Papers by Eila Stepanova
Registers of Communication. Ed. by Asif Agha & Frog. Studia Fennica Linguistica 18. Helsinki: SKS., 2015
Finnish Literature Society • SKS • Helsinki studia fennica linguistica 18
Archaeologia Baltica 15: 128–143., 2011
Known the world over, laments are one of the oldest genres of oral ritual poetry. They are usuall... more Known the world over, laments are one of the oldest genres of oral ritual poetry. They are usually performed by women during rituals: funerals, weddings or leaving to join the army. Laments are works of a special kind of improvisation; they were created during the process of performance, drawing upon traditional language and motifs. The objective of this article is to open a discussion of relationships between Karelian and Lithuanian lament traditions, as representative examples of Finnic and Baltic traditions, respectively. I focus on representations of 'belief systems' as these are reflected through the poetic features, images and motifs of both Karelian and Lithuanian funeral laments.
Alliteration in Culture. Ed. Jonathan Roper. Houndmills: Pallgrave Macmillan., 2011
This chapter offers an overview of alliteration in Finnic cultures. The focus is on oral rather t... more This chapter offers an overview of alliteration in Finnic cultures. The focus is on oral rather than written traditions and particularly on two poetic systems which are generally considered to have roots in the vernacular culture going back more than 1000 years.
Mythic Discourses: Studies in Uralic Traditions. Ed. Frog, Anna-Leena Siikala, Eila Stepanova. Helsinki: SKS. , 2012
The Case of syndyzet and spuassuzet * T his paper approaches the intersection of "mythic images" ... more The Case of syndyzet and spuassuzet * T his paper approaches the intersection of "mythic images" and poetic "register" through the examples of syndyzet 1 and spuassuzet 2 and their semantic fields as encountered in Karelian laments. The term syndyzet (diminutive plural derived from synty ['origin, birth, emergence']) reveals conceptions of the otherworld as a realm of the dead and its inhabitants, and is also related to divine powers. Spuassuzet (diminutive plural derived from Russian Spas, Spasitel' (Спас, Спаситель) ['Saviour']) was a parallel term which was partly synonymous with syndyzet in Karelian laments. These terms are found in laments performed in different ritual and non-ritual contexts, where they exhibit interrelated fields of meaning. The prominence of syndyzet in the Karelian lament tradition has led this term and concept to be mentioned by many researchers. However, it was only exceptionally given special attention, and the focused discussions were often problematized by limited perspectives on the corpus of laments, challenges of penetrating the circumlocution of the lament register, and/or attempting to approach laments in isolation without consideration of other genres and ethnographic materials.
Conference Presentations by Eila Stepanova
Edited Books by Eila Stepanova
![Research paper thumbnail of Mytologia ja runous [Mythology and Poetry] (ed. Karina Lukin, Frog, Eila Stepanova & Lotte Tarkka)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/55454921/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Special issue of Elore, vol. 22, no. 1, 2015
Table of Contents
SAATTEEKSI / PREFACE: Frog, Karina Lukin, Eila Stepanova ja Lotte Tarkka.
A... more Table of Contents
SAATTEEKSI / PREFACE: Frog, Karina Lukin, Eila Stepanova ja Lotte Tarkka.
ARTIKKELIT / ARTICLES:
---- "Matka ja liike nenetsien epiikassa ja šamanistisessa runoudessa / Journey and movement in Nenets epic and shamanistic poetry", Karina Lukin
---- "Elämä on matka: Elämänkulun käsitteellistäminen karjalaisessa rituaalirunoudessa / Life is a Journey: The Conceptualization of Life in Karelian Ritual Poetry", Eila Stepanova
---- "Kalevalamitta oppineiden käytössä uuden ajan alun Suomessa / Learned men and an oral idiom in early modern Finland", Kati Kallio
---- "Folkloristista lingvistiikkaa – Christfrid Gananderin kansanrunokoelman Lypsäjän sanat / Folkloristic linguistics: The poem of a milker from the folklore collection of Christfrid Ganander", Elina Palola
KATSAUKSET / PERSPECTIVES
---- "Myyttinen diskurssi ja mytologian symbolinen matriisi / Mythic Discourse and the Symolic Matrix of Mythology", Frog
---- "Meren kosijat ja elämän leipä. Kertauslaulun myyttisyys Hesiodoksen metallisukupolvien valossa / Suitors of the Sea and the Bread of Life. A Traditional Song in the Light of Hesiod's Generations of Metals", Liisa Kaski
---- "Miten tutkia kummia kokemuksia? / How Can Strange Experiences be Studies?", Kaarina Koski & Maisa Honkasalo
---- "Mielikuvitus, kansanruno ja tuonpuoleisesta puhuminen / Imagination, Folk Poetry and Speaking about the Otherworld", Lotte Tarkka
Mythic discourses in the present day show how vernacular heritage continues to function and be va... more Mythic discourses in the present day show how vernacular heritage continues to function and be valuable through emergent interpretations and revaluations. At the same time, continuities in mythic images, motifs, myths and genres reveal the longue durée of mythologies and their transformations. The eighteen articles of Mythic Discourses address the many facets of myth in Uralic cultures, from the Finnish and Karelian world-creation to Nenets shamans, offering multidisciplinary perspectives from twenty eastern and western scholars.
