Medievalism in Finland and Russia, Book Launch Seminar 15.12.2022

Thursday, 15 December 2022, Lecture hall Edu 3, University of Turku, and online via Zoom. The link will be sent to the registered participants.

Please register at: https://konsta.utu.fi/Default.aspx?tabid=88&tap=14205

The seminar marks the publication of the volume Medievalism in Finland and Russia: Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Aspects, ed. by Reima Välimäki (Bloomsbury 2022):

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/medievalism-in-finland-and-russia-9781350232884/

The volume explores political medievalism in two language areas that are crucial to understanding global medievalism but are, due to language barriers, often inaccessible to the majority of Western scholars and students.

Now, more than in a long time, medieval is political. Contributors of the volume and other experts discuss topical issues of medievalism, politics and uses of history in the current world situation, from the justification of war to identities of online communities. 

You can read the preface to the volume freely online: Medievalism in Finland and Russia and why it matters

Programme: (all times EET, GMT +2) 

14.15-15.30

Reima Välimäki: Medievalism in Finland and Russia and why it matters

Heta Aali: Medievalism of the Finnish Ylilauta imageboard

Derek Fewster: Comment: Finnish medievalism and its earlier roots

Discussion

Break 15 min

15.45-17.00

Mila Oiva and Teemu Oivo: Medievalist pseudohistories on the Russian Internet

Kati Parppei: How to interpret medievalism in the Russian presidents’ speeches

Pia Koivunen: Comment: Russian history politics

Discussion

The seminar is organized by the research project PSEUDOHISTORIA (https://sites.utu.fi/pseudohistoria/en/), funded by Emil Aaltonen Foundation, and Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (https://www.utu.fi/en/research/research-collegia/tias)