Presentations will give an overview of what is currently known about Finno-Ugrian, Sámi, and Siberian people; arctic languages, cultures, mythologies, and ways of life. In the conference, the floor will be given to the following speakers: Jelena Porsanger, Risto Pulkkinen, Tapani Salminen, Vesa Matteo Piludu, Caterina Agus, Juha Pentikäinen, Hannu Kahakorpi, Osmo Pekonen, Anna Stammler-Grossman, Nuccio Mazzullo, Juha Janhunen, Annika Pasanen, Ulla Aikio-Puoskari, Anna Morottaja, and Suvi Kivelä.

The conference celebrates the bicentenary of Matthias Alexander Castrén who was born in 1813. He was a pioneer of Finno-Ugrian linguistics and ethnography. He carried out extensive field work in Lapland and White Sea Karelia together with Elias Lönnrot; he also worked alone in Northern Russia and Siberia. He was very interested in mythology: he was the first to translate the Old Kalevala into Swedish and he lectured about Finno-Karelian epic at the University of Helsinki.

The conference is organised jointly by the City of Rovaniemi, the University of Lapland, the Arctic Centre, the Society for Northern Ethnography, the M. A. Castrén Society, the Sámi Archives, the Sámi Education Institute, the Finno-Ugrian Society, and the University of Helsinki.

The conference Northern Awareness – the global heritage of Castrén is a side event of the conference In the Spirit of the Rovaniemi Process.

Free entry. The language used in the conference is English.

Conference: Northern Awareness – the global heritage of Castrén
2–4 December 2013
University of Lapland, Castrén Hall, Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi, Finland

Welcome!

For more information:
Scientific content, schedules: vesa.piludu (at) helsinki.fi