The mythologies of Uralic peoples differ so considerably that mythology is approached here in a broad sense, including myths proper, religious beliefs and associated rituals. Traditions are addressed individually, typologically, and in historical perspective. The range and breadth of the articles, presenting diverse living mythologies, their histories and relationships to traditions of other cultures such as Germanic and Slavic, all come together to offer a far richer and more developed perspective on Uralic traditions than any one article could do alone.
Papers on Oral Poetry by Eila Stepanova
Alliteration in Culture. Ed. Jonathan Roper. Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan. Pp. 195–218., 2011
This chapter offers an overview of alliteration in Finnic cultures. The focus is on oral rather t... more This chapter offers an overview of alliteration in Finnic cultures. The focus is on oral rather than written traditions and particularly on two poetic systems which are generally considered to have roots in the vernacular culture going back more than 1000 years.
Books by Eila Stepanova
Mythology in Cultural Practice Papers by Eila Stepanova
In Between Text and Practice: Mythology, Religion and Research, ed. Frog & Karina Lukin (RMN Newsletter 10 (Summer 2015), special issue): 112–118. , 2015
This paper addresses a pattern connected to Karelian rituals for an individual's movement from on... more This paper addresses a pattern connected to Karelian rituals for an individual's movement from one community into another. This pattern presents a structural distribution of labour between different genres of verbal art and the ritual specialist associated with them.
Scholarly editing by Eila Stepanova
Journal of Finnish Studies Special Issue 21(1&2), 2018
This collection, a special issue of the Journal of Finnish Studies (21.1&2), edited by Helena Hal... more This collection, a special issue of the Journal of Finnish Studies (21.1&2), edited by Helena Halmari, Scott Kaukonen, Hanna Snellman, and Hilary-Joy Virtanen, includes recent scholarship about events and cultural trends in Finland during the time of the Grand Duchy (1809–1917). The contributors' theses are mostly non-traditional and surprising, showing how poverty, famine, illness, and even Finnish food played significant roles in Finland's journey to independence. Other topics include the reception of the Kalevala (especially in Russia); the Kalevala from an ecocritical viewpoint; and Kivi's Seven Brothers as a voyage toward maturity and independence. Finnish National Romanticism is approached through the contributions of the Järnefelt family.
Table of Contents:
Helena Halmari, Scott Kaukonen, Hanna Snellman, and Hilary-Joy Virtanen: "Let Us Be Finns": The Era before Finland's Independence;
Lotte Tarkka, Eila Stepanova, and Heidi Haapoja-Mäkelä: The Kalevala's Languages: Receptions, Myths, and Ideologies;
Jonathan Lehtonen: Kalevala Ecology: Bioregional Aesthetics and Sámi Environmental Autonomy;
Tiina Seppä: "Lest They Go Hungry": Negotiations on Money and Survival;
Barbara Hong: The Järnefelts, Finnish National Romanticism, and Sibelius;
Jyrki Nummi: Shipwreck in the Sea of Life: Sea Voyage in Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers;
Antti Häkkinen: The Great Famine of the 1860s in Finland: An Important Turning Point or Setback?
Ritva Kylli: National Identity and the Shaping of Finnish Food Taste;
Heini Hakosalo: A Twin Grip on "The National Disease": Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Associations and Their Contribution to Nation-Formation (1907–17).
