30.11.06-  

Matti Sarmela Books and writings about man, culture and future

          Home page of an anthropologist                                                                                                          Finnish

 Cultural Anthropology         

          University of Helsinki

          Finland

                                                                                                                                      Thailand. Ban Srii Muod Klao 1999         
Curriculum vitae

Publications

Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Helsinki from 1973 to 2000. A founder and the first president of the Finnish Anthropological Society. Published twelve books and over 200 papers about cultural anthropology, ethnology and folklore; specialty: Finnish and Thai culture.

Major work, Suomen perinneatlas (‘Atlas of Finnish Folklore’), also translated into German and English, was awarded the prestigious Finlandia prize for scientific literature in 1995.

Key terms and topics

· local, delocal, postlocal (global) environment and cultural systems

· structural change; adaptation to the future; finalization

· meritocracy, technosystem, religion of development

· cultural imperialism; consciousness industry

· folklore and religion of hunting, swidden and agrarian cultures

· Finnish customs and folklore; local culture of Thailand

· statistical methods, mapping of Finnish ethnic culture

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      Books in the Nett

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  CULTURE OF THAILAND IN THE POSTLOCAL WORLD 

      Laws of Destiny Never Disappear. 

      Culture of Thailand in the Postlocal World                                          Thailand's culture

      E-Book & CD-publication (560 pp, 380 pictures). 

Helsinki 2005. ISBN 952-91-9353-X

The Best of The Asian Studies WWW

Part I. A Village in Northern Thailand                                                             Books

Environment. Villages and houses. Work of the rice farmer.                   Wait for loading!

http://www.kotikone.fi/matti.sarmela/thailand1village.pdf

Part II. Community Culture

The arc of life. Death. Inside the village community.

http://www.kotikone.fi/matti.sarmela/thailand2community.pdf

Part III. Village Religion

Supernatural environment. Buddhist religion.

http://www.kotikone.fi/matti.sarmela/thailand3religion.pdf

      Do you want the book Laws of Destiny Never Disappear  as a CD-ROM (ISBN 952-91-9355-6)? Please, contact and 

      sent your address to my e-mail: matti.sarmela@kolumbus.fi The book is free of charge.

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   Original publication in Finnish                                                                   

     Laws of Destiny Never Disappear.

     Life in Villages of Northern Thailand                                                              Thailand 

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FOLKLORE ATLAS

MATTI SARMELA

FINNISH FOLKLORE ATLAS

Ethnic Culture of Finland 2

Translated from Finnish by

Annira Silver

SBN 978-952-99977-2-5 (CD-ROM)

ISBN 978-952-99977-3-2 (PDF)

4th partially revised edition. 

Helsinki 2009

        99 maps on the ethnic culture of the peoples of Finland and Karelia: rites, customs, beliefs, narratives and poetry

            in archaic meter. The Atlas is a unique cartographic analysis of the culture of northern hunter-gatherers, swidden 

            cultivators and agrarian peasants and their adaptation to the environment of their times; the  cultural  periods of 

            shamans, sorcerers and Christian villages. A cultural anthropologist's interpretation of the structural changes 

            affecting cultures, from local cultures to  delocalization and the postlocal era – scientific-technological finalization

                   Themes:

                         LIFE AND DEATH

                         bear rites, sacrificial stones and trees,                                                        

                         animal sacrifices, memorial rites

                         MARRIAGE

                         proposal, betrothal;                                                                                                                  

                         kinship and village weddings

                         ANNUAL FEASTS

                         local gatherings, festival bonfires, swinging and tours,                       

                         party games

                         VILLAGE YOUTH

                         work parties, village dances,

                         name-day parties, village swings,

                   night courting by youths

                         SHAMANS, SORCERERS AND WITCHES

                         sorcerer rites, incantations, diseases, 

                         animals lost in the forest,

                         trulli-witches, witches' helper creatures,

                         funeral of a witch

                         ENVIRONMENT NARRATIVES

                         supernatural guardians, underground folk,

                         restless souls, tribal wars, treasure legends

                         SONGS IN ARCHAIC METER

                         Creation of Earth and Heaven, Hunters, Kantele,

                         Väinämöinen the Hero, Journey to the Underworld, 

                         Sampo-epic, Cosmic Tree, 

                         Savior, medieval ballads

                         PDF-file. 40 MB, 679 pages.  Wait for loading! (2-5 minutes)                FOLKLORE ATLAS

                        May be freely quoted and copied.

