SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES PROGRAMME
THIRD AND FINAL STUDY TRIP to SÁPMI/LAPLAND
NOVEMBER 23-27

The following material about this last and most pleasent study trip consists of a video (in two parts) and various pictures taken during the five days we've been on the road.
It was an awesome time, very well organized and still plenty of fun!
Here is an overview about our stays:

MONDAY 23|11
Hetta, Finland

TUESDAY 24|11
Kautokeino, Norway
- Juhl's Silvergallery
- Sámi Allaskuvla (the Sámi University College)
- Beaivvás Sámi Násunálteáhter
- Get-together with Sámi Students from Allaskuvla

WEDNESDAY 25|11
Karasjok, Norway
- NRK Sámi Radio Station
- Samediggi (the Sámi Parliament, Norway)
Karigasniemi, Finland

THURSDAY 26|11
Inari, Finland
- Reindeer herding/corral
- Reindeer farm and Sámi yoiking
- Exchange Student Games: Panthomime

FRIDAY 27|11
Inari, Finland
- Sámi Education Institute
- Siida Sámi Museum
Return to Oulu, Finland.

Travel Itinerary (Google Map)

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Third and final Study Trip: Sápmi/Lapland - Pt. 1/2



Third and final Study Trip: Sápmi/Lapland - Pt. 2/2



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PICTURE MATERIAL

PICTURE GALLERIES on facebook.
Days I+II (105 pix)
Days III-V (92 pix)


DAYs I+II

1


2


3


4

Sauna in Hetta.

5


6

Juhl's Silvergallery.

7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14


15


16

Kautokeino, Norway.

17


18

Actors in the Sámi Násunálteáhter.


DAY III-V

1

Fernando in the NRK Sámi Radio Station.

2


3


4

In the Sámi Parliament, Norway.

5

At the Finnish-Norwegian boarder.

6


7

At the reindeer corral.

8


9


10


11


12


13

At the reindeer farm.

14


15

Romantic burst!

16

Most ridicilous money waste.

17

Party aftermath.

18

Group photo, taken next to the Siida Sámi Museum.

"If you are an educated Christian, I would like to talk with you today about an important and interesting question. Have you ever thought about using your college education to think about your faith? Your life and your career demand that you behave and act rationally. Let's apply your critical thinking skills as we discuss 10 simple questions about your religion. The answers will amaze you."

Please visit whywontgodhealamputees.com

Daytrip to Marjaniemi on Hailuoto, some 90km away from Oulu. We made some walks south to a forest shelter and a whole variety of apparently empty summer cottages. Yeah, and we froze our ass off when waiting for the bus home after the sun went down... definitely exciting, though. (X

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More pictures (47) on facebook.

OULU on November 18, 2009.
Sun rises 9:05 and sets 15:00. Length of day is 5 h 55 min.

OULU on October 06, 2009.
Sun rises 7:43 and sets 18:28. Length of day is 10 h 45 min.

OULU on September 13, 2009.
Sun rises 6:33 and sets 19:52. Length of day is 13 h 19 min.

Source: http://www.fmi.fi/weather/local.html?kunta=Oulu

Pledge to go fur-free at PETA.org.


"When undercover investigators made their way onto Chinese fur farms, they found that many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them. When workers on these farms begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal's leg, the free limbs kick and writhe. Workers stomp on the necks and heads of animals who struggle too hard to allow a clean cut."
(http://www.peta.org/feat/ChineseFurFarms/index.asp)

If that doesn't make you cry, you have a serious mental issue.

"Our legal and moral systems are deeply species-bound. The director of a zoo is legally entitled to 'put down' a chimpanzee that is surplus to requirements, while any suggestions that he might 'put down' a redundant keeper or ticket-seller would be greeted with howls of incredulous outrage.
The chimpanzee is the property of the zoo. Humans are nowadays not supposed to be anybody's property, yet the rationale for discriminating against a chimpanzee in this way is seldom spelled out, and I doubt if there is a defensible rationale at all.
Such is the breathtaking speciesism of our Christian-inspired attitude, the abortion of a single human zygote (most of them are destined to be spontaneously aborted anyway) can arouse more moral solicitude and righteous indignation than the vivisection of any number of intelligent adult chimpanzees! [...] The only reason we can be comfortable with such a double standard is that the intermediates between humans and chimps are all dead."

"Nearly all peoples have developed their own creation myth, and the Genesis story is just the one that happened to have been adopted by one particular tribe of Middle Eastern herders. It has no more special status than the belief of a particular West African tribe that the world was created from the excrement of ants. All these myths have in common that they depend upon the deliberate intentions of some kind of supernatural being."

Richard Dawkins,
The Blind Watchmaker (1986), Chapters 10+11

"stuff".
a 1992 short film by johnny depp.
music and words: john frusciante.

Just discovered tonite.
Lydia, you'd love that. It's from 1994.

Erm, I simply quote one of the endless youtube-comments: "fucking amazing!!!!!" - needles to add anything else.

Survey: Nationalism - Politics - Ethics.

Hi there!
This is a (utterly anonymous) survey developed to support a university homework which investigates the possible coherence between nationalism, religion and an ethical life. I'd be thankful if you'd take 5-10 minutes to fill out the questions. It's not too complicated and would be a great help! The results - statistics, graphs and data - will be published on right on this website (www.roknablue.com).
Please spread the link to family and friends to expand the results' efficiency.
Thanks a lot!

SURVEY-LINK:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dF9HNUZGYWxRQVlWSFpEdXVvLUNaOFE6MA

One last time: Music classes in Oulu!

Two new videos, one (certainly less serious, less significant and important than the other one) recorded by me last Friday on a fellow French student's birthday party. The one is an extended, incredibly important and very interesting recording of Peter Singer and Eric Schlosser in 2006 at Princeton University, lecturing about "the broad and compelling issues and ethical dilemmas surrounding food production in the U.S. and the choices individuals make regarding the food they eat". One example: there are about nine (9) billion chickens killed in the U.S. every year, so about 2,000,000 while you are watching this video. Watching this lecture will definitely change your view about our meat-eating culture.

Moving Beyond Fast Food Nation



Another French Birthday Party...

I recently heard and read about the Australian philosopher Peter Singer (born 6 July 1946) and decided he and his work are worth to be published on this blog - if only for myself, but I'd be definitely glad if somebody else would check out the following videos, telling his really interesting story in three parts...

The following should actually be part of today's school education. However, if you've never watched a video about where the meat you eat daily comes from, it's about time! Decide afterwards if you can still justify this worldwide crime. Simply be aware!

In German.

Peter Singer (who doesn't eat meat) and Richard Dawkins (who does) about animal rights, vegetariansm and living ethically.

Dawkins is actually asking if it would be okay to eat "road kill humans" at one stage - not exactly uninteresting. By the way: I recommend Singer's 2006 book "EATING (What we eat and what it matters)", 400 pages.

My upcoming Winter Solstice present will be: Richard Dawkins' new book,
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.

Understanding the new Europe!

After the Lisbon Treaty is finally ratified by all EU member states... it's time to take it easy again! By the way: it will enter into force on December 1, 2009 .

This guy is simply more than wonderful!

However, also remarkable:
"Citizens in countries belonging to EU still have some form of belief system, although only 21% see it as important. There is increasing atheism or agnosticism among the general population in Europe, with falling church attendance and membership in many countries. In 2005, a survey of the EU's members at that time found that among EU citizens, 52% believe in a god, 27% in some sort of spirit or life force and 18% had no form of belief. The countries where the fewest people reported a religious belief were the Czech Republic (19%) and Estonia (16%). In such countries, even those who have a faith can be disdainful of organized religion.The most religious societies are those in Malta with 95% (predominantly Roman Catholic), and Cyprus and Romania both with about 90% of their citizens believing in a god. Across the EU, belief was higher among women, increased with age, those with strict upbringing, those with the lowest levels of formal education, those leaning towards right-wing politics, and those reflecting more upon philosophical and ethical issues."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_European_Union)