Mythology by Eila Stepanova
RMN Newsletter 14: 91–111, 2019
This paper confronts the research tendency to treat a performance tradition as a semiotic phenome... more This paper confronts the research tendency to treat a performance tradition as a semiotic phenomenon in isolation from its performance environment. 'Performance environment' is developed as an analytical concept describing an abstraction of the conventional environment of a performance practice as constituted of customary features that reciprocally become predictable. This is distinguished from the
'situation-specific environment' as the setting of any particular performance. Performance environment is a broad concept that may include anything from spaces, places or temporal settings to social situations or emotional atmosphere. It is considered in relation to John Miles Foley’s concept of 'performance arena' as an experienced-based semiotic framework for producing and receiving expressions of a particular tradition. Foley’s concept is extended from concerning only semiosis to also include emotional engagement, with potential for its activation to vary by degree. We propose that performance arena and performance environment are linked through conventions of practice. When considering this connection in relation to particular cases, we consider parameters of alignment versus disalignment and reinforcement versus contrast. These parameters are tools for exploring how situation-specific environments interact with a performance environment and performance arena. The soundscape of Karelian funeral lament is taken up as a feature of the performance environment that contextualizes and reinforces the performance arena, while lament performance participates in the soundscapes of additional ritual activities. The case’s analogical value is illustrated through comparison with examples from Old Norse eddic poetry and saga literature.
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Papers by Eila Stepanova
Conference Presentations by Eila Stepanova
Edited Books by Eila Stepanova
SAATTEEKSI / PREFACE: Frog, Karina Lukin, Eila Stepanova ja Lotte Tarkka.
ARTIKKELIT / ARTICLES:
---- "Matka ja liike nenetsien epiikassa ja šamanistisessa runoudessa / Journey and movement in Nenets epic and shamanistic poetry", Karina Lukin
---- "Elämä on matka: Elämänkulun käsitteellistäminen karjalaisessa rituaalirunoudessa / Life is a Journey: The Conceptualization of Life in Karelian Ritual Poetry", Eila Stepanova
---- "Kalevalamitta oppineiden käytössä uuden ajan alun Suomessa / Learned men and an oral idiom in early modern Finland", Kati Kallio
---- "Folkloristista lingvistiikkaa – Christfrid Gananderin kansanrunokoelman Lypsäjän sanat / Folkloristic linguistics: The poem of a milker from the folklore collection of Christfrid Ganander", Elina Palola
KATSAUKSET / PERSPECTIVES
---- "Myyttinen diskurssi ja mytologian symbolinen matriisi / Mythic Discourse and the Symolic Matrix of Mythology", Frog
---- "Meren kosijat ja elämän leipä. Kertauslaulun myyttisyys Hesiodoksen metallisukupolvien valossa / Suitors of the Sea and the Bread of Life. A Traditional Song in the Light of Hesiod's Generations of Metals", Liisa Kaski
---- "Miten tutkia kummia kokemuksia? / How Can Strange Experiences be Studies?", Kaarina Koski & Maisa Honkasalo
---- "Mielikuvitus, kansanruno ja tuonpuoleisesta puhuminen / Imagination, Folk Poetry and Speaking about the Otherworld", Lotte Tarkka
The mythologies of Uralic peoples differ so considerably that mythology is approached here in a broad sense, including myths proper, religious beliefs and associated rituals. Traditions are addressed individually, typologically, and in historical perspective. The range and breadth of the articles, presenting diverse living mythologies, their histories and relationships to traditions of other cultures such as Germanic and Slavic, all come together to offer a far richer and more developed perspective on Uralic traditions than any one article could do alone.
Papers on Oral Poetry by Eila Stepanova
Books by Eila Stepanova
Mythology in Cultural Practice Papers by Eila Stepanova
Scholarly editing by Eila Stepanova
Table of Contents:
Helena Halmari, Scott Kaukonen, Hanna Snellman, and Hilary-Joy Virtanen: "Let Us Be Finns": The Era before Finland's Independence;
Lotte Tarkka, Eila Stepanova, and Heidi Haapoja-Mäkelä: The Kalevala's Languages: Receptions, Myths, and Ideologies;
Jonathan Lehtonen: Kalevala Ecology: Bioregional Aesthetics and Sámi Environmental Autonomy;
Tiina Seppä: "Lest They Go Hungry": Negotiations on Money and Survival;
Barbara Hong: The Järnefelts, Finnish National Romanticism, and Sibelius;
Jyrki Nummi: Shipwreck in the Sea of Life: Sea Voyage in Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers;
Antti Häkkinen: The Great Famine of the 1860s in Finland: An Important Turning Point or Setback?
Ritva Kylli: National Identity and the Shaping of Finnish Food Taste;
Heini Hakosalo: A Twin Grip on "The National Disease": Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Associations and Their Contribution to Nation-Formation (1907–17).
