Hilma Granqvist: A scholar of the Westermarck school in its decline

Hilma Granqvist was educated at Helsinki University in the tradition of the Westermarck School, The topic of her dissertation 'Women in the Old Testam ent' led her to carry out fieldwork in Palestine. Between 1925 and 1931 she carried out fieldwork in the village of Artas, in all a 3-year period. Her radical decision to study only one village and thereby restrain from wider comparisons severed her relationship with her supervisor, Consequently she could not present her thesis at Helsinki University. Westermarck allowed h er to defend it at Abo Akademi University in January 1932. We acted as her opponent even though he was just retiring from his professorship there, In Granqvist's dissertation on marriage conