Communities Come Together After School Killings

​There have been two tragic school shootings in Finland; Jokela (2008) and Kauhajoki (2008). Also, a dramatic school shooting took place in Virginia Tech (2007). These are tragedies that shocked and horrified the whole communities.

– On the other hand, after tragedies communities don’t get paralyzed and don’t want to be defined solely by the tragedy. People go forward and social support is an important part of that process, tells Professor Pekka Räsänen from the University of Turku.

The Courage to Continue

Virginia Tech is a distinguished research university that is located in Blacksburg, USA. The Department of Social Research (Turku, Finland) and the Centre for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention (Virginia) have worked together actively. They share many similar research interests including the communal effects of school killings. The results of their research could also be compared with situations like terrorist attacks.

– When there has been an attack that is aimed at the entire community, people come together at the web. People show their support in chats, writings and memorials and events are organised. The feeling of community has many positive effects that support the well-being of people, says Professor James Hawdon from the Virginia Tech.

In fact, the researchers found out that unofficial support was even more important than the services offered by crisis psychologists.

– We do have to remember that these results don´t apply to the immediate family of the victims and both unofficial and official support is needed, Hawdon reminds.

Many people of the Virginia delegation worked in Virginia Tech already in the year 2007 when the school shooting took place. They personally experienced that it was important to go and see people and continue the daily routines.

– If you watched the events only from the media, you saw the grief but not the rebuilding that was experienced on the spot. Luckily most of the students wanted to get back quite soon, they tell.

The Privacy of the Victims

The communal activities and support after the attacks showed out to be significant in both countries, but there were also differences between Finland and United States. Media had its influence on the matter.

–In the US media reported the personal details of the victims quite openly. Their immediate families got a lot of condolences from people they had never met. It was a sort of celebrity status that they didn’t want. On the other hand, the feeling of community was really tight, Professor John Ryan states.

– In Finland, the media protected the privacy of the victims, the communal activities were not that active and there was less solidarity. The fact that the officials didn’t see the value of the unofficial gatherings also had an effect, Räsänen continues.

The Collaboration Broadens

Both parties applaud for the collaboration that started from a phone call after the Jokela events and has resulted in numerous joint publications, research and education projects.

Last year, two universities signed a memorandum of understanding and there are plans to broaden the collaboration even further.

– International collaboration is highly important to us and we are looking for partners, who have a positive impact on our work, globally, states Sue Ott Rowlands, Dean of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

– We have an interest to broaden the collaboration with the University of Turku. Possibly in the future, we will have collaboration with several other faculties and a possibility for a broad student and research exchange, she continues.

New research projects are already in progress. At the moment, the experts of both universities are doing research on hate groups of the web. These are people, who don’t feel empathy but glorify school killings. Who are they and why are these groups formed? We will learn in the future.

Text: Henna Borisoff
Photographs: Henna Borisoff and RobertWalterJ