Probe 196, June 2023
Welcome to Speculative Fiction from the other edge of the world.
A South African and Finland comparison.
By Donald Mullany
So, a question this title suggests is rather: How is fandom different on the opposite side of the world? Is fandom just fandom no matter where you are, or is fandom heavily influenced by the society in which the fans are situated? To explore this quandary, I’d like to run down some lists and some features of the Finnish Speculative Fiction fandom arena and let you decide just because something appears similar, perhaps it is not as similar as they seem.
Finland is a sparsely populated country in the far, far north of the globe. So North in fact, it is bisected by the Arctic Circle. The weather ‘rule of thumb’ is dark and cold for two-thirds of the year, crowned with a short, mild summer of almost perpetual daylight. Planning events is far more complicated than anyone would admit, with outdoor activities being weather dependent and indoor activities being space-constrained.
The Finnish Language is a Uralic linguistic ‘almost-isolate’, the closest branches are Estonian and Hungarian, and none of these are mutually intelligible. Finland additionally has Swedish as an official language, and Swedish accounts for about 5% and speakers, while Saami and all others combined are about 6% of the population.
The immediate effect of these numbers is a limited pool of Speculative Fiction to draw on for Fan Clubs in native languages, but also reflects a fairly extensive use of English in Urban areas and in Business and in companies since Finland joined the EU. Much of the ancient Finnish Oral language tradition was transcribed and compiled in the 16th Century and has been in extensive use since then.
A combination of all of these factors leads to a thriving Speculative Fiction literature sector, because authors tend to write more of what they want to read, that which isn’t available from current selections. Finnish-to-English translations are less common than English-to-Finnish by sheer virtue of volume. The difficulty of translation of some common phrases and certain idioms contribute a great deal to the paupacity of widely-available Finnish works in the western world, with certain exceptions.
Into this arena is placed a wide-eyed south african exploring their new world… Fandom does indeed appear to be Fandom… movies, books and meetings where people gather and Geek out. But something is different here, something I have been thinking about beyond simply what fans do when they get together. Let me rather thread behind the curtain to what the fandom is actually doing in order to expose some qualities I have not experienced before.
1) Part the first: Finns go to clubs and the clubs do stuff…
The first thing to notice is that the Finnish fandom is busy… very, very busy. There are many sorts of feeder routes for all types of fandom into all sorts of different activities that are considered ‘cultural activity’ as opposed to the mostly cast-away ‘entertainment’ that seems to be the case with South African fandom.
In many Finnish cities with attached Universities there is usually a Spec Fic club of some kind or description. These contribute different kinds of community projects, or are sometimes centered around a project of some kind (the Tampere club produced a Klingon-to-Finnish dictionary, for example.) To offset the (no doubt) numerous objections to my previous statement with regards to ‘cultural activity’, Finnish fandom seems to want to produce and share aspects of their activity with communal projects and artefacts that survive beyond the immediate.
The clubs also have different streams of interest (Movies, literature, fandom or different elements) with at least 1 physical meeting a month established regularly. They also tend to support or volunteer en-mass for larger community projects such as National Book Fairs or Conventions. The activity is largely cooperative and supportive to the extent that a WorldCon (Worldcon 75) was able to run in 2017 with minimal fuss from such a small organizational base.
To my knowledge at least, I do not see South Africa ever being capable of generating the organization or interest in hosting a World Convention of the like. This is even though the number of active Fans and Clubs are similar in number and nature. A far more comprehensive background article from a more local source can be found below as a link.
I say ‘minimal fuss’ because there are certain cultural and regional differences that manifest that I want to touch on below. The primary, registered SpecFic Clubs are located in the following Cities (or Universities in these Cities) in Finland: Turku, Helsinki, Jväskylä, Marienhamn, Espoo, Tampere and Oulu. I have touched on earlier the outside vs. inside dilemma that the weather presents for people in Finland, but there are many ways and opportunities to work around this. The largest effort that is invested in by the most Club organizers and members is the annual, revolving FinnCon. There are other club-based smaller Conventions throughout the year, but this is the big one.
The only fixed location Convention in Finland seems to be Åcon and/or ArchipelaCon in Marienhamn on the Åland archipelago. The sole reason for this is that any convention in Åland will be in any Hotel in Marienhamn itself. This Convention is notable for attracting more multi-National fans from around the Baltic area more so than, for example, mainland Finland.
Another similarity is the short story competition run from the Turku Club called – the Nova (yes, you read that right.) That is about where the similarity unfortunately ends, though. The (fi) Nova and the (za) Nova have been running parallel for most of their existance but with slightly different end points.
2) Part the Second, Finns write things down a lot…
The Finns are far more deliberate in the fandom laterals than South Africans appear to be. If the need for something exists, then why should it not be used for something else? The Finnish Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (FSFFWA) soon realized that the funnel created by the Nova could be useful to the University research streams and literary organizations.
Spec-Fic genre works began moving through the (fi) Nova as mostly Science-Fiction, but soon spread to widely include Traditional and Mythic, also Fantasy and Horror, then finally the mixed- and multi-genre flavours you can find today. These works quickly streamed outwards into the various University organizations where quite early in the 1960’s and 1970’s they reached an equilibrium that today denotes modern Finnish literature.
This is completely opposite an impulse from most South African Universities who still consider Science Fiction and Fantasy as ‘trivial’ genres completely beneath any worthwhile literary recognition. The sad fact that the vast bulk of South African spec-fic authors are completely unacknowledged by South African academics to the extent that, in recent years, Spec-Fic authors bend over backwards to refute genre elements in those works that have received broader, international Literary recognition. This situation unlikely to ever change in South Africa.
