scholarly journals Military supply, everyday demand, and reindeer: Zooarchaeology of Nazi German Second World War military presence in Finnish Lapland, Northernmost Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oula Seitsonen ◽  
Lee G. Broderick ◽  
Iain Banks ◽  
Mari Olafson Lundemo ◽  
Sanna Seitsonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Finnish Lapland ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Second World

scholarly journals Remembering and Forgetting, Discovering and Cherishing

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 28-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto ◽  
Suzie Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
World War ◽  
Finnish Lapland ◽  
Professional Authority ◽  
History Of ◽  
Analyse Data ◽  
Second World

The events of the Second World War left considerable material remains in Finnish Lapland, ranging from the remnants of structures that were destroyed in the 1944–45 Lapland War, through to small, portable objects connected to soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians. These material remains have variously been saved and cherished by survivors and their families, disregarded as ‘war junk’, ‘discovered’ by hobbyists exploring the landscape, amassed and exchanged by private collectors, and accessioned into official museum collections. These various processes represent transformations of material culture to take on various meanings and embodiments, depending on the different individuals and organizations involved. In this article we present and analyse data collected through ethnographic fieldwork in and around the Lapland village of Vuotso: primarily interviews and observations. We have conducted interviews with history hobbyists and museum professionals who engage with the WWII history of Lapland, and observed the treatment of ‘war material culture’, for example through exhibitions (both public and hidden) and through personal meaning-making practices. These encounters have centred around the material remains of the Second World War, and the ways in which different actors perceive, value and otherwise understand those remains. While some objects are transformed through musealisation, others remain ‘officially’ unknown and unrecognized (although known – even traded and exchanged – through private channels). Furthermore it may be as important for some actors to leave material culture in situ – for example as testimony to the past conflict or trauma – as it is for others to exercise personal ownership. Within this context, we deconstruct the notion of ‘expert’ as it relates to the local and historical knowledge. Being regarded by peers and others as an expert is not necessarily the same thing as having professional authority and status, for example as a museum curator or university-affiliated scholar. We draw upon theories of relational materiality, and suggest different typologies of engagement with the material culture. Different networks of interest and expertise emerge, dependent on the actors involved (including their status – e.g. museum professional, survivor, ‘incomer’, local activist – and how their knowledge is thus accepted, challenged or rejected by others), the context of ownership, situationality and perceived levels of authenticity.

Colonial Collisions, 1938–1941

Armed Guests ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 84-105
Author(s):  
Sebastian Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Stepping Stone ◽  
Territorial Sovereignty ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World

This chapter begins the exploration of the origins of contemporary basing practices with a close look at the 1941 Leased Bases Agreement between the United States and Britain and the developments from which it emerged. Concerned only with colonial territory, the agreement can now be seen, in hindsight, as a stepping stone to contemporary practices. The focus is on how policymakers wrestled with the issue of territorial sovereignty in the context of a rapidly evolving and deteriorating security situation immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Negotiators on both sides worked within the traditional understandings of the relationship between military presence and territorial authority, which made it extremely difficult to come to terms with a foreign military presence. American policymakers expected to retain broad authority in the territories hosting US bases—authority that had significant continuities with colonial governance—while British policymakers feared the loss of British sovereignty.

Sovereignty

Armed Guests ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 49-83
Author(s):  
Sebastian Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Weak States ◽  
World War ◽  
Power Projection ◽  
Naval Power ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Second World

This chapter delves into the historical record to illustrate the stark change in practices of sovereignty following the Second World War. Prior to the war, the practice of sovereignty was, in part, constituted by a naturalized association between the presence of a state’s military in a given territory and the state’s authority over that territory. To host a foreign military was understood to entail subjugation. This was a robust and unquestioned aspect of sovereignty, which I illustrate through a discussion of the practices of naval power projection and the predicament of weak states in the crises prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. I contrast this with the situation today, in which the linkage between military presence and territorial authority is contingent. Basing agreements are concluded for a variety of reasons, some quite trivial. Moreover, the practice is durable, having outlived the conditions under which it first developed.

Pibulsongkram's Thai Nation-Building Programme during the Japanese Military Presence, 1941–1945

1978 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thamsook Numnonda
Keyword(s):  
Nation Building ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Japanese Military ◽  
The Government ◽  
Second World

During the Second World War, there was a momentous drive to build a new Thai society under the Government of Pibulsongkram, popularly known as Pibul. The wave of these changes lasted only about five years, but it had an enormous effect on all aspects of Thai life.

From Guantánamo to K2

Armed Guests ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Sebastian Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Host State ◽  
Contractual Arrangements ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Second World

This chapter lays out the empirical puzzle and theoretical explanation with which the book is concerned. Prior to the Second World War, foreign military presences could be understood only in terms of the subjugation of the host state. However, in contemporary security politics, states may enter contractual arrangements governing such presences and end them as desired. This development is rooted in a change in relations between military presence and territorial authority occasioned by the exigencies of the war and the early Cold War. Mainstream theories of international relations cannot adequately account for this development. Turning to practices and a pragmatist understanding of action helps explain the origins of what I call “sovereign basing,” as well as its persistence through recent changes in international politics. The chapter lays the foundation for the study by carefully defining the practice of sovereign basing and setting the bounds of the investigation.

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