Jukka Saarinen

Special areas:

• Kalevalaic epic poetry
• digitised archive materials and databases
• folkloristic field work
• Irish folklore

Jukka Saarinen is preparing a monograph on Arhippa Perttunen, a rune singer from the Archangel area. The research material includes the poetry texts collected from Arhippa Perttunen, documents on Arhippa and his family and – at a broader level – an interpretation of Arhippa Perttunen’s identity as a rune singer within Finnish research.

Saarinen has studied folkloristics at the University of Helsinki and wrote his master’s thesis on variations in the epic poetry of Arhippa and Miihkali Perttunen. In 1984–85, he studied Irish folklore at University College Dublin and while there gained knowledge of Irish archive collections. He has made recordings of folklore and oral history on several field trips in Finland in 1988–98 and Archangel Karelia in 1996–2000.

Saarinen´s responsibilities include planning and developing the operations of the Sound Archives in the Folklore Archives. He is also responsible for the archives’ information systems and their development. He has also been involved in establishing the digital corpus and database of the Old Poems of the Finnish People (SKVR).

Key publications:

• The Dead, Things Past and Things Far Away: Finnish Hiisi Otherworld Legends. – Arv 49 (1993), s. 107–114.
• "Irlannista hiiteen": Irlannin sí ja suomen hiisi-perinteen vertailua. – Entering the arena: presenting Celtic studies in Finland / ed. by Hannu-Pekka Huttunen and Riitta Latvio. Turku: University of Turku, 1993, s. 67–83. (Etiäinen; 2). Summary: Comparing the Irish sí and the Finnish hiisi Traditions
• The Päivölä Song of Miihkali Perttunen. – Songs beyond the Kalevala / Anna-Leena Siikala & Sinikka Vakimo (eds.). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1994, s. 180–196. (Studia Fennica. Folkloristica; 2).
• Tietäjiä ja metsämiehiä: Shemeikat runonlaulajina. – Tapion tuvilla: Shemeikkain runonlaulajat ja kanteleensoittajat / Rauno Malviniemi. [Kuopio]: Shemeikka Sukuseura, 1997, s. 71–86.
• Kalevalaic poetry as a digital corpus. – FF Network 222/2001.