Do you want the Folklore Atlas as a CD-ROM (ISBN 978-952-99977-2-5)? Please, contact and sent your address to

my e-mail: matti.sarmela@kolumbus.fi   The book is free of charge.

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     Writings

Postlocal era
       (Finnish Folklore Atlas 2009)                                                              Postlocal era

       Kinship and village weddings 

       in Finland and Thailand  (2006) . PDF-file.                                Weddings

       Bear in the Finnish Environment. (2006)                              Bear cult 

       Postlocal Culture. An inevitable future?                             Postlocal culture

Michel Bassand (ed.) 1991. Identity et  
 développement régional, 145-159. Peter Lang.

       What is Cultural Imperialism?  PDF-file.                            Cultural Imperialism

       Emerging of Mass Media and 

Consciousness Industry in Finland.  PDF-file.                Information technology

       Swidden Cultivation in Finland                                            Swidden cultivation

       Folklore, Ecology and Superstructures.                               Superstructures

 Atlas of Finnish Ethnic Culture 2.  PDF-file.                Finnische Volksüberlieferung

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Matti Sarmela

CURRICULUM VITAE

Professional employment

1962-68     Editor, Atlas of Finnish Folk Culture

1969-71     Assisting professor, University of Helsinki

1971-73     Junior Research Fellow of the Finnish Academy

1973-81     Professor of General Ethnology, University of Helsinki

1981-88     Professor of Social Anthropology (Department of Sociology), University of Helsinki

1988-00     Chair professor of Cultural Anthropology, University of Helsinki

Secondary occupations

1971-80     Docent of Social Anthropology, University of Helsinki

1974-02     Docent of Cultural Anthropology, University of Turku

Grants and awards

Finnish State Studentship 1958-61

University of Helsinki; grants for young scholars 1964, 1965, senior scholars 1969

Alfred Kordelin Foundation; grants 1965, 1968, 2000

Foundation for Finnish Culture; grant 1969

University of Helsinki and the  Finnish Academy of Science and Letters; grants for doctoral thesis 1969

Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Literature; grant 1970

Finnish Ministry of Education; grants for preparing course books 1971, 1972

Academy of Finland;  grant for research on Finnish folklore ecology 1971-73

Academy of Finland  and Ministry of Education; grants for fieldwork in Thailand 1972-73; 1984-85 and 1997-98.

Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies; grants 1972, 1982

Academy of Finland; fellowship for senior scholars 1976, 1981, 1992, 1997

Niilo Helander Foundation; grants 2000, 2003.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation; eminentia-grant 2007

Tieto-Finlandia 1995 (Finlandia prize for the scholarly publication)

Membership of professional associations

Finnish Anthropological Society (a founder member and the first chairman 1975-85, board 1985-2003)

Kalevala Society (member of executive committee 1975-2000)

Finnish Literature Society (member of executive committee 1973-83, 1989-92 and council 1971-76, 1988-1994)

Foundation for Finnish Peasant Culture

Finnish Society for the Study of Comparative Religion

Finno-Ugric Society

M.A.Castrén Society

Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, vice-member of the board 1988-90

Society for Cross-Cultural Research (USA)

American Anthropological Association (USA, -2000)

Standing Committee of the International Union of Anthropological & Ethnological Sciences (-2000)

Research teams

Team member of the research project "Four Northern Communities. Small  communities in the cultural crisis" 

(Neljä  pohjoista yhteisöä). University of Joensuu 1974-1977

Team member of the international projects "The Role of Communication in the Cultural Development of Rural  Areas" 

and "Mass Media and the Way of Life",  Seven European & Canadian national commissions for Unesco, 1985-89.

Fieldwork in Lampang province, Thailand 1972-73, 1982-1983, 1984-85, 1997-98, 1999.

Editor-in-chief, Suomen Antropologi - Antropologi i  Finland 1989-97

Served as opponent in doctoral dissertations at the universities of Helsinki, Turku, Jyväskylä, Oulu and Joensuu.

Participated as a speaker in about 160 congresses, workshops or public events.

Matti Sarmela

PUBLICATIONS

Monographs

1969  Reciprocity Systems of the Rural Society in the  Finnish-Karelian Culture Area, with Special Reference to Social Intercourse

of the Youth.  FF Communications 207. Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, Helsinki. (360 pp.)

1970  Perinneaineiston kvantitatiivisesta tutkimuksesta. ('The quantitative analysis of oral tradition and  ethnographic data').

