FM Tomi Riitamaa väittelee 15.10.2021 kello 12.15 Helsingin yliopiston humanistisessa tiedekunnassa aiheesta ”Isolerat och övergivet nationsfragment, hänsynslöst ihjältiget? – Studier i den finlandssvenska litteraturens position och predikament i Sverige” (An Isolated And Abandoned Fragment of a Nation, Mercilessly Hushed Up? Studies of the Position And Predicaments of Finland-Swedish Literature In Sweden). Väitöstilaisuus järjestetään osoitteessa U33, Festsalen 303, Unionsgatan 33. Väitöstä voi seurata myös etänä.
The article-based dissertation examines the position and predicament of Finland-Swedish literature in Sweden from several perspectives and aspects. Its main focus is on contemporary literature and its reception, but it also contains historical discounts and comparisons. The compiled thesis as a whole, as well as the introduction chapter and the separate sub-studies presented in the four published scientific articles, is defined by an overall sociological perspective of literature. This means that the thesis adopts several theoretical and methodological approaches – quantitative as well as qualitative – and collects theoretical inspiration and frameworks from numerous traditions and disciplines.
The study presents the historical background of the problem of the Finland-Swedish literature’s difficulties in Sweden. It raises the question of why this matter is crucial for the Finland-Swedish literature, and, by extension, how the problem is thought to be connected to the survival chance of the minority per se. It also examines how authors Ulla-Lena Lundberg and Lars Sund, respectively, relate to an perceived ignorance in Sweden of the Finland-Swedish minority and of Finland as a bilingual nation in general. Study also maps the publishing of Finland-Swedish literature in sub-editions by Swedish book publishers during the years 2000–2016, and investigates the representation of Finland-Swedish literature in literary histories of Swedish literature, by mapping out the actual space and proportion of the Finland-Swedish literature by counting pages and lines.
Vastaväittäjänä on Professor Petra Broomans, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, ja kustoksena on professori Kristina Malmio.
Väitöskirja julkaistaan sarjassa Nordica Helsingiensia.
Väitöskirja on myös elektroninen julkaisu ja luettavissa Heldassa.