No abstract

This article discusses how three illegitimate children of a poor maidservant built their lives in Finland at the end of the long nineteenth century. The eldest followed in her mother's footsteps by becoming a maidservant with an illegitimate child of her own, but the two younger ones cut loose from the traditional setting of the family, both geographically and socio-economically. They joined the middle class, which was then emerging and taking shape at the turn of the century. This article shows how the rise of the younger Ahrenberg siblings was made possible by the new social structures in Finnish society: increasing educational openings for common people; economic liberalization; and the emergence of new career opportunities within the expanding field of public sector social work. The article also analyzes the impact these changes had on the self-understanding of the siblings. Moreover, the article sheds light on the means of mutual assistance by which the Ahrenberg siblings helped each other seize the new opportunities and fight the insecurity of Finnish society at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Johanna Annola opens up a view on a modernizing society by analysing the ways in which the experience of a ”good death” was negotiated in two early twentieth-century Finnish poorhouses. In particular, the chapter focuses on procedures that took place in the liminal stage between death and burial. Exploring two different poorhouses, Annola discusses the intersection of a traditional and modern experience of death.

This article uses the concept of maternalism to discuss workhouse management, which in late nineteenth-century Finland was entrusted to women. The article looks at the ways in which maternalist discourse manifests in the development of a workhouse matron's leadership position, how the said discourse became further manifest in the guidelines given to matrons by the state poor relief officials and how the boundaries of a matron's authority were defined in conflicts with both male agents in poor relief and the paupers themselves. Ultimately, the article illuminates the contemporary understanding of feminine and masculine duties in society, which were inextricably linked to perceptions of social class. In addition, it explores the transfer of ideas from the more central regions of Europe to a Northern periphery by contrasting the Finnish development with that in England. The article suggests that as a workhouse matron's position was built on the ideal of normative womanhood, it was not emancipatory per se. However, the article also shows that only those elements of normative womanhood that were relevant to a matron's mission of converting the paupers to respectable citizenship were to be included in her leadership as a whole. These restrictions marked professionalization inside the contemporary maternalist discourse and the feminine sphere of society.

Turun kehruuhuone oli vankila, jonka asukkaat olivat 1820-luvulta lähtien pääasiassa irtolaisuudesta vangittuja naisia. Artikkeli esittelee vankeusmaantieteellisiä tulkintamalleja niukkaan lähdeaineistoon, jota laitoksen hallinto tuotti vuosina 1820–1825. Tutkimustehtävänä on selvittää yhtäältä, millaisia toimintaperiaatteita hallinto toteutti laitoksen tiloista päättäessään, ja toisaalta, millaisia toimintamahdollisuuksia nämä tilat loivat vangeille. Artikkelissa esitetään, että vankilatilan eri funktiot toteutuivat samanaikaisesti kerroksina, joiden tiheys vaihteli tilassa ja ajassa. Lisäksi tuodaan esiin laitoksen sairashuone, kirkko ja romanitaustaisille vangeille varattu huone välittävinä alueina, joissa vankien saattoi ollamahdollista käyttäytyä ”normaalista” poikkeavalla tavalla. Artikkelissa todetaan myös, että vankilan tiloissa vietetty aika ei välttämättä jättänyt vankeihin pysyvää kehollista stigmaa, sillä laitoksen olot eivät olleet huonommat kuin köyhällä kansalla keskimäärin ja koska hallinto pyrki välttämään leiman syntymistä.