Tietolipas 65. Finnish Literature Society (SKS),  Helsinki.  (155 pp.)

1972 Johdatus yleiseen kulttuuriantropologiaan. Ihminen ja yhteisöt cross-cultural -tutkimuksen valossa.  ('An introduction to general

cultural anthropology. Man and society in the light of cross-cultural studies').  2nd printing Finnish Anthropological Society 1979.  

Helsinki.  (390 pp.)

1979  Paikalliskulttuurin rakennemuutos. Raportti Pohjois-Thaimaan riisikylistä. (Structural Change in Local Culture. Rural North

Thailand; summary). Transactions of the Finnish Anthropological Society  6. Helsinki. (380 pp.)  2nd printing: Tietolipas 109. Finnish 

 Literature Society (SKS), Helsinki. (335 pp.)

1984 Kirjoituksia kulttuuriantropologiasta. ('Writings in Cultural Anthropology'). Tietolipas 96. The Finnish Literature Society (SKS) &

Transactions of the Finnish Anthropological Society 15. Helsinki. (190 pp.)

1984  Neljä pohjoista yhteisöä. Kuvaraportti kolmesta  kylästä ja Suomen mustalaisista.  ('Four Northern  communities. A pictorial 

report on three villages  and the Finnish Gypsies').  Editor, captions to the photographs and articles: Neljä pohjoista yhteisöä ('Four 

Northern  communities'). Luonto ja yhteisöt ('Communities and  the natural environment').  Kylä ja pihapiiri ('The village and farming 

environment'). Asuin-rakennukset ('Housing'). Sisätyöt ('Indoor work'). Ulkotyöt  ('Outside work').  Jokapäiväinen ruoka ('Everyday  

food'). Työn ulkopuolella ('Life outside working hours'). Perhejuhlat ('Family celebrations'). Paikallisjuhlat ('Community celebrations').

Tapahtumia ('Local events'). Metropoli ja meritokratia ('Modern meritocratic society').  Otava, Helsinki. (287 pp. 600 pictures)

1987  (& Eero Julkunen)  Information Technology and Structural  Change in Local Cultures. Publications of the  National Commission

for Unesco 37, Helsinki. (117 pp.)

1989  Rakennemuutos tulevaisuuteen. Postlokaalinen  kulttuuri ja Suomi. ('Structural change into future. Postlocal culture and 

Finland'). WSOY, Helsinki. (282 pp.)  Uusi pianos 2007. CD- & e-kirja. http://www.kolumbus.fi/matti.sarmela/rakennemuutos.pdf

1991  Karhu ihmisen ympäristössä. ('The bear in the human environment').  The Kalevala Society, Helsinki. (42  pp.)

1994  Suomen perinneatlas. Suomen kansankulttuurin kartasto 2. ('Finnish Folklore Atlas. Atlas of Finnish Ethnic Culture 2')  Finnish

Literature Society (SKS), Helsinki. (250 large-sized pp.+ 99 maps).

Uusi digitaalinen versio 2007.  http://www.kolumbus.fi/matti.sarmela/Suomen%20perinneatlas.pdf

2000  Finnische Volksüberlieferung. Atlas der Finnischen  Volkskultur 2. Waxmann, Münster, New York, Berlin. (311 pp. + 99 maps).

2004  Kohtalon lait eivät katoa. Elämää Pohjois-Thaimaan kylissä. ('Laws of Destiny Never Disappear. Life in villages of northern 

Thailand'.) Finnish Literature Society (SKS ) & Finnish Anthropological Society (SAS). Helsinki. (335 s. 110 pictures).

2005  Laws of Destiny Never Disappear.  Culture of Thailand in the Postlocal World.  CD- and e-Book. Helsinki. (560 pp, 380 

pictures). http://www.kotikone.fi/matti.sarmela/thailand%20culture.html

2007  Kehitysuskon kansa. Kirjoituksia ihmisestä ja tulevaisuudesta.CD- ja e-kirja. (260 s.)  

http://www.kolumbus.fi/matti.sarmela/kehitysusko.pdf   

2009  Finnish Folklore Atlas. Ethnic Culture of Finland 2. Translated from Finnish by Annira Silver. 4th partially revised edition. CD- ja

e-kirja. (679 pp. 99 maps)  http://www.kotikone.fi/matti.sarmela/folkloreatlas.pdf

Over 200 writings 

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