Michael Loukinen

Michael Loukinen

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Most Known for...

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Yooper Creoles: Finnish Music in Michigan's Copper Country 2019 (8)

When the immigrants came to America, their cultures entered the "great melting pot." In Michigan's Upper Peninsula Finnish immigrants mixed their musical traditions with many other cultures, creating a sound that was unique to the "Copper Country."
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Finnish American Lives 1982

A moving portrait of traditional Finnish American culture in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, highlighting that fragile community of memory connecting ourselves with parents and grandparents. It uses the “biographical model” of folklore filmmaking to tell the story of Erikki Vourenmaa, a 92-year-old Finnish immigrant, and his family living near Ironwood, Michigan. This three-generation farm family works, celebrates, reflects, and grieves together. The film explores the meaning of family, ethnic history, aging and intergenerational bonds. It contrasts between the immigrant elder, his American-born son and the partially assimilated grandchildren to illustrate change and continuity in the "sauna belt" of the Lake Superior Region. As Dr. Sharon Sherman concluded, “Loukinen’s focus on the bonds between generations will strike emotional chords about family relationships and ethnic identity for numerous cultural groups.”
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Finnish American Rag Rug Weavers 2019

Between 1865 and 1920, Finnish immigrants brought traditional arts to America, including woven and braided rag rugs. As a hallmark of Finnish ethnic culture, rag rugs and their makers hold special places in the hearts of Finnish America. Cultural sociologist Michael Loukinen brings us into the homes and to the workrooms of traditional weavers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He portrays the interwoven world of cultural beliefs, aesthetic practices, and family history that each rug represents. From the treasured family-memory heirloom, from each carefully protected rug to its threadbare, tattered clump on a tractor seat, these rugs are an art form that embodies several Finnish American cultural values.