| Scholar Stories
Stephen G. Rabe
University Professor of History, Arts & Humanities, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas
Lecturing: U.S. Foreign Relations; Vietnam War; American Slavery; Inter-American Relations
Host: Renvall Institute, University of Helsinki
August 2005 to June 2006
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| The Arctic Circle in early September. That night, my wife and I saw the Aurora Borealis. |
I held the Fulbright Bicentennial Chair in American Studies at the University of Helsinki during the 2005/06 academic year. I teach the history of U.S. foreign relations, with a special emphasis on U.S. relations with Latin America. There is intense interest internationally about the course and conduct of U.S. foreign relations, and it is essential that I teach and do research abroad. The Fulbright Scholar Program has been a special part of my career. I have had the privilege of teaching and lecturing in twelve countries, and these experiences have shaped my teaching and writing.
I taught a variety of lecture courses and seminars on issues in U.S. foreign relations and a course on slavery at the University of Helsinki and the University of Turku, two of Finland’s leading universities. In one course, I had ninety students, with students from twenty different countries--international students flock to Finland, because of the country’s impressive educational standards and high-performance economy. Most students had facility with five languages. One Finnish student could work in eleven languages. In the photo of students in my seminar on the Vietnam War, eleven countries are represented.
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| Party organized by students in my seminar on inter-American relations. Appropriate to the cosmopolitan nature of teaching in Finland, we had the food of many countries and Latin American wines. |
My year in Finland offered me the opportunity to lecture to a variety of Finnish learned societies and to lecture at universities in Berlin, Prague, and Sofia, Bulgaria. An address I gave on perceptions of the Vietnam War became the subject of an “op-ed” piece on the front page of the Helsingin Sanomat, the leading Finnish newspaper.
Since returning to the United States in 2006, I have kept up my association with Finland. In May 2007, I attended a North American Studies conference in Tartu, Estonia with faculty and students from the University of Helsinki. I will return to Finland to speak at a conference at the University of Helsinki in May 2008. Three of my students from Finland have spent time with me and my wife at our house in Dallas. They were working on projects in U.S. history.
Finland has four seasons. In the summer, temperatures can get into the 80s F. It can be temperate in the summer, even way up North. The first photo shows my wife Genice and I at the harbor just down from our apartment. (The Bicentennial Chair came with a grand European-style apartment in a choice part of Helsinki).
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| Professor Markku Henriksson, the genial head of North American Studies at the University of Helsinki, and the humane Dr. Keith Battarbee of the English Department at the University of Turku facilitated my teaching efforts. Fulbrighters in Finland can count on the support of the wonderful Terhi Mölsä, the head of Finland’s Fulbright Program, and her able staff. |
During winter break, we traveled to a skiing resort, Saariselka, which is about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The sun rose at 10:00 a.m. and it was dark by 2:00 p.m. But the last half hour of light was magnificent—what the Finns call “the blue moment.” And there was plenty of time for skiing, because the Finns had put lights on the trails. We cross-country skied at 9:00 p.m. At Saariselka, I went dog-sledding. Those noble Siberian Huskies in the photo were part of my dog team.
As an undergraduate at Hamilton College in upstate New York, I experienced winters that were far more challenging than in Helsinki. I never saw more than six inches of snow on the ground in Helsinki. Most winter days, temperatures were in the 20s. Yes, it gets dark early in the winter, with only about six hours of light in Helsinki on 21 December. But the change is gradual and you are compensated by near endless light by mid-June.
Reviewing my photo album on Finland always evokes fond memories. |
