The Myth of Childhood in the Kalevala: A Case of Formative Fatalism in Finnish Cultural Heritage
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7346/-fei-XXII-01-24_18Keywords:
Childhood, Cultural heritage, Finland, Informal Education, Kalevala, Mythology, Formative fatalismAbstract
The Kalevala, the quintessential Finnish epic poem, hosts a unique repertoire of episodes related to a ‘mythological’ conception of childhood. This makes it a fruitful target for the study of informal education connected with cultural heritage. After establishing how the latter constitutes the keystone for the study of informal learning processes, this contribution adopts the perspective of Greater Humanities for Education to conduct a thematic analysis of the instances in the Kalevala concerning childhood—taking into account the empirical, historical, hermeneutic, and ethical-moral dimensions of the literary phenomenon in question. The resulting case study reveals a multifaceted concept of childhood, alternating between deficient conceptions and forms of exceptionalism. From the articulations of this concept emerges a folk theory of education which in this contribution is dubbed formative fatalism. The study inductively derives the three pillars of formative fatalism drawing on the Kalevala: (i) intergenerational determinism (history); (ii) quasi-determinism of tradition; (iii) formative idiosyncrasy of individual existential paths. Given the extensive heritage status of the Kalevala and its role in shaping Finnish collective identity, the study concludes by reflecting on how this fatalism can be reconciled with the more progressive aspects of contemporary Finnish society.
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