KUMU

Special features of KUMU's disiplines

As of 2019, ethnology and anthropology have been replaced by KUMU, Cultures, Communities and Change. KUMU is a degree programme comprising ethnology, anthropology and cultural policy.  

Specific features of research at KUMU

  • Note in particular: "Ethnology is a broad discipline that combines the perspectives of ethnology, folklore and anthropology".

  • The specificities of the discipline make it useful to have a wide range of skills in information seeking.

  • There is no database that covers KUMU's research well. You can search for databases that cover ethnology, anthropology and cultural policy to some extent by selecting "Databases" from the JYKDOK home page shortcut menu and entering "ethnology" in the search window.

Finnish databases

JYKDOK is the University of Jyväskylä's portal to various types of data. In JYKDOK you can find the most relevant basic information on publications, i.e. availability information (location and availability/reservation information), all books, journals, JY theses. JYKDOK also gives you access to materials stored in JYX. For history students the JYKDOK is not complete, some older material is missing from the JYKDOK. Ask for help at the library's helpdesk.

  • Remember to also use the services and collections of the Jyväskylä City Library.
  • FINNA is a search service of Finnish libraries, archives and museums. Check availability at the JYKDOK for example by copying the title of the book.
  • Finnish articles (former ARTO) : use the JYKDOK Finnish articles tab.

International databases

Search for international articles

On the International Articles tab in JYKDOK, you can browse all the resources without selecting a specific database. It is very useful for browsing and exploring your research topic.

You can find databases by discipline in JYKDOK under the search field under Browse databases. Select for example cultural policy from the Discipline bar on the right of the site. Learn how to use the search function in a variety of ways. See what happens when you target your search by subject, abstract text or "all fields". These search options are included in the most common databases, so you can learn the basic logic behind JYKDOK's search for international articles.

For background information before starting the information seeking

General features of publishing practices in the humanities:

  • The main focus in research published in Finland, but international publishing is also highlighted in so-called domestic disciplines (Finnish history, Finnish language, etc.) in scientific research, including theses, favours domestic and international peer-reviewed (scientific) journal articles.
  • However, in terms of scientific debate and scientific progress, the humanities prefer monographs (a work published by one researcher) and compilations (a collection of articles by more than one author, usually published in the name of a common research theme, i.e. the work has one common title).

Vocabularies to support information seeking

Your search for information will become more precise and efficient if you learn to identify the established vocabulary describing your research topic. A search using keywords will produce more comprehensive results than one based on a random search.

  • YSO: The General Finnish Ontology (YSO) is a general vocabulary covering all fields of science and knowledge, which brings together the most common terminology in different fields. YSO is intended to be used for searching books, articles, electronic material and other types of material. Established subject headings include (although not all are found in the YSO): countries, time expressions [e.g. 1900s, 1960s], names of people [Urho Kekkonen, , Erasmus of Rotterdam], community names [e.g. European Union], often also historical phenomena and events [e.g. World War II; Finnish War; Roman Empire; Peace of Paris (1856)], etc.)

  • Termbank for the art and science: launched in 2015, the project aims to map common terminology in the humanities and to make it available in an open database. A key form of collaboration is to develop interdisciplinary definitions and descriptions of scientific terms that are common to several humanities disciplines. The work will include mapping the current areas of use of common terms as well as the conceptual history.

  • MOT, is not a vocabulary, but contains dictionaries from which you can check the spelling of words in different languages.

  • There are no field-specific dictionaries and reference works for historical sciences. Instead, reference works have been published on different topics: You can search JYKDOK using the following search commands, for example (you can copy the example commands to JYKDOK's basic search):

  • ethnology AND encyclopedia

  • ethnology AND handbook