Page 20 - C.A.L.L. #37 - Winter 2013/2014

"It's the end of one story, but I also believe it's also the start of something new,"
Kaartinen said. "We don't know what's going to happen, but something will start from
there."

The current residents of Sointula, who now make their living fishing, logging, farming and
in the arts, have embraced the appearance of the Finnish theatre troupe and turned the
show into a three-day gathering that examines utopian life choices, past and present.

Culture Shock: Utopian Dreams, Hard Realities is bringing academics and amateur deep
thinkers to Sointula for a series of lectures and events that examine the Sointula utopian
dream, which at one point had about 200 people, but collapsed in 1903 after a fire killed
11 people, eight of
them children.

Experts will also
discuss other utopian
communities in nearby
Washington State,
while others will
examine the recent
Occupy movement and
its similarities to
utopian ideals. Religion
Prof. Ed Dutton, who
teaches at Oulu
University in Finland,
will deliver a lecture
Leader Matti Kurikka, left centre, with beard, and members of the Kalevan that connects the
Kansa pose in Sointula, B.C., in this undated photo.
birth of the term
"culture shock" to Sointula and the Canadian academic who spent his early years living in
Sointula.

Dutton says Canadian anthropologist Kalvero Oberg, who was raised in Sointula and lost
two sisters in the 1903 fire, is the father of the culture shock theory. His 1950s theory
examined the stages people go through when expatriates are exposed to a new culture.

Sointula resident Annemarie Koch says Sointula has never lost its utopian roots and
quickly viewed the opportunity to stage the Finnish play in their community hall as an
opportunity to conduct a modern-day history lesson.

She said about 30 per cent of Sointula residents hold connections to the original
commune. "The people of this community didn't give up, and there's a Finnish word for
that, which is 'sisu,' the word they use for what we call tenacity or perseverance, and
some might call stubbornness."

Koch said tickets for the conference and play are sold out.

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