Unien elävä perintö : etnologinen tutkimus unikäsityksistä ja unien kertomistilanteista

Abstract

In my ethnological dissertation I examine dream conceptions, that is, what dreams are thought to be. I approach my interview and questionnaire material (N = 62) with a phenomenological-hermeneutic and reflective research approach. I look at different dream conceptions, their construction as well as dream conceptions as a phenomenon. In addition, my research focuses on dream telling situations and related expectations, assessments, and goals. I define my sources materials as dream-speech, which means talking about dreams as a topic. I analyze my material using both theory-guided and material-based content analysis. My perspective on dreams is sociocultural, which is the third tradition of dream research alongside the study of the content and form of dreams. In my interpretations, I follow the trail blazed by previous Finnish researchers such as folklorist Leea Virtanen (1935–2002) and folklorist Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj. My broader research task is related to understanding the concept of living heritage and its processes. I interpret living heritage as a dialogic phenomenon constructed both individually and communally. My research shows that dreams can be relevant to an individual both as a personal experience and as a broader cultural and reality-related phenomenon. I interpret dream conceptions as multi-layered sets of reflections, beliefs, and memories related to dreams. It is a dynamic continuum in which individuals engage in dialogue with themselves and with the environment at different levels. Dreams are seen in the research material as the processing of experiences, of life, and as those things that explain and challenge one’s reality. Individual dreams and changing situations make dream telling situations unique, involving not only the telling of dreams and the interpretations made of them, but also the meanings, situational expectations, goals and evaluations, and reflections on various dream conceptions. Typologies of expressions such as entertaining and profound, public and private, and formal and informal were used by research participants to describe dream telling situations. Based on the research material, I interpret two goals for dream telling: entertaining and sharing powerful experiences. The fact that traditions endure through the ages is a testament to their power of human-made cultural and experiential heritage.