Dr Joanna Kodzik, Junior Full Professor at MIARC, will deliver the guest lecture as a part of the of research seminar “Diversity in Teaching and Education: Embracing Cultural Heritage, Inclusivity, and Pedagogical Innovation” at the University of Lapland, on 18 February 2025.
During this seminar, organized by Dr Pigga Keskitalo, Full Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, questions dedicated to cultural heritage and history will be discussed by scholars and PhD students. The guest lecture focuses on the reception of knowledge about the Sámi people in Central and Eastern Europe in the 17th and 18th century.
The idea of the Arctic has captured the imagination of Europeans since ancient times, but it was not until the late 17th and 18th centuries that knowledge about this region including Sápmi was increasingly collected, revised and communicated. This process of cultural mobility and communication involved actors - travellers as well as scholars and noblemen - from Central and Eastern Europe.
While the initiative for Arctic voyages, missions and expeditions often originated in Western European countries, only a few adventurers and scholars from Eastern Europe took part in such voyages and produced eyewitness accounts. Nevertheless, knowledge from the Arctic was widely received in the East. Travel diaries as well as English, French and German anthologies of travel accounts found their place in aristocratic libraries. Depictions of nature and Indigenous people were consulted in scientific debates. Objects filled the curiosity chambers of scholars and aristocrats and the reading public desired to stay up to date about world events, not least because of the promise of economic profits. The lecture will give an insight into the knowledge production focusing on Sámi culture.
