Discussions on the Past: Shared Experience in the Collection of Finnish Folk Poetry

Abstract

The article examines dialogues and encounters between rune collectors and rune singers, mainly by scrutinizing one case of collaboration. How did the physical, emotional ties and commitments of the collectors themselves influence the material they collected? What does it mean if we render commitments such as family ties visible? The singer, Anni Lehtonen, interprets the material learned from older relatives and shapes it for her own needs. Then the collector, Samuli Paulaharju, interprets this information from his own perspective—a perspective that already has informed the questions posed to the interviewee. Most importantly, this perspective (pre)determines the material. This means that the material we are now able to access in the archives was already shaped by at least two interpretative processes, separate from the selection process of the Archives of the Finnish Literature Society itself. The third layer of interpretation is the lens of the interpretative, reflective researcher—and after that, the readers.