The Finnish value chain looks like this: Thus, people write to the (fi) Nova short story competition at Turku that is organized in support of the FSFFWA, which as an organization, in turn supports other activities. The FSFFWA has ancilliary activities such as Editorial and Publishing streams that include a literary journal, that in turn offers more general types of Writers Association support.
The end-to-end closed loop planning cycles are not quite as efficient or as clear as I have described, but function fairly elegantly.
The ‘editorial’ and ‘publishing’ streams I have mentioned as numerous spin-off activities include Literary Workshops, Academic scouting activities seeking authors and themes for Research, also Publication assistance. While Literary Workshops are fairly straightforward a concept, ‘Academic scouting activities’ are less so.
A quick example of scouting would be the Finfar organization (link below). FINFAR is a speculative fiction national research organization that oversees identification and support of debut, new or established authors. This is not just simply a campaign-driven aspirational organization, but includes awareness of, and development of, all the various flavours of Finnish Speculative Fiction including the newer ‘-punk’-style genre additions (Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Solarpunk) and additionally (Bizarro, Cli-Fi, Dark Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance…) to name just a few.
So, in summation; there are permanently established, flexible and self-funding traceable routes and outcomes to all of this activity in Finland. As Finfar has shown, discovery and scouting forms a large portion of fandom activity up North that is absent down South.
Quickly, an example of ‘Publication assistance’ would be to mention the Publisher channel Osuuskumma that publishes specifically all Finnish Spec-Fic genres on National and International distribution to consumers through an online shop for print and eBook formats. Publication aggregation also distributes online payment methods with billing, and attempts to provide a safe, audited channel for authors and club organizations seeking to publish their members.
Typically, proceeds of these Sales of the output go to the organization, and in turn are available to local Libraries, National Libraries and other Literary organizations which encourage (in turn) greater activities, author/creator career succession and recognition of participants, or fans and other members. As non-profit organizations, these sales proceeds go into heavily sponsored events that in turn, support inclusion into some of these events for those who otherwise would not be eligible through some or other reason.
So nothing goes to waste, and every effort has additional options, and those lead to measureable outcomes. Self-funding is a necessity in Finland, but (unlike elsewhere), Speculative Fiction is encouraged by National Arts and Culture Organizations as a genre in itself and contributory to mainstream Literature, rather than opposing and ancilliary.
While in South Africa by contrast, anything that veers into the Spec-Fic genre is only acceptable for any recognition only if it actively downplays any speculative element it may have ever had and positively reinforces some or other cultural policy. In South Africa, Speculative Fiction writing appears actively discouraged, but that perhaps explains the lack of stated SpecFic authors standing proud.
3) Part the Third, Finns are more optimistic about their future imaginings…
Generally; literary and academic lenses tend to mimic the landscape of the culture as expressed by the elite… something most Speculative Fiction often examines in a brutal, dystopian tone. I should say Sci-Fi as a stated reflection and imaginings of what Urban, Modern and mostly-Western futures would look like for that Society and, by extention, that same societal elite.
Middle Classes tend to engage in technocrat behaviour because it fits both the professional and leisure-time requirements for expression and for advancement. Fandom tends to shadow societies where there is a burgeoning bourgeosie, more often than not. Finland, by comparison with most countries has an egalitarian society and again, by comparison, a huge middle class. It is also an ageing society and so, may engage in games, hobbies and social activity in ways that other less equal societies may not. Typically, ageing populations have more free time each year that can be assigned to interests and leisure activity.
Typically, fandom will thrive in these egalitarian conditions because of the sheer stability of integrated social and economic interests. A fictional dystopian vision from a Finnish author would look very different from a South African author, for example. A recent Finnish project just completed a 30,000 year plan for their nuclear waste program, envisioning the environmental and ecology of the areas around the bunker site. South African Fandom is generally the only place where anybody is still interested in where, and how, society is changing in the country.
Unfortunately for South Africa, while Sci-Fi and Fantastika may have once been an expression of a technological elite, that the ‘geeks’ and ‘nerds’ that used to be signal of a middle class technocrat behaviour, it simply is no longer. Culturally, any ‘geek activity’ has become as mainstream over the years as any other Marvel super-hero, all this while state economic prospects has continued to thin out the middle classes, and thus put serious pressure on their continued involvement with fandom.
A dystopian vision in South Africa could be as close as any daily news bulletin, all the while other academic and literary bodies struggle to maintain any discourse between speculative elements on their existing tired, and outdated ‘go-to’ shelves. One Sci-Fi author quipped that they would have to win a Nobel Prize for Literature before anyone at the local University would bother to pick up their ‘irrelevant’ book and read it.
A Spec-Fic author has a duty to imagine their own society into the future, what it would be like, what would have changed… what just will not go away. If a large portion of local authors cannot project their society into decades and centuries to come, then that says something about the societies trajectory. Not every society has the confidence in creating a 30,000 year plan, but this engagement with Spec-Fic authors tends to lead, in turn, to a greater acceptance of the SFF genre and supporting activities.
In conclusion, Fandom seems to be doing much the same thing as each other in Finland and in South Africa, just as the quality and scope of Fandom activity is remarkably different. Hopefully this essay demonstrates good examples of where planning and community outreach can create ‘stickyness’ to provide as much opportunity to engage in or contribute to club activities.
Reference links – Additional Reading
Overview of Finnish Fandom (http://pasikarppanen.net/texts/Finnish_Fandom.htm)
Publishing and online stores (https://osuuskumma.fi/)
Academic Research, scouting and development (https://finfar.org/)