Mythology by Eila Stepanova
'situation-specific environment' as the setting of any particular performance. Performance environment is a broad concept that may include anything from spaces, places or temporal settings to social situations or emotional atmosphere. It is considered in relation to John Miles Foley’s concept of 'performance arena' as an experienced-based semiotic framework for producing and receiving expressions of a particular tradition. Foley’s concept is extended from concerning only semiosis to also include emotional engagement, with potential for its activation to vary by degree. We propose that performance arena and performance environment are linked through conventions of practice. When considering this connection in relation to particular cases, we consider parameters of alignment versus disalignment and reinforcement versus contrast. These parameters are tools for exploring how situation-specific environments interact with a performance environment and performance arena. The soundscape of Karelian funeral lament is taken up as a feature of the performance environment that contextualizes and reinforces the performance arena, while lament performance participates in the soundscapes of additional ritual activities. The case’s analogical value is illustrated through comparison with examples from Old Norse eddic poetry and saga literature.
SAATTEEKSI / PREFACE: Frog, Karina Lukin, Eila Stepanova ja Lotte Tarkka.
ARTIKKELIT / ARTICLES:
---- "Matka ja liike nenetsien epiikassa ja šamanistisessa runoudessa / Journey and movement in Nenets epic and shamanistic poetry", Karina Lukin
---- "Elämä on matka: Elämänkulun käsitteellistäminen karjalaisessa rituaalirunoudessa / Life is a Journey: The Conceptualization of Life in Karelian Ritual Poetry", Eila Stepanova
---- "Kalevalamitta oppineiden käytössä uuden ajan alun Suomessa / Learned men and an oral idiom in early modern Finland", Kati Kallio
---- "Folkloristista lingvistiikkaa – Christfrid Gananderin kansanrunokoelman Lypsäjän sanat / Folkloristic linguistics: The poem of a milker from the folklore collection of Christfrid Ganander", Elina Palola
KATSAUKSET / PERSPECTIVES
---- "Myyttinen diskurssi ja mytologian symbolinen matriisi / Mythic Discourse and the Symolic Matrix of Mythology", Frog
---- "Meren kosijat ja elämän leipä. Kertauslaulun myyttisyys Hesiodoksen metallisukupolvien valossa / Suitors of the Sea and the Bread of Life. A Traditional Song in the Light of Hesiod's Generations of Metals", Liisa Kaski
---- "Miten tutkia kummia kokemuksia? / How Can Strange Experiences be Studies?", Kaarina Koski & Maisa Honkasalo
---- "Mielikuvitus, kansanruno ja tuonpuoleisesta puhuminen / Imagination, Folk Poetry and Speaking about the Otherworld", Lotte Tarkka
The mythologies of Uralic peoples differ so considerably that mythology is approached here in a broad sense, including myths proper, religious beliefs and associated rituals. Traditions are addressed individually, typologically, and in historical perspective. The range and breadth of the articles, presenting diverse living mythologies, their histories and relationships to traditions of other cultures such as Germanic and Slavic, all come together to offer a far richer and more developed perspective on Uralic traditions than any one article could do alone.
Table of Contents:
Helena Halmari, Scott Kaukonen, Hanna Snellman, and Hilary-Joy Virtanen: "Let Us Be Finns": The Era before Finland's Independence;
Lotte Tarkka, Eila Stepanova, and Heidi Haapoja-Mäkelä: The Kalevala's Languages: Receptions, Myths, and Ideologies;
Jonathan Lehtonen: Kalevala Ecology: Bioregional Aesthetics and Sámi Environmental Autonomy;
Tiina Seppä: "Lest They Go Hungry": Negotiations on Money and Survival;
Barbara Hong: The Järnefelts, Finnish National Romanticism, and Sibelius;
Jyrki Nummi: Shipwreck in the Sea of Life: Sea Voyage in Aleksis Kivi's Seven Brothers;
Antti Häkkinen: The Great Famine of the 1860s in Finland: An Important Turning Point or Setback?
Ritva Kylli: National Identity and the Shaping of Finnish Food Taste;
Heini Hakosalo: A Twin Grip on "The National Disease": Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Associations and Their Contribution to Nation-Formation (1907–17).
'situation-specific environment' as the setting of any particular performance. Performance environment is a broad concept that may include anything from spaces, places or temporal settings to social situations or emotional atmosphere. It is considered in relation to John Miles Foley’s concept of 'performance arena' as an experienced-based semiotic framework for producing and receiving expressions of a particular tradition. Foley’s concept is extended from concerning only semiosis to also include emotional engagement, with potential for its activation to vary by degree. We propose that performance arena and performance environment are linked through conventions of practice. When considering this connection in relation to particular cases, we consider parameters of alignment versus disalignment and reinforcement versus contrast. These parameters are tools for exploring how situation-specific environments interact with a performance environment and performance arena. The soundscape of Karelian funeral lament is taken up as a feature of the performance environment that contextualizes and reinforces the performance arena, while lament performance participates in the soundscapes of additional ritual activities. The case’s analogical value is illustrated through comparison with examples from Old Norse eddic poetry and saga literature.