Sensobiographic Walking as a Qualitative Method of Inquiry

Guest lecture by Helmi Järviluoma (University of Eastern Finland).

Abstract

This paper focuses on the ethnographic, qualitative research method called sensobiographic walking as a mobile search for relational knowledge, through which people on the move are talking sensory life into being. It is argued that the method constitutes a valid option for studying the embodied, mobile, and site-specific emergence of sensory experiences and recollection. In her paper, the lecturer uses a broad spectrum of examples drawn from the project on sensory environmental relationships in Europe between 1950-2020 (SENSOTRA).

Bio

Helmi Järviluoma (born 1960) is a Finnish sound, music, and cultural scholar and writer. She is a Professor Emerita of Cultural Studies at the University of Eastern Finland. As a sensory and soundscape ethnographer, Järviluoma has developed the mobile method of sensobiographic walking. Her research and art span the fields of sensory remembering, qualitative methodology (especially regarding gender), environmental cultural studies, sound art and fiction writing. In 2016, she received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council ERC, to study Sensory Transformations and Transgenerational Environmental Relationships, 1950–2020 SENSOTRA in the three European cities of Ljubljana, Turku and Brighton. Among her 180 publications, Gender and Qualitative Methods (2003/2010) continues to draw attention. She has written and directed altogether six radio features for the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. The Finnish Union of University Professors selected Helmi Järviluoma as professor of the year 2019 in Finland, and in 2018 Finnish Academy of Science and Letters invited her as a member.