Society is never just a localized aggregate of people but exists by virtue of its members’ narrative and conceptual awareness of other times and places. In Jukka Siikala’s work this idea evolves into a broad ethnographic and theoretical interest in worlds beyond the horizon, in the double sense of “past” and “abroad.” This book is a tribute to Jukka’s contributions to anthropology by his colleagues and students and marks his 60th birthday in January 2007. By exploring the near, distant, inward and outward horizons towards which societies project their reality, the authors aim at developing a new, productive language for addressing culture as a way of experiencing and engaging the world.

Artikkelikokoelman lähtökohtana on ajatus kulttuurista pragmaattisten kontekstien ja kokemuksen tasojen välisiä suhteita jäsentävänä maailmankuvana. Artikkelit tarkastelevat etnografisten esimerkkien valossa, mikä määrittää kunkin yhteiskunnan horisonttia – välittömän vuorovaikutuksen ja havaitsemisen rajaa – ja mikä on sen takaisten asioiden merkitys yhteiskuntaelämässä.

Kirjoittajiin kuuluu johtavia Tyynen valtameren ja Kaakkois-Aasian tutkijoita, ja kirjan yhtenä tavoitteena on kehittää uutta näkökulmaa näiden alueiden etnografiseen vertailuun. Samalla kirja tarjoaa teoreettisia lähtökohtia antropologisen tutkimuksen yleisempään metodologiseen ja teoreettiseen pohdintaan.

Society is never just a localized aggregate of people but exists by virtue of its members’ narrative and conceptual awareness of other times and places. In Jukka Siikala’s work this idea evolves into a broad ethnographic and theoretical interest in worlds beyond the horizon, in the double sense of “past” and “abroad.” This book is a tribute to Jukka’s contributions to anthropology by his colleagues and students and marks his 60th birthday in January 2007. By exploring the near, distant, inward and outward horizons towards which societies project their reality, the authors aim at developing a new, productive language for addressing culture as a way of experiencing and engaging the world.
“This is a magnificent collection of essays. It is an outstanding tribute to the significant work of Professor Jukka Siikala. But…the volume…stands on its own as a significant body of work. The idea of travel is central but more importantly it takes as critical the notion of the journey. The emphasis is on the anthropological quest for understanding distant realities both near and far. The idea of quest covers the anthropological investigation into ritual and mythical systems, conceptions of locality, place, [and] space. The volume has marvellous discussions of ritual performances which involve explorations into mythical inner realities, the dynamics of inner cosmological travel as well as the cosmological forces involved in journeys to the edges of human existential horizons. The volume as a whole demonstrates anthropological practice as not merely a search for difference but as one which investigates the interiority of cultures … All the articles deal with central anthropological issues and carry them further into matters of highly relevant contemporary discussion.” (Bruce Kapferer)