Sanoin kuviteltu kuolema: Väkivalta- ja onnettomuuskuolemien julkinen käsittely Suomessa 1920-1930-luvuilla

An exceptional, sudden death always poses a unique challenge for a community. It serves as a reminder of the unpredictability of death, puts the community's values and attitudes to a special test, and may complicate the performance of traditional death rituals. The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to reveal the diversity of relationships between the public perception of death and social and political hierarchies, structures, values, and attitudes by analyzing the ways in which violent and accidental death was perceived and dealt with publicly in Finland in the 1920s and 1930s. I use widely reported cases of murders and accidents from that time as examples. To achieve this primary goal, the study begins by setting three research questions that, for example, focus on the themes, symbols, and emotions used in the public ritualization and meaning-making of the cases. I have two primary sources: newspapers, which represented a modern method of informing and broadside ballads which were part of traditions and old habits – the excellent base for analyzing the public handling of death at the modernizing nation.

I define the public handling of death as consisting of public ritualization and meaning making of death, the contemporary culture of death, power relations, and the conventions and technical possibilities of the media of the era. This definition has been shaped through the research process and creates the context in which the results of the content analysis of broadside ballads and newspapers are interpreted. The theoretical basis of the study is built on the history of Finnish death culture, the significance of death rituals, definitions of public ritualization of death, and theories on the history of emotions. The research connects to the histories of death, media, politics, and emotions.

The study is structured around four case categories that emerged as a result of the data analysis: accidents involving young army personnel, civil accidents, political murders and violent deaths that generated a debate about the need for the death penalty. Each classification has at least one central case and other cases support analysis and fortify the argumentation. Together, the central cases form a chronologically progressing dissertation. These main cases include the accidental sinking of the Finnish army’s torpedo boat S2 in 1925, the shipwreck of steamship Kuru in 1929, and the murder of a local councillor named Onni Happonen in 1930. In the chapter examining demands for the death penalty, there are several main cases: four sexual murders of young women in 1932 and 1938, as well as homicides against professional drivers from the 1920s and 1930s. The chronology allows for an examination of the specificities of each case, as well as of changes in themes and rituals over time, alongside the technological development of the press and the prevailing power relations.

The dissertation demonstrates that meaningful consolations were constructed in Finnish newspapers and broadside ballads during the 1920s and 1930s by using, for example, sorrow, anger, religion, patriotism, sacrifice, and the Finnish flag as key themes. These themes were influenced by both public and political entities. On the other hand, the growing competition among newspapers and the increasing number of photographs shaped the ability of newspapers to visualize desired themes and symbols.

The history of the public perception of exceptional, unpredictable deaths opens many perspectives on the social, political, and moral values, contradictions, and changes of the era. It allows for an exploration of power, traditions, beliefs, and even gender history. The research challenges the view that media has all power to decide on phenomena and perspectives associated with death. The contemporary culture of death, power relations, technology, and the desires of the audience always set their own frameworks and conditions for handling cases. The comforting meanings, symbols, and emotions associated with death are not merely phenomena of this time – quite the opposite, as their familiarity is formed in the context of their history. If that history is not known, using these elements to support one’s own agenda becomes easier and attaching individuals to contemporary phenomena, without regard for their personal tragedies, increasingly straightforward.