Can the research of labour history also provide answers to the challenges faced by changing societies? Do we need specialized academic societies in the 21st century? Are young scholars interested in studying workers, the working class and the labour movement?
Our answer is yes!
Since the society was founded in 1984, we have followed the societal and academic changes in Finland and elsewhere. The topics of seminars organized by The Finnish Society for Labour History have varied from social structures and political activism to everyday life and economic depressions. Also the history of working-class women has been an essential part of labour history for a long time. Researchers of labour history use both quantitative and qualitative research materials and methods. The variety of research topics also includes histories of organization, local history and biographies.
The Finnish Society for Labour History is a member of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, established in 1899. As a national and politically neutral scholarly society, the Finnish Society for Labour History supports new openings and new approaches to labour history. The society encourages collaboration between academic and amateur researchers as well as between different organizations involved in the field of labour history, such as archives, libraries, museums and trade unions. We believe that such collaboration is needed in the future as well.
We also believe in quality. We do not seek to expand the number of our activities, as we rather aim to offer well-planned venues and carefully edited texts. An important tradition is organizing a yearly summer seminar which gathers together experts and amateurs. We also publish a yearbook, Väki Voimakas (in Finnish), based on the seminar. These yearbooks offer an overview of the recent research in the field of labour history in Finland. In addition to the summer seminar, we also organize a number of other seminars, often held in collaboration with other societies and institutions. We are also quite proud of our graduate seminar in which students of master programs from different universities and subjects receive advice on their work-in-progress theses. This event is unique in the way in which it brings together students and young scholars with senior researchers and other experts and allows each student to get personal comments on their work.
Are you interested in learning more about the society and taking part in its activities? Contact the chair of the board Jarmo Peltola jarmo.peltola(at)uta.fi or visit our Facebook pages https://fi-fi.facebook.com/THPTseura.
