Collaboration at the Department of Cultural History

The Department of Cultural History collaborates both nationally and internationally. The closest partners of co-operation include other departments in the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies and the Faculty of Humanities in the University of Turku.  The Department also collaborates with other faculties of the University of Turku, the Open University, and other Finnish universities. 

The Department of Cultural History has great interest in co-operation that is both multidisciplinary and diversified. The aim of the co-operation is to enhance the scholarly training and academic research within the field of cultural history, but also to work for the humanistic culture that is both conscious of the past and has societal impact.

Our main collaborative partners include the Department of Cultural History at the University of Lapland, CSCC: Centre for the Study of Christian Cultures (University of Turku), Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History, which is connected to the Åbo Akademi University Foundation (Turku), IIPC: International Institute for Popular Culture (University of Turku), JMC: John Morton Center for North American Studies (University of Turku), SELMA: Centre for the Study of Storytelling, Experientiality and Memory (University of Turku), and TUCEMEMS: Turku Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (University of Turku). In Turku, the Aboagora symposium and the Falling Walls Lab competition are also important collaborative forums. Our close collaborative partners further include the SHS: Finnish Historical Society, SKS: Finnish Literature Society, KAVI: National Audiovisual Institute and Yle.  We are also closely associated with the Finnish Society for Cultural History founded in spring 2016 and the Turku Historical Society founded in 1923. In addition, the Department of Cultural History is involved in the activities of Sykli, the alumni association for historical subjects at the University of Turku.

The International Society for Cultural History (ISCH) is a significant forum for international co-operation for the Department of Cultural History. The third international ISCH conference was organised in Turku in May 2010. In the field of popular culture studies, a central partner is the European Popular Culture Association (EPCA), whose second worldwide conference was, likewise, organised in Turku in summer 2013. The EPCA also works as a link for the Department’s transatlantic co-operation with the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association (PCA/ACA), which is located in the US.

Cultural history scholars have a significant role in the Turku Group for Digital History (University of Turku), a research group developing the study of digital history and digital humanities. See Research at our Department’s webpage for further information on the extensive range of co-operation with our international and domestic partners and networks.

Important international partners are e.g. European universities with which we have Erasmus agreements on student and staff mobility: University of Siegen (Siegen, Germany), University of Deusto, (Bilbao, Spain), Complutense University of Madrid (Madrid, Spain), Marc Bloch University/Strasbourg II (Strasbourg, France), University of Florence (Florence, Italy), Utrecht University (Utrecht, the Netherlands), Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), Bath Spa University (Bath, UK), and the University of Glasgow (Glasgow, Scotland).

The Department of Cultural History has carried out many projects as contract services with clients. These projects have created co-operation with the private and public sector. A great example of this type of co-operation is the Department’s own publishing company k&h.