Save Oulu Classics
The Issue
Save the Classics lectureship at Oulu!
After the news that the professorship in Classics and Classical Cultures at Turku is under threat, we have now heard that the University of Oulu plans to abolish its lectureship in Classics and Classical Cultures when the lecturer Timo Sironen retires on November 1, 2023. This closure would finish the proud tradition of classical scholarship from Oulu that was already diminished by the transformation of the lectureship in classical archaeology into a lectureship in historical archaeology as part of the profiling efforts by the University. The core research nowadays is concentrated on the northern questions. However, the abolishment of the lectureship would mean the end of teaching Latin and Greek together with ancient history in the north of Finland at the university level. This has serious recuperations to the study of classical Antiquity in Finland and the possibility of the students of Finnish history to study topics dating back to the 18th century and beyond. These sources are most often in Latin and sometimes in ancient Greek.
As an adjunct professor at Oulu (docent in Finland), I cannot be without acting. I have seen my own discipline, classical archaeology, to disappear and now the teaching and studying of classics and ancient history is going to go the same way. This would mean that the whole of North Finland will be without a possibility to participate in the study of our Western European roots and Medieval Finnish history more specifically.
Docent Timo Sironen started as the lecturer in September 1997 after the renown Finnish classicist Unto Paananen retired. At the beginning of the noughties he introduced the first and second year studies in Ancient Greek. The Classics and Classical Cultures as a minor subject has nevertheless helped to produce over 20 MA dissertations in history and a good handful of doctoral theses. Even if the number of students was declining due to the end of classical archaeology as a minor subject and the effect of Covid-19, there is still need for classics at Oulu to support the students of Medieval history. In fact, the discipline supports studies and research at a very wide timescale starting with 13th century BC to 19th century AD. As the major university in the North, Oulu should not discontinue the study of Western civilisation or Finnish Middle Ages and early modern period. Is Oulu concentration only to the study of the 20th and 21st century Finland?
The closure of the Classics and Classical Cultures at Oulu would also mean that the students from Oulu could not participate in the courses of the Finnish research institutes in Rome and Athens, not to mention that in the Middle East. This would be a huge loss both to the classical scholarship in Finland as the students and researchers at Oulu.
Please, sign the petition now.
In Leicester January 27, 2023
Dr Ulla Rajala
Reseacher, Stockholm University
Adjunct professor, University of Oulu
Petition Closed
The Issue
Save the Classics lectureship at Oulu!
After the news that the professorship in Classics and Classical Cultures at Turku is under threat, we have now heard that the University of Oulu plans to abolish its lectureship in Classics and Classical Cultures when the lecturer Timo Sironen retires on November 1, 2023. This closure would finish the proud tradition of classical scholarship from Oulu that was already diminished by the transformation of the lectureship in classical archaeology into a lectureship in historical archaeology as part of the profiling efforts by the University. The core research nowadays is concentrated on the northern questions. However, the abolishment of the lectureship would mean the end of teaching Latin and Greek together with ancient history in the north of Finland at the university level. This has serious recuperations to the study of classical Antiquity in Finland and the possibility of the students of Finnish history to study topics dating back to the 18th century and beyond. These sources are most often in Latin and sometimes in ancient Greek.
As an adjunct professor at Oulu (docent in Finland), I cannot be without acting. I have seen my own discipline, classical archaeology, to disappear and now the teaching and studying of classics and ancient history is going to go the same way. This would mean that the whole of North Finland will be without a possibility to participate in the study of our Western European roots and Medieval Finnish history more specifically.
Docent Timo Sironen started as the lecturer in September 1997 after the renown Finnish classicist Unto Paananen retired. At the beginning of the noughties he introduced the first and second year studies in Ancient Greek. The Classics and Classical Cultures as a minor subject has nevertheless helped to produce over 20 MA dissertations in history and a good handful of doctoral theses. Even if the number of students was declining due to the end of classical archaeology as a minor subject and the effect of Covid-19, there is still need for classics at Oulu to support the students of Medieval history. In fact, the discipline supports studies and research at a very wide timescale starting with 13th century BC to 19th century AD. As the major university in the North, Oulu should not discontinue the study of Western civilisation or Finnish Middle Ages and early modern period. Is Oulu concentration only to the study of the 20th and 21st century Finland?
The closure of the Classics and Classical Cultures at Oulu would also mean that the students from Oulu could not participate in the courses of the Finnish research institutes in Rome and Athens, not to mention that in the Middle East. This would be a huge loss both to the classical scholarship in Finland as the students and researchers at Oulu.
Please, sign the petition now.
In Leicester January 27, 2023
Dr Ulla Rajala
Reseacher, Stockholm University
Adjunct professor, University of Oulu
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Petition created on 28 January 2023