Henrik Stenius
Henrik Stenius is the Research Director of the Centre for Nordic Studies at Renvall Institute, University of Helsinki. Previous positions: Professor of History, University of Helsinki (1989, 1992–93, 2001–2002); Director of the Finnish Institute in London (1996–99); and Academy of Finland Senior Scientist (2000–01).
In his dissertation (1987), Stenius analyzes the concept and principle of association in Finland from the mid-eighteenth century to the early twentieth century, thus reflecting a shift from mobilization studies to the study of conceptual history. This was made possible by the formation of the judicial concept of ‘association’ and by comparative Nordic studies on political cultures. It had become obvious enough that mobilization scholars had failed to recognize the conceptual endeavours of the historical actors. The scholars were also poorly aware of the fact that their own uses of key concepts were culturally bound to their own political, social and cultural contexts.
Together with Bo Stråth and Kari Palonen, Stenius invited conceptual historian Reinhard Koselleck to several seminars in the Nordic countries in the early 1990s. Also together with others, Stenius was instrumental in the extensive Finnish project on Finnish conceptual history, his own contribution dealing with the concept of ‘citizen’. The project resulted in a formative anthology on the key concepts of Finnish political culture Käsitteet liikkeessä (Concepts in Motion, 2003).
Stenius is one of the founding members of the History of Political and Social Concepts Group, established at the Finnish Institute in London 1998. He also took the initiative to the international research training school Concepta. He is currently the chair of its advisory board.
Selected list of publications:
Frivilligt - jämlikt - samfällt. Föreningsväsendets utveckling i Finland fram till 1900-talets början med speciell hänsyn till massorganisationsprincipens genombrott. Diss. (Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 545. Ekenäs 1897), 389 pp
”The ´Bildungsbürgertum´ and the free discussion in nineteenth century Finland”, Kosonen, Kuisma, Peltonen and Stenius (eds.), State, Culture & The Bourgeoisie, (Jyväskylän yliopisto 1989) pp 54-69
”The Adoption of the Principle of Association in Finland”, Scandinavian Journal of History 13, 1988, pp 345-354
With Ilkka Turunen, ”Finnish Liberalism”, Lakaniemi, Rotkirch and Stedius (eds.), ”Liberalism (Renvall Institute Publications 7, 1995) pp 49-62
”The Good Life is a life of Conformity: The Impact of Lutheran Tradition on Nordic Political Culture”, Sørensen, Øystein and Bo Stråth (eds.), The Cultural Construction of Norden (Oslo 1997), pp161-171
“The Language Issue in Finland”, Clive Archer and Pertti Joenniemi (eds.), The Nordic Peace (Ashgate 2002), pp 157-170
“Kansalainen” (Citizen) in Hyvärinen, M., Kurunmäki, J., Palonen, K., Pulkkinen, T. and Stenius, H. (eds), Käsitteet liikkeessä. Suomen poliittisen kulttuurin käsitehistoria (Concepts in Motion. The Conceptual History of the Finnish Political Culture), Tampere: Vastapaino 2003, pp 309-362
“The Finnish Citizen, How a Translation Emasculated the Concept” i Redescriptions. Yearbook of Political Thought and Conceptual History. Vol 8. Jyväskylä.
”Är konsensuspolitiken i Finland ny eller gammal? En jämförelse mellan konsensuskulturens rötter i Finland och Österrike” in Tom Gullberg and Kaj Sandberg (eds.), Medströms – Motströms. Individ och struktur i historien. Peiksämäki: Söderströms / Atlanis 2005.
“Begreppshistsoriska temperament” i Historisk Tidskrift för Finland 1/2007.