Tag Archives: University of Helsinki

Keep up the good work

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Now I have to brag a bit about my MA students. The name of the course is “English in Finland,” which of course can be interpreted quite widely — that was the point. The students are all completing their MA theses in the Department of Modern Languages in the English program. They are an incredible group!

At this point, there are eight brave souls who have stuck with it. I want to to tell you about their topics. At the outset, I think it is worth mentioning that there are some advantages to studying a language at a distance from its native speakers, or what might be considered its “home.” This psychological distance is very important for the students in our program, opening up opportunities for research that simply would not be possible in, say, the US or the UK. They just don’t have all that baggage. You’ll soon find out what I mean.

Without naming any student names, here are the topics:
1) The role of English for Middle Eastern asylum seekers in Finland, based on interview data
2) The use of prepositions in written English by native speakers of Finnish, based on a corpus of essays from upper secondary school students
3) English-Finnish codeswitching in a community of Finnish snowboarders, based on recorded conversations
4) How the word yes has been appropriated into Finnish (written as jees, in case you are wondering): what it means in Finnish compared to English, who uses it, and why, based on online data
5) How children at an English language daycare in Finland self-regulate, how they create patterns of use, who monitors their language
6) A comparison of the total amount of spoken language of African American actors vs actors of other backgrounds in 13 Oscar-winning “Black” films (I bet you can guess the student’s results…)
7) A comparison and account of the terms refugee, asylum seeker and migrant in English-language press in Finland, before and after the current immigrant changes
8) A survey evaluation of Finnish and Swedish speakers’ attitudes and social understanding of ethnic terms in English (including some very derogatory ones!): African-American, American Indian, Black, Chinaman, Cracker, Eskimo, Jap, Jew, Jewish, Kike, Mulatto, Native American, Nigger, Paki, Redskin, and White trash. I understand that this list has a lot of shock value; rest assured that the goal of the study is to make sure that students are taught which of these terms are OK to use and which ones are not–and why.

Out with a bang

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I was meant to be in Tallinn yesterday, but due to an official document snafoo, I was here in Helsinki.
Which, as it turns out, wasn’t such a bad place to be. Because I was here, anyway, I opted to go to Professor Markku Henriksson’s retirement lecture, and I am so happy I was there.
There were many high points to Professor Henriksson’s hour-long lecture. It was well thought out, illustrated, and it was presented with flair. He emphasized how much he loves his job — and the packed auditorium, full of international scholars as well as local ones — were evidence of that love. The take-home message, though, was a sad one. The metaphor he used throughout his speech was a corn flower, or in other words, one of these:

purple_coneflower_large

The culmination was to quote the surrender speech of Chief Joseph, who was a leader of the Nez Perce people of North America:

“I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

 

(Chief Joseph surrender speech, from October 5, 1877; see http://www.inthebeginning.com/articles/joseph.htm)

This is when I started crying — I blamed it on allergies — but it was his speech, I admit it. I admit it only because I later found out that others in the audience had the same reaction, so I have to ‘fess up.

Professor Henriksson’s point was that, despite all of international contacts, awards, accolades, influence, mentoring, attention (etc., etc., etc.) his 40 years of service have garnered, his efforts and program have not gained support or recognition from his home university or the Ministry of Education here in Finland. This was a terrifying and saddening truth, and one that, considering I work in the same university, really struck me. At the age of 64, Henriksson could put in another four years before mandatory retirement, but he is exhausted from trying to a fight a battle he will never win.

Perhaps the saddest point is that, despite his courage to speak out, there were scant university officials there to hear his words. That, in and of itself, only drives his point home further.

Thanks to the the Maple Leaf and Eagle organizers for a wonderful event. I met new friends and caught up with old ones. Thanks to Professor Henriksson, too, for creating this wonderful community and atmosphere. I sure hope this won’t be the last of it all.