Symposium Program
*Program may be subject to changes
Keynote, Panel, Documentary, and Performance Abstracts
Please Note: Individual sessions and Keynotes are open to all. University of Turku students can also earn lecture pass entries by attending. Coffees, meals, and receptions, however, are for registered participants only.
Updated 12.2.2020
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
19:00–22:00 Pre-symposium Seminar & Pub Night at Bar Ö:
“Death and Apocalypse in Pop Culture”
In Partnership with International Institute for Popular Culture (IIPC)
Speakers: Kimi Kärki, Marika Ahonen, Kimmo Ahonen
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19
EDUCARIUM 2, University of Turku
9:15–10:15 Symposium Registration / Coffee
10:15–10:45 Welcoming Remarks
10:45–12:00 PANEL 1: Collective Commemoration
Andrew G. Newby (Tampere Institute for Advanced Social Research, Finland)
Mass Death & Commemorative Culture: The “Great Famines” of Ireland and Finland Compared
Anna Huhtala (University of Tampere, Finland)
An Entire Nation in Mourning: Public Perception of Violent and Accidental death in Finland in the 1920s and 1930s
Karen Remmler (Mount Holyoke College, USA)
The Afterlives of Refugee Dead: What Remains?
Chair: Ville Soimetsä (FILPO)
12:00–13:30 Lunch
13:30–14:40 KEYNOTE 1: Ilona Pajari & Kaarina Koski (Finnish Death Studies Association)
Histories of Death in Finland
Chair: Samira Saramo (JMC)
14:40–15:00 Refreshment Break
15:00–16:30 PANEL 2: The Teachings of Death
Chipamong Chowdhury (Theravada Buddhist Monk/ Chautauqua Institution, USA)
The Account of the Buddha’s Death
Junfu Wong (University of Cambridge, UK)
Preparing the Spirituality for Death: Lay Reinterpretation of Daoist Cosmological Death in Premodern China
Agita Misāne (Riga Stradiņš University, Latvia)
Perceptions of Death and Dying in Latvian Traditional Culture and Mythology
Karin Dirke, Annika Berg & Andreas Hellerstedt (Stockholm University, Sweden)
Teaching Death: Constructing a Research-based Course on the Intellectual History of Death
Chair: Marta Laura Cenedese (TIAS)
16:35–17:15 Dance Macabre: Magic Circus Performance by ArtTeatro
17:15–19:00 Reception
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20
EDUCARIUM 2, University of Turku
9:45–11:00 PANEL 3: Politics & Change
Anastasia Papushina (Central European University, Hungary)
A Failed Experiment: Reinventing Death and Mourning in 1920’s Soviet Russia
Samira Saramo (JMC, University of Turku, Finland)
Finnish Immigrants and the Politics of Death in Early Twentieth Century
Emily Collins (NHS Oxford Deanery, UK) &
David Harrap (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
Modern Palliative Care & the Uses of History
Chair: Henna-Riikka Pennanen (JMC/TIAS)
11:00–11:15 Break
11:15–12:30 KEYNOTE 2: Julie-Marie Strange (Durham University, UK)
Pet Cemetery: Love, Memory & Grieving for the Animal Dead, 1880–1970
Chair: Marta Laura Cenedese (TIAS)
12:30–14:00 Lunch
13:00–13:45 Lunchtime Documentary Screening (Publicum Room 209)
The Price of Death with Rebekah Lee (University of London, UK)
14:00–15:30 PANEL 4: Families in Mourning
Mary McDonald-Rissanen (Independent Scholar/JMC Council, Finland)
Narratives on Women’s Death in 20th Century Women’s Diaries, Obituaries and Folk Songs
Ann-Marie Foster (Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland)
The Ephemera of the Dead: Family Commemoration Made Public
Katherine Parkin (Monmouth University, USA)
“Joy turned to sorrow”: Stillborns in Howard County, Indiana, 1890–1940
Maggie Mayhem (Independent Scholar/Activist/Doula, USA)
My First memento mori: Death Imagery on Baby and Infant Products
Chair: Samira Saramo (JMC)
15:30–15:50 Refreshment Break
15:50–17:00 PANEL 5: “Good Death” & Making of the Self
Jacqueline Holler (University of Northern British Columbia, Canada)
Sorrow, Rage, and Laughter: The Emotions of Death and Dying in Early Colonial New Spain
Vera Lind (Northern Illinois University, USA)
Beautiful Suicides: How Early Modern Suicides Attempted to Imitate a Good Death
Immanuel Mifsud (University of Malta, Malta)
“A Modest Requiem for Leli”: Performing the Thoughts of a Dying Man
Chair: Marika Ahonen (University of Turku)
17:00–19:00 Optional Walking Tour
19:00–21:00 Symposium Dinner
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21
EDUCARIUM 2, University of Turku
10:15–11:30 KEYNOTE 3: Erin Millions (University of Winnipeg, Canada)
When Patients Go Missing: Indigenous Tuberculosis Patients and Death Colonialism in Manitoba, 1940s–1970s
Chair: Reetta Humalajoki (JMC)
11:30–13:00 Lunch
13:00–14:10 PANEL 6: Spaces of Death
Povilas Dikavičius (Central European University, Hungary)
Somber Celebrations: Multifaith Funerary Rituals in 17th Century Vilnius
Gian Luca Amadei (Independent Scholar, UK)
“And my mother became that beautiful fire”: Crematoriums in a Changing London
Arnar Arnason (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) &
Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson (University of Iceland, Iceland)
Mourning for the More-than-Human
Chair: Martin Cloonan (TIAS)
14:10–14:30 Refreshment Break
14:30–17:15 DOCUMENTARY SCREENING
Into the Night: Portraits of Life & Death with Director Helen Whitney (USA)
Chair: Benita Heiskanen (JMC)
17:15–18:00 Closing Discussion
18:15–21:00 Optional Sauna & Winter Swim Excursion to Ispoinen
(approximate cost 15€ / bring your own bathing suit and towel)