Browsing by Subject "http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p8475"
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(2020)The premise of the thesis was to study Finland’s folk costume’s most prominent aspects and develop learning material based on those aspects. I started by reviewing literature connected to the topic about teaching materials. Based on the results, I concluded that quite a bit of research has been done about folk costumes’ history, and there exists a fairly extensive amount of literature about it. However, there wasn’t that much teaching material available about folk costumes, even though a need for it has been recognized. Therefore, the mission for my thesis became to develop introductory teaching material about folk costumes for beginners. The goal for this thesis is to develop a folk costume manual, that offers an extensive information packet for beginners, along with instructions for wearing and acquiring one. As a research method I chose design-based research which consists of developing the teaching material and the theory of its development. I started the development of the manual by mapping out, what meanings are associated with folk costumes. This was carried out by interviewing four experts. The results were narratives of their experiences around folk costumes. These narratives were divided into categories to be used as material for the first draft of developing the manual, along with literary reviews. The first draft was tested by a heuristic review, in which three of the assessors of the previous step were evaluating the manual by making notes about ideas for developments and other comments. A heuristic list was offered to support the evaluation. Then, the notes were summarized into comments, and the experts classified them based on their prominence. The manual was developed based on the comments, if the experts estimated the problem to be significant. The result of the design-based research is a folk costume manual, and information about the development process. An expert interview and a heuristic evaluation proved to be functional methods for developing this type of learning material. Two themes were highlighted in relation to folk costumes in the experts’ comments: Way of speaking and vocabulary with which the costumes’ instructions and recommendations are being described, and versatility of the folk costumes. These themes had a significant impact on the folk costume manual as well.
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(2020)The thesis looks at definitions, meanings and values of living traditions as cultural heritage through examining the local views of Vodun cults as cultural heritage in Benin, West Africa. The research is based on participant observation, informal discussions and interviews carried out in Ouidah, Benin, during December 2015 – February 2016. The thesis examines the phenomenon by using theories of cultural heritage, secrecy and postcolonialism, and comparing Vodun with other West African examples of traditions performed as cultural heritage. Previous research has focused on how traditional religion called Vodun has been promoted as cultural heritage by political, cultural and religious dignitaries in the purpose of increasing cultural tourism, building a modern image of Benin and forging a national identity. By shedding light more specifically on how common people experience, interpret and value the heritagization of a previously misrecognized and diabolized local spiritual practice, the thesis contributes to the anthropological body of knowledge on cultural heritage, West Africa and Vodun. The thesis examines the relations between spirituality and culture, secrecy and universal cultural heritage, and empowerment, alienation and commodification. The analysis points out that, although Vodun related events are also used as entertainment by the locals and foreign tourists, the core of the cultural heritage is perceived to be its esoteric spiritual content. Cultural festivals can be used to raise local youth’s interest also in the spiritual aspects of Vodun. Besides entertainment, Vodun spectacles are performances of power of the spirits, and they intend to show that there are secrets that the audience has no access to. Although the secrets belong to certain persons, Vodun as cultural heritage is felt to belong to all Beninese or indeed all Africans. Vodun is defined as original African spirituality which is perceived to have a special bond with Africans and essentially define Africans and Africanness in opposition to the West. The thesis concludes that, although commodification and folklorization are experienced as threats, Vodun as cultural heritage is perceived and experienced as empowering. Giving recognition and valuing a practice which has been extremely denigrated, misrepresented and oppressed for centuries by colonial and other oppressive Western practices is allowing the locals to reclaim agency, redefine Africanness, and defy Eurocentric norms and definitions. Consciousness of the past, present, and future racial inequality is seen important in the production and performance of Vodun as cultural heritage. Appropriating, indigenizing and reworking the discourse of heritage in locally meaningful ways can also be seen as fitting with the logics of Vodun which are characterized by appropriating, accumulating, and reusing powers and foreign influences.
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