Lecturers of the Year Program Expanded for Finland 100
In recognition of the significance of the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence in 2017, Finlandia Foundation expanded its Lecturer of the Year program in both duration and scope. From June 2016 through May 2018, five Centenary Lecturers, accomplished scholars who are experts in different fields, were available to speak to FFN chapters about topics directly related to Finland’s national independence and identity.

For details on the programs by our roster of speakers, click on the name of each of the Centenary Lecturers for a PDF of their brochure:

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  Thomas A. DuBois, the Halls-Bascom Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Folklore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has done extensive research on Finnish and Sámi culture, past and present. His talk focuses on “Finland and the Kalevala,” the national epic for the Finnish people.

 

 

 

 

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  Sharon Franklin-Rahkonen, an associate professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, will discuss “The History of Finnish Independence” and factors that enabled a small, less developed corner of the Russian empire to declare and retain that freedom.

 

 

 

 

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  Peter MacKeith, dean and professor of the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture, traces the emergence, development and ongoing vitality of Finnish identity through a century of significant architecture and design in his talk, “A House of Finland.”

 

 

 

 

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  Börje Vähämäki, who earned his Doctoral Degree from Åbo Akademi in Turku, directed the Finnish Studies program at the University of Toronto until his retirement in 2014. His topic addresses how the interconnected themes of Finnish film and literature help define Finnish identities.

 

 

 

 

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  K. Marianne Wargelin is an independent scholar, researcher and author, and president of FinnFest USA. Finnish-American identity between 1850-2000 is the subject of her Ph.D. dissertation, now in its final stages at the University of Tampere. Her topic is “Beyond the Atlantic: Finland’s Independence Viewed from Across the Sea.”