Visualized Collective Memories: Social Representations of History in Images Found in Finnish History Textbooks

Abstract

This study focuses on visual collective memory, a topic that has long been neglected in the social sciences and particularly in social psychological research on social representations of history. It explores the contents and meanings of images in the construction of Finnish national history. Through examination of official history writing, a better understanding is sought of how collective memory is constructed as part of history politics. The data for the present study consist of images (N = 541) included in recent textbooks on Finnish history. Barthes' three‐meaning approach is used in combination with qualitative content analysis to examine a large corpus of images. The visualized collective memory is approached from five perspectives: (i) the years of memory; (ii) the places of memory; (iii) the themes of memory; (iv) the main actors and (v) the silence of memory. The investigation shows that, in official discourse, politics, culture and war are the main contents of Finnish visual collective memory. The key actors in the narrative are politicians, especially the eighth president of Finland, Urho Kekkonen. The most important moments in time are situated in the war years 1918 and 1939, while the geographical focus is the central square in the capital, Helsinki. The result is a national history that is positive, homogeneous and exclusive. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Celebrating nationhood: Negotiating nationhood and history in Finland's centenary celebrations

“…The parliamentary building in Helsinki appeared in many projects (5) as a symbol of democracy. In previous studies addressing official and lay representations of national history, politics and war have been core elements of Finnish history conceptions (Hakoköngäs & Sakki, 2016a, 2016b; Torsti, 2012). Memorising through political leaders and icons is part of official, institutionalised memory politics, which might explain the relatively small proportion of politics ‐related projects in the centenary celebration programme—grassroots‐level actors were the main organisers in projects of all the themes described above.…”

“…Also, present‐day hegemonic representations, despite their deep‐rooted and banal nature, are susceptible to gradual change, transformation and alternative stories. In terms of the circular model of collective memory (Hakoköngäs & Sakki, 2016a), it seems that within hegemonic narratives of Finnish culture, wars and politics, some change is taking place in the form of alternative representations. For example, in the centenary programme, new actors such as sexual minorities, women and ordinary citizens were brought alongside more traditional politicians and soldiers (cf.…”

“…For example, in the centenary programme, new actors such as sexual minorities, women and ordinary citizens were brought alongside more traditional politicians and soldiers (cf. Hakoköngäs & Sakki, 2016a; Torsti, 2012).…”

“…Social representations related to the past can be approached as narratives that constitute collective memories and strengthen collective identities (Liu & László, 2007; Wertsch, 2002). Hakoköngäs and Sakki (2016a, 2016b) have presented a model of commemoration that describes the formation of social representations of history. In this model, communication, social representations of history and collective memory constitute a continuous circle in which (a) social communication addressing the past leads to (b) the formation of social representations of history and, through repetition and sharing, (c) to the preservation of representations in collective memory.…”

“…Through anchoring, nationhood and history are given meaning in a culture-specific and value-laden way. Finnish history, for instance, has acquired its meaning in relation to the Finnish wars against the Soviet Union during WW2 (Hakoköngäs & Sakki, 2016a). Objectification is a process whereby something abstract is transformed into something almost physical and concrete, which may take the form of a symbol, a metaphor, a figure, a person or a group.…”