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Paper short abstract

This paper discusses nature in rural school oral history narratives. The objective is to explore what narrative role nature plays when memories of lost minor rural schools are concerned. The study bases on interviews about lost rural schools in eastern Finland from the 1970s to the 2000s.

Paper long abstract

This paper discusses how relation to nature is touched on in oral history narratives considering memories about lost rural schools in eastern Finland from the 1970s to the 2000s. This period was an era of major socio-economic changes in Finland for instance because of urbanization and developments with the welfare state. The waves of closing the rural schools wiped over rural areas of Finland already in the 1960s, and it seems that the closing of minor schools will continue also in the future. From the stance of the relation to nature, thus, it can be pondered what kind of opportunities or challenges the schools in the rural area create. This paper bases on a project Primary Schools Amidst Rural Transition: Oral History of Village Schools (1.1.2024–31.12.2027). The interviews made in this project touch on a great variety of topics regarding rural schools’ experiences and memories. The main objective in this case is to explore what kind of narrative role nature has when the memories of the lost minor rural schools are concerned. These narratives are interpreted especially through the framework of the societal and cultural changes in Eastern Finland. The study utilizes a method of comics-based studies, and thus another aim is to explore relation to nature in rural school settings through the means of art making. Thus, this paper discusses also how arts based research contributes to the study of rural ways of life and relation to nature, as well as the changes concerning them.