An extensive international conference on cultural history will be held for the first time in Rovaniemi. The conference theme is well-known within Arctic research: the entanglement of humans and the rest of nature. The conference challenges traditional views of historiography and reshapes the traditions of cultural history.
After the city centre has quieted down following the departure of winter travellers, the hallways and halls of the University of Lapland are filled with international conference quests as the ISCH conference on cultural history is held in Rovaniemi for the first time.
Around 150 researchers from the fields of cultural history, environmental history, archaeology and art research from all around the world take part in the conference.
The event is coordinated together by the University of Lapland, the International Society for Cultural History (ISCH), the University of Turku and the Finnish Society for Cultural History.
The theme selected for the conference held at the University of Lapland is well-known within Arctic research: the entanglement of humans and the rest of nature. The theme challenges traditional views on the subjects of historiography and emphasises that the past has been shaped not only by humans but also by living and non-living creatures, elements and materials.
“The study of history has traditionally focused on the humankind’s actions, human relationships, human ways of thinking and meaning making. Elevating other animals and elements of nature to the same level as humans as cultural beings challenges and reshapes the traditions of cultural history”, notes
Pälvi Rantala, University Lecturer of Cultural History at the University of Lapland.
In the panels and work groups, the human-nature entanglement at different time periods is approached from many viewpoints, some of them even surprising, such as witchcraft and spirituality or through analysing the perceptions of forests across different eras.
Lectures from keynote speakers
The keynote speakers initiate conversations on the conference theme from their own viewpoints:
Hannu Salmi, a versatile researcher, candidate for the Finlandia prize in non-fiction and Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku, considers the empirical world of sense-impaired people in his discussion. Through a story on his great uncle Frans Lejon (1878–1947), who was deaf and blind since childhood, Salmi asks how a sense-impaired person communicates and perceives their environment in a world that values sight and hearing more than all other senses.
Hannu Salmi:
No More Than Human History: Exploring human/nature entanglements in a life of a deafblind, Tuesday 17 June from 11:15 to 13:15, Esko & Asko Hall.
In her research,
Sandra Swart (South Africa), Professor at the Stellenbosch University, has examined the long, shared past of humans and animals and their changing relations in the context of South Africa. Swart has studied, for example, the history of wild horses, lions and most recently, elephants. In her discussion, Swart speaks of African elephants and reminds us that animals have their own distinct cultures, separate from those of us humans. She asks what we can learn about the cultural history of animals – and humans alike – through examining the lives of elephants.
Sandra Swart:
History for the End of the World: finding new futures in our animal past, Wednesday 18 June from 11:15 to 13:15, Esko & Asko Hall.
Marek Tamm, Professor of Cultural History at Tallinn University, offers a more theoretical view on discussions on cultural history. He breaks down the myth maintained by cultural history where humans are considered special, challenging historians to question their own established ideas and methods in a time of multiple crises. What kind of new sources and methods of analysis could be used when the past is examined as a biocultural past shared by many species?
Marek Tamm:
Towards a Biocultural History: A Manifesto, Thursday 19 June from 11:15 to 13:15, Esko & Asko Hall.
Film screenings open to the public
In addition to academic discussions, the conference includes two film screenings that are open also to the public in addition to the conference audience:
PhD Noora Kallioniemi has curated a compilation of Finnish short movies from different decades in which the filmmakers ponder the changing relations between humans and nature, as well as the colonialisation of northern nature from the viewpoints of, for example, constructing hydropower and the land use rights of Sámi.
The film screenings are held on Wednesday 18 June from 14:15 to 16:15 and on Thursday 19 June from 14:15 to 16:00 in the Mauri Hall.
The documentary film “El Río”, directed by Latin American poet and Professor Juan Carlos Galeano, is a tribute to the rivers, ecosystems and communities of the Amazon basin. Simultaneously, it is a tale of attempts to understand multispecies coexistence and the conflicts related to it.
The film screening is held on Wednesday 18 June from 16:15 to 17:30 in the Mauri Hall.
The website of the conference and more detailed programme are available at: https://isch2025.com/
More information
Pälvi Rantala
University Lecturer of Cultural History
palvi.rantala@ulapland.fi
tel. +358 40 558 1636
Anu-Leena Haaraoja
Coordinator
isch2025@gmail.com
tel. +358 40 191 7293