International scholar to discuss Finnish women’s traditions

April 2, 2019 | Events, UToday, Arts and Letters, Natural Sciences and Mathematics
By Bailey Sparks



Dr. Kaarina Kailo will visit The University of Toledo Tuesday, April 9, to share more than 40 years of wisdom on how to imagine a more just, peaceful future based on Finnish traditions around bears, “golden women” and the environment.

She will speak from 10:30 a.m. to noon in Thompson Student Union Room 2582. The title of her talk is “Golden Women, Bears, and the Sami-Finnish Environmentalists of Ancient Finland.”

Kailo

Kailo is the author of numerous books and articles at the intersections of sustainability, spirituality, globalization, economic, and women’s and gender studies. Her works include “Finnish Goddess Mythology” and “Golden Woman: Climate Change, Earth-Based Indigenous Knowledge, and the Gift.”

“I would like attendees to enjoy themselves thoroughly, taking away information and perspectives from a place so very different from the United States,” said Dr. Barbara Alice Mann, professor of humanities in the Jesup Scott Honors College. “Ideally, they will leave with a new appreciation for a part of the world to which I am willing to bet few American students have given much attention.”

Kailo’s research focuses on the recovery of the women’s traditions of Finland’s first peoples; her work is significant for multicultural studies, ethnography, environmental studies, and women’s and gender studies.

Mann believes it is important for students to be exposed to people from all over the world to learn about their culture, history and struggles.

“Having been at international presentations at which Dr. Kailo spoke, I knew that her English was excellent and her presentations quite interesting,” Mann said regarding her decision to invite Kailo to the University.

The free, public event is sponsored by the Jesup Scott Honors College; the College of Arts and Letters; the Office of Diversity and Inclusion; the Office of the Provost; the School for Interdisciplinary Studies; the Center for Religious Studies; and the departments of History, Environmental Sciences, and Women’s and Gender Studies.

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