FINLAND & PALESTINE Proceedings of a Joint Workshop

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Along with her initial topic Granqvist abandoned two things:
the Christian exegetic aspect which essentially belongs to the
identity discourse of classical Orientalism and, methodologically,
the reconstruction of the past in the present. At the same
time Granqvist abandoned the idea of 'the immovable East',
excluding herself from the discourse formation of classical
Orientalism in Finland. By choosing to study a single village,
Granqvist abandoned both British comparativism and functionalism.
The latter began to produce studies of ethnic groups or
tribes. Along with this choice, Granqvist practically also excluded
herself from the kind of sociological approach adopted
by landtman and Westermarck.
Hilma Granqvist explains her methodological choice to study
one village by her desire to produce 'a complete set of material'.
She refers here to Westermarck, who at a later stage in his
life began to emphasize the importance of monographs along
with the comparative method (ibid., 5). Granqvist also suggests
a new kind of anthropology, 'A new tendency has appeared in
the manner in which material is collected. No longer is one
content with general statements only of what custom requires
or such indefinite expressions as that "polygynous men are
numerous" or that "divorce is frequent"; one insists on having
concrete facts, details and figures. One draws up statistical
tables and genealogies...' (ibid., 6). To assist her profound
study of one village, Granqvist adopts a genealogical method
used by Rivers. It becomes a way to approach the marital institution
through the history of individuals and families (ibid., 7).
Granqvist's methodological solutions can be explained as part
of the tendency to emphasize concreteness, which began in
German studies of Palestine.
In other words, Granqvist's methodological connections are to
be found in German studies of Palestine. The connection of
Finnish and German studies of the Orient has been brought up
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