Talk:Aira Kemiläinen

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Latest comment: 15 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

Why has the Finnish language article on Aira Kemiläinen been translated into English? Of what possible relevance is she to international scholarship considering that she wrote mainly in Finnish on Finnish topics? Her 1998 book was simply nationalism dressed-up as academia and was widely dismissed even in Finland as such. I really think that the creator of this article should justify why it has been translated considering the abject obscurity of this scholar outside of Finland. I sincerely hope it isn't part of a Finnish attempt to promote Finland abroad

Actually, her English-language book Nationalism: Problems concerning the word, the concept and classification (1964) is often cited for its etymologies of the words 'nation' and 'nationalism' in several different European languages, and occasionally cited for its discussion of Hans Kohn's distinction between Western and Eastern types of nationalism. – SJL 13:58, 19 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

So what! I don't think one cited book is worth a wikipedia entry. If you want to promote your country and pretend it's an intellectual contribution then do so . . . it's all Aira Kemiläinen ever did. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.128.212.134 (talk) 18:21, 19 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

I'm not Finnish, and I didn't create this article. I came across it because I study nationalism. I am not familiar with Kemiläinen's other work, but the book that I mentioned has been cited by many authors in my field and, as one of the few books on this subject when it was published, it was reviewed in several academic journals. In my opinion this means that the article meets Wikipedia's criteria for notability. If disagree, you are welcome to nominate the article for deletion, but please keep in mind that the fact that you do not like someone or disagree with their views is not a sufficient reason for their exclusion from Wikipedia. – SJL 20:10, 19 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

I believe that this English language article about Aira Kemiläinen has been written by the author (or someone affiliated with him) behind the criticism against Aira Kemiläinen. Here, it should be noted that nobody else have to put forth criticism against Kemiläinens other books. The same author have also written other Finland related articles such as http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4205519/Expat-life-in-Finland-Arctic-exploration-sheds-light-on-Finland.html and http://www.mongolia-web.com/opinion/2084-are-the-finns-the-mongolians-of-europe. Anyone familiar with genetics and Finnish culture can quickly conclude that the quality of these articles are somewhere between very poor standard and complete garbage. I suspect strongly that stirring up racial debates about the Finnish people is the driving force to write such suggestive work with little or no connection to reality. In other words, writing a Wikipedia article and mention a few words of his own criticism is just a way to find more exposure for him.

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