A connectivity model as a potential tool for smart specialization strategies

The article contributes to the smart specialization literature by presenting a new approach, connectivity analysis, where Triple Helix (TH) relations (involving universities, companies and government) are at the centre of the entrepreneurial discovery process. Relations between helices may be seen, from the point of departure of proximity, as preconditions of connectivity, or interaction, measured through expectations and experiences. This offers potential solution to two limitations of proximity approach: its static nature and narrow focus on dyadic relationships. The connectivity analysis reveals the extent of mutual expectations, as well as tensions, or gaps. Based on this analysis, the article presents a policy model that is used to map structures of networks and gaps between TH actors. It may also identify strengths, weaknesses and problems. This analysis is used as input to structured dialogues between actors in leading positions in the TH and in smart specialization policy-making and implementation. This approach may lead to policy interventions supporting entrepreneurial discoveries. The model has been developed in partnership with researchers and the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia. The article also presents this case study and demonstrates the use of the connectivity model in practice.     

“Culture alone will not put bread on the table.” The many facets of the debate on the preservation of Sami culture

The idea of preserving minority cultures is widely shared in Western nation‐states. Concrete application of this idea is, however, surprisingly difficult, and sophisticated rhetoric is used in discussions related to the issue. In the 1980s and 1990s three laws dealing with the rights of the Sami people were proposed in Finland. Three discourses related to denning the concept of Sami culture in this context are identified here: first, diminishing differences, with an emphasis on equality; second, emphasis on national obligations and the cultural wealth of the majority society; and third, the rhetorical tool of dividing principle and application. The definition of Sami culture varies in different contexts, and in some cases there is even a danger of treating it as a substitute for the concept of race.     

Negotiating for Space and Autonomy: Strategies of Finnish Missionary Women in Japan, 1900-1941

ABSTRACT. This article focuses on the strategies Finnish women used to influence their status and the missionary practices in the Japan mission of the Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland during the early part of the 20th century. Women had a head-start in the mission compared to men but lost this later as the organization developed. However, the early years demonstrate how women were able to gain a foothold simply by exceptional circumstances, such as a political turmoil. The crisis years of the Finnish mission in the early 1910s illustrate how organizational rigidity was created at the cost of women's status, but also that everyday work carried out separately from the men's work offered women satisfactory roles regardless of the patriarchal structure. An additional strategy is introduced by the career of one missionary, Siiri Uusitalo. A lifelong career in the mission and a pioneer's status enabled Siiri Uusitalo to carve out an independent position inside the Finnish mission which can be defined as matriarchal. Through the Finnish female missionaries, the contested male control of the mission in the Japanese context is discussed. The article presents one historically unique case that nevertheless points to certain patterns in contesting and redefining the gendered hierarchy in a religious community amidst a foreign culture.     

THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF A. E. NORDENSKIÖLD’S (1832–1901) CONSERVATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

One of the founding texts within the history of Nordic conservation is ‘Förslag till inrättandet af Riksparker i de nordiska länderna’ (A Proposal for Establishing Nation’s Parks in the Nordic Countries), written by the Finnish-Swedish scientist and explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832–1901) in 1880. It is comparable to influential texts of US environmental history, such as George Catlin’s Illustrations of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians (1845–1848) and George Perkins Marsh’s Man and Nature (1864). The ideas developed in the essay are expressions of an environmentally literate person. Nordenskiöld perceived destructive developments taking place in the environment and set down proposals to prevent or remedy this undesirable situation. This article will discuss the historical roots of Nordenskiöld’s conservational philosophy, such as the modernization process, patriotic ideas from the Romantic era, and, above all, the influence of US thinkers, most notably George Catlin, who proposed the opening of ‘nation’s Parks […] on the great plains of the West’. The influence of Nordenskiöld on the subsequent conservation movement in Finland and in Sweden will be examined in detail. The first national parks in Europe were established in Sweden in 1909.