Editorial: Ethnological Knowledge

Abstract

different universities in Finland and across Europe. In Finnish universities, ethnology is combined with other disciplines and taught as part of multidisciplinary degree programs under different titles. This development into larger and thematic degree programs has challenged ethnologists to rethink their field and identify the skills and knowledge that students need to acquire. In the world of interdisciplinary and applied research, scholars – including ethnologists – need to be aware of their identity and core competences. For many years, government research funding programs have urged us to collaborate across disciplines and with stakeholders outside the academia. Collaboration with the third sector has become an integral part of research projects’ activities and science communication a significant skill set, forming part of research plans. In these times of multidisciplinary and cross-institutional working environments, it is important to reflect on what kind of knowledge ethnology produces. The articles in this issue introduce perspectives into contemporary societal issues. At the heart of ethnology is an interest in everyday lives and personal experiences. Our research practices allow us to have close contact with individuals and groups who experience and interpret the world differently, often contrary to the scenarios and presumptions of those who make plans and decisions, as well as to generalizations and macro developments. Unlike many other fields of humanities and social science, ethnologists can operate on a micro scale and pay attention to details and individual experiences, theorizing upon different cultural phenomena. The competence of ethnologists thus lies in acknowledging diversity and multiple views, and in bringing together and analyzing different voices in varying cultural contexts and lived realities of a changing world. This is how we can situate ethnological research among other disciplines and find a recipe for making an impact both in the academia and beyond. Editorial: Ethnological Knowledge Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto