kun se saadaan päätökseen. Akateeminen
tutkimus on joskus yksinäistä puurtamista, mutta ainakaan tämä
työ ei olisi tullut valmiiksi ilman ympärilläni olleiden
ihmisten apua ja kannustusta. On siis hetki kiittää tahoja, jotka
tutkimuksen onnistumisen ovat mahdollistaneet. Osoitan kiitokset Alli Paasikiven
säätiölle, Oulun yliopiston luonnontieteelliselle tiedekunnalle
sekä erityisesti tutkimuksen merkittävimmälle rahoittajalle,
Suomen akatemialle, saamastani taloudellisesta tuesta. Niin ikään
haluan kiittää Suomen akatemiaa siitä, että sen rahoittamat
maantieteen tutkijakoulun intensiivikurssit luennoitsijavierailuineen ovat
olleet tutkimustyölle tärkeä inspiraatioiden lähde
ja akateeminen kohtaamispaikka.
Olen tehnyt väitöskirjani
professori Anssi Paasin ohjauksessa. Haluan kiittää Anssia opastuksesta,
inspiroivista keskusteluista ja eteenpäin rohkaisemisesta. Akateeminen
tarmo ja itsenäinen työskentely, joita Anssi on omalla tutkimussarallaan
osoittanut, ovat olleet esikuvia, joita ilman en olisi oman työni
lopputulokseen yhtä tyytyväinen kuin nyt voin sanoa olevani.
Haluan kiittää myös muita Oulun yliopiston maantieteen laitoksen
kulttuurimaantieteilijäpiiriin kuuluvia (ja kuuluneita) ihmisiä
keskusteluista ja kumppanuudesta. "Oulun koulun" kulmakivet, Anssi Paasi,
Pauli Tapani Karjalainen, Petri Raivo, Topi Antti Äikäs, Mervi
Tervo, Juha Ridanpää, Mika Anttonen, Jarkko Saarinen ja Heikki
Riikonen ovat olleet paitsi tieteellisesti stimuloivia työtovereita,
myös ystäviä ja iloista seuraa.
Olen väitöskirjaa
tehdessäni saanut työskennellä Oulun yliopiston maantieteen
laitoksella. Vaikka työaikani ovatkin olleet varsin liukuvia, työpaikan
tarjoamat fyysiset ja sosiaaliset puitteet ovat olleet resursseja, joita
ilman tutkimustyö ei olisi onnistunut. Tutkijasoluissa, toimistossa,
käytävillä ja kahvihuoneessa käydyt keskustelut maantieteestä
ja muusta ovat piristäneet tutkimustyön arkea - kiitokset siis
laitoksen väelle yhdessä ja erikseen ystävällisyydestä.
Oman fyysisen työpaikkani
ohella akateemisia ponnistelujani ovat edesauttaneet myös ihmiset
kauempana maailmalla, joihin olen tutkimustyön eri vaiheissa tutustunut
ja ystävystynyt. Varhaisempia ja uudempia tuotoksiani ovat kommentoineet
Peter Jackson, Rob Shields, Jacqueline Burgess, Zygmunt Bauman, Tuukka
Haarni, Linda McDowell, Nicky Gregson, ja Phil Crang, joiden rakentavan
kriittistä silmää saan osaltaan kiittää ideoiden
kypsymisestä väitöskirjaksi. Samoin kiitän väitöskirjani
esitarkastajia, professori Jouni Häkliä ja professori Harri Anderssonia
erityisen hyödyllisistä huomioista ja parannusehdotuksista.
Olen ollut tutkijana
työskennellessäni sikäli onnellisessa asemassa, että
työkuvioiden ulkopuolisia ystäviä, jotka ansaitsisivat tulla
esipuheessa kiitetyksi, minulla on ollut enemmän kuin on esipuheessa
mahdollista luetella. Erityisesti haluan kuitenkin kiittää Timo
Kumpulaa, Harri Lundellia, Mika Paakkasta, Matti Tapanista ja muita salaseuramme
jäseniä paitsi yhteisistä harrastuksista, mukaansa tempaavasta
karnevaalihengestä ja siitä, että olette antaneet voimaa
jaksaa eteenpäin. En halua jättää kiittämättä
myöskään pitkäaikaista ystävääni Kari
Kangasta, joka lukee esipuhettani pilven reunalta. Erinomaisen suurena
tukena arjessa ja juhlassa ovat olleet myös lähisukulaiseni.
Kiitän vanhempiani ja mainiota sisaruskatrastani perheineen kaikesta,
mitä kuluneet vuodet ovat pitäneet sisällään.
Kiitoksen avusta tutkimusaineistojen
hankinnassa ansaitsevat Kati Haukilahti, Heikki Riikonen, Tanja Löytynoja,
Marita Mutka, Riikka Kantola, Henna Hiltunen ja Janne Kekonen. Jannelle
erityiskiitokset mainioista valokuvista kävelykatu Rotuaarilta. Korvaamattomana
apuna pääsemisessä paikallisten työttömyystarinoiden
jäljille ovat muiden avuliaiden ihmisten ohella olleet Kirsi Peteri,
Pentti Majava ja erityisesti Elsi Kylli, mistä heille suuret kiitokset.
Työttömyyttä
on lähestytty eri tieteenaloilla eri näkökulmista ja eri
menetelmin. Oma, kulttuurimaantieteen kenttään sijoittuva tutkimukseni
tarkastelee kaupunkiarjessa kohdattua työn loppua tieteenalan viimeaikaisia
teorialähtökohtia ja laadullisia tutkimusmenetelmiä hyödyntäen.
Väitöskirjan tarkastelut liikkuvat syntymäkaupungissani
Oulussa, jossa olen myös suurimman osan elämästäni
viettänyt ja jonka pölyt olen jaloistani vasta aivan hiljattain
karistanut. Vaikka eletyn työttömyyden merkityksiin uppoutuminen
kotikaupungissa ei ole aina ollut helppoa, koen silti tarpeelliseksi sanoa
juuri sen, mitä väitöskirjassani sanon.
Tarkastellessani
työttömyysaihetta osana tavallista nykyoululaista kaupunkiarkea
ja käynnissä olevaa kulttuurista muutosta, uskon avaavani uusia
näkökulmia kulttuurissamme usein jyrkkiä mielipiteitä
kirvoittavaan ja tunnonarkanakin aiheena pidettyyn työttömyyteen,
joka 1990-luvun alun jälkeen on kyläillyt yhä useammassa
suomalaisessa, oululaisessa ja minullekin tutussa perheessä. En puhu
missään suhteessa itsellenikään vieraasta aiheesta,
sillä omaan kokemuksia työttömyydestä hyvin eriävissä
elämäntilanteissa niin 1980-, 1990-luvuilta kuin kuluvalta vuosikymmeneltä.
Tutkimuksen rajaus on kuitenkin lähestyä työttömyyden
arkea ulkopuolisen tutkijan silmin, keskittyen tarkastelemaan aineistoa,
joka koostuu vuosina 1996 ja 1997 kerätyistä oululaisista työttömyystarinoista.
Yrittämättä kertoa kaikkea oululaisen (saati suomalaisen)
työttömyyden koko kirjosta, yritän kertoa, kuinka kirjava
jo muutaman kymmenen työttömän paikallinen joukko on ja
mikä heidän tarinoitaan työn lopusta kaikesta huolimatta
yhdistää. Keräämäni tarinat muodostavat merkitysrikkaan
aineistokokonaisuuden, joka saa puheet 'työttömyydestä yleensä'
kuulostamaan hyvin ontoilta. Olen aineistoa tulkitessani, työttömyyden
suruihin, iloihin ja ristiriitoihin tutustuessani ja niitä analysoidessani
usein pidätellyt kyyneleitä, usein hymyillyt leveää
hymyä elämän pienille ja suurille asioille. Välittääkseni
mahdollisimman monelle lukijalle jotakin aineiston merkitysrikkaudesta,
olen pyrkinyt kirjoittamaan työttömyystarinoita tarkastelevat
jaksot (luvut 2, 4 ja 6) siten, että ne avautuisivat myös lukijalle,
joita tutkimuksen teoreettiset lähtökohdat (luku 1) tai kulttuurista
muutosta tarkastelevat jaksot (luvut 3 ja 5) eivät niin kiinnosta.
Erittäin suuren kiitoksen lukijalle avautuvasta lopputuloksesta ansaitsevat
tietysti ne 44 nuorempaa ja iäkkäämpää oululaista
naista ja miestä, joiden uskomattomista ja samalla hyvin uskottavista
työttömyystarinoista väitöskirjani kertoo.
En ole varmasti
ainoa, joka väitöskirjansa esipuhetta viimeistellessään
on ollut onnellinen siitä, että pitkä urakka on vihdoinkin
ohi. Tutkimustyö kuluneen kuuden vuoden aikana on vienyt joskus fyysisesti
ja ajatuksellisesti kauaksi, matkoille maailman ympäri. Poissaoloistani
huolimatta perheeni on ollut tärkeä kannustajani ja samalla asia,
joka työn vaikeimpina hetkinä on auttanut olemaan unohtamatta,
että elämä on sittenkin voittopuolisesti iloinen asia. Suurimmat
kiitokset kaikesta omistan siis perheelleni. Vaimoani Johannaa ja pienokaisiani
Sallaa ja Elinaa saan kiittää eniten siitä, että tämä
työ on onnellisessa lopussaan.
Kaupungissa, joka ranskalaisen
ystäväni sanoin on "turistille paikka, jossa ei mitään
sellaista mitä ei ole muualla, mutta joka on hyvä paikka elää",
18. päivänä lokakuuta 2001,
|