As we arrive
to Suvanto for the first time, we approach the
village in a way from behind. We drive along a
small, bumby road, not sure whether it will take
us to the village or not. We have already had to
phone a couple of times and inform the villagers
that we will be arriving late. When driving to
Raattama, the other village, there was a brand
new paved road leading us straight where we
wanted. This is an interesting feeling: arriving
to a village you don't know, aiming to learn
something new from the people and their lives in
these villages.
Leena
The ethical basis of
any research that has to do with other people as
participants is grounded in the relationship between
the researcher(s) and the participant(s). But in this
particular project, we as researchers are a large
group of people from many backgrounds, ages, beliefs
and mind-sets. The relationships between all of us
are an essential part of how we function and carry
out the research. It is thus not only between a
researcher and a participant but also between the
multitude of researchers themselves that the
relationships form an ethical ground to a project.
Early morning
and lots of driving behind us. An exciting
situation: new people, new project, new job.
…We've finally arrived to Suvanto. Beautiful
place, reindeer on fields, red houses. A nice man
and a little dog there to meet us. A story about
an old dog that was to be put asleep but that ran
away the night before his destiny. The first
concrete feeling of distance or displacement: I
am a vegetarian in the midst of these
reindeer-stews and hunters. I take a look around
the café. They sell lovely woollen socks here.
Suddenly I become painfully aware of my
appearance. I'm wearing leather boots, a skirt
and a blouse. But it's not me, not really! I have
more wool socks and long trousers at home than
skirts and blouses - by far. I feel awkward.
Pauliina
In an inquiry based
on understanding the context of the participants'
lives is of central importance. Participants' lives
are taken as holistic bundles of them as persons in
their environment, culture, language and history -
all the while remembering that the researcher also
carries a life-world of her own. The process of
inquiry where two people, researcher and participant,
meet is thus not only an encounter of two separate,
holistic life-worlds but as a process, a connecting
and situating factor.
I look around
as Pirjo is talking. Her kids obviously play
instruments - there are three cases (violins?)
and a music rack standing by. On the sofas
plastic dinosaurs are running here and there.
There's a trampoline in the middle of the
livingroom floor. Old furniture, lace curtains,
crackling paint surfaces and colourful rugs. On
the wall a stuffed head of a moose; on the next
wall a moose-head made of felt that maybe someone
made in school. It is not different here. We talk
about borders. Dinosaurs and computers,
trampolines and pelargonias. All familiar, all
north and all south. We have come to look for
differences, to map borders. Are we the ones
drawing the lines?
Pauliina
As a whole, the
building of relationships between researchers and
participants is a long process, akin to the formation
of any important relationship. With some
participants, a good relationship has been easy to
build and maintain right from the start. Some of our
very first contacts have become kind of
key-informants to us. Both discussions with them and
initial readings of our data have given us a picture
of villagers, who are active, content and in charge
of their lives and wellbeing - despite the rapid
social and environmental changes that small northern
villages are witnessing.
[…]
people are born, they live and they die. And then
new people arrive. The village doesn't disappear,
it changes form, villagers and their presence
here changes. People start to live their lives
more and more in different places. When I lived
in Oulu and was unemployed, an official said to
me that the employment situation is hopeless, but
that doesn't mean that your situation is hopeless
- you only need one job. That, I think, was a
good way to put it.
Villager
I was asked
to write a short story about being a researcher
and at the same time a participant in my own
community - in a village part of this research
project. I should have asked this question myself
already a half a year ago when this all started.
Our village was invited to participate in a
research project. I was asked to work as a
research assistant in the project. My role was to
be a local link between the villagers and the
researchers from the university. One of my very
first thoughts was that this is again a new way
to get more involved into the community. How
would it feel to be a researcher of one's own
village and on the other hand an
informant/participant in it? It has been an
interesting process, much deeper, than I would
have thought in advance. This project will and
has already made my decision to keep my life here
stronger. I'm privileged to be able to study my
own village and community with respect and love.
Marikaisa
