ACADEMY OF FINLAND
UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ
CULT AND IDENTITY
Conference on the study of cults and audiences
Hosted by the University of Jyväskylä
Room JT 120
September 6-7, 2007
10:15 (am) - 18:00 (pm)
In different types of society from pre-modern to postmodern, cult phenomena have had a
significant cultural role. This relates to the fact that the construction and maintenance of cults has a
crucial identity function on both the collective and the personal level. Cultic and cult-like relations
with cultural products and cultural phenomena generally support effectively both social bonding
on the societal level and individual identities on the personal level. On the other hand, the
relationship between cults and identities is a complex one and varies widely from the unitary and
comprehensive identities aimed at by political cults to the more network-like identities supported
by media cults.
The conference looks into the identity aspects of cult phenomena from the perspectives of history,
cultural anthropology, museology, sociology, art history, literary studies and cultural studies. The
keynote speakers are Dr. Gábor Gyáni (Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) and
Dr. Eoin Devereux (Sociology Department, University of Limerick). Dr. Gyáni is cultural historian
with a focus on cultural memory, microhistory, and issues of identity. His major works include
Parlor and Kitchen: Housing and Domestic Culture in Budapest (2003), Social History of Hungary from the
Middle of the 19th to the End of the 20th Century (edited work, 2004), and Identity and Urban
Experience: Fin de Siècle Budapest (2005). Dr. Devereux has focused on cultural and economic
sociology with special interests in media analysis, social exclusion and poverty. Currently, Dr.
Devereux is undertaking research on media audiences and the phenomenon of popular music
fandom through his study on Morrissey’s fans. His major works are Devils and Angels: Television,
Ideology and the Coverage of Poverty (1998) and Understanding the Media (2003).
The other speakers are M.A. researcher Tuuli Lähdesmäki (art history, University of Jyväskylä),
Prof. Ignác Romsics (history, ELTE University), M.A. Andy Sawyer (science fiction literature,
University of Liverpool), and Ph.D. researcher Jarmo Valkola (film studies, University of
Jyväskylä). In addition, the conference includes six thematic sessions. The conference is part of the
Academy of Finland research project “Cult, community, identity”, which was launched in 2005.
The project looks into cultic phenomena, especially their communal significance and identity
functions in both historical and contemporary contexts.
The conference is open to students and scholars as well as anyone interested in the field!
For more information, please contact:
Head of the project
Professor Tuomo Lahdelma
lahdelma@cc.jyu.fi
Conference secretary
MA researcher Eeva Haverinen
eehaveri@cc.jyu.fi
SCHEDULE
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Room: JT120
10:15-10:30
Opening words: Professor Tuomo Lahdelma (University of Jyväskylä, head of the
“Cult, Community and Identity” project financed by the Academy of Finland)
Chair: Erkki Vainikkala (University of Jyväskylä)
10:30-11:30
Gábor Gyáni (Hungarian Academy of Sciences): “The Creation of Identity
through Cults”
11:30-12:00
Tuuli Lähdesmäki (University of Jyväskylä): "Cultic Ways of Producing 'We' in
the Debate over the Risto Ryti Monument"
12:00-12:30
Andy Sawyer (University of Liverpool): “The Enchanted Duplicator and Other
Fables: British Science Fiction Fandom in the 1950s”
12:30-13:00
Discussion
Afternoon sections 14:15-18:00
Friday, September 7, 2007
Room: JT120
Chair: Urpo Kovala (University of Jyväskylä)
10:15-11:15
Eoin Devereux (University of Limerick): “I'm Not the Man You Think I Am:
Morrissey, Fandom and Identity”
11:15-11:45
Ignác Romsics (ELTE University): “The Changing Images of Miklós Horthy in the
Hungarian Historiography”
11:45-12:15
Jarmo Valkola (University of Jyväskylä): “Cinematic Identity: Existential Bodies in
Space”
12:15-12:45
Discussion
Afternoon sections 14:15-17:30
AFTERNOON SECTIONS (speakers are allowed 20 minutes for their presentations plus
10 minutes for discussion)
Thursday
Room JT202
Cult, Identity, and
Politics
Chair: Ignác Romsics
Room JT203
Cult, Identity, and
Visuality
Chair: Tuuli Lähdesmäki
Room JT205
Cult, Identity, and
Literature
Chair: Andy Sawyer and
Eoin Devereux
14.15
Arpád Welker (Central
Europen University):
“Political
Commemoration and
Historiography:
The Kossuth- and Deákyears”
Irma Hirsjärvi
(University of
Jyväskylä): “The Seventh
Sex: Sex and Gender in
Sf Literature”
14.45
Anssi Halmesvirta
(University of
Jyväskylä): "Lenin-Cult
in Finland in the Year
1970"
Hanna Pirinen
(University of
Jyväskylä): “"The
Influence of
the corpus Christi Cult
on Medieval Visual Art
and
Church Interiors”
Katariina Husso
(University of
Jyväskylä): “Reflections
of Identity at the Sacred
Orthodox Images in
Finland”
Judith Zsák (Pécsi
Tudományegyetem):
“Writing Identity
through Countercults:
János Dénes Orbán and
the Iconography of the
Contemporary Attila
15.15
Break
16.30
17.00
17.30
György Tverdota (ELTE
University): “À
Napoléon seul”
Satu Kähkönen
(University of
Jyväskylä): “The Power
of the Title "Ornament
and Crime": Adolf Loos'
Place in the Canon of
Modern Architecture”
Barbara Oettl (University
of Jyväskylä): “Cult
Against All Odds”
Tiina Koivulahti
(University of
Jyväskylä): “Fine Art in
Service of Naziideology”
József Cult”
Anna-Leena Toivanen
(University of
Jyväskylä): “Dambudzo
Marechera: The Rejection
of a Nation-based
Writer’s Identity”
Tuomo Lahdelma
(University of
Jyväskylä): “How to
make a national writer –
the case of Aleksis Kivi”
Urpo Kovala (University
of Jyväskylä):
Negotiating greatness:
the case of J. L. Runeberg
AFTERNOON SECTIONS (speakers are allowed 20 minutes for their presentations plus
10 minutes for discussion)
Friday
Room JT203
Cult, Identity, and
Memory
Chair: Gábor Gyáni
14.15
Orsolya Rákai
(Hungarian Academy of
Sciences): Chameleoncult (From collective
identity-forming to
individual identityforming: the history of
the cult of the Hungarian
Queen Elizabeth)
14.45
Katriina Kajannes:
“Constructing a cult of a
new humanity in
expressionism – the case
of Hagar Olsson”
Juha Oravala (University
of Jyväskylä): "Cinefiles
as a Cult in
Contemporary Culture.
Questions around
Modern Art-film
Enthusiasts’ Situation in
the Current World of
Cinema and Media
Culture"
15.15
Eeva Haverinen
(University of
Jyväskylä): “Sándor
Márai in Posthumous
Literary Discussions”
Amos Taylor (University
of Lapland): "Forming
Baby Duchamp and
Baby Cage: a Filmic
Project on Creativity and
Cognition (or a Dr.
Frankenstein Approach
to Artistic Education)"
Break
16.30
17.00
Room JT202
Cult, Identity, and
Cinema
Chair: Jarmo Valkola and
Eoin Devereux
Kaisa Hiltunen
(University of
Jyväskylä): “An
Overview of Cult
Phenomena in the
Cinema of People’s
Poland”
Miklós Kiss (University
of Jyväskylä): “Prey
upon your own Cult:
Péter Bacsó’s “The
Witness” (1969) and
”Witness Again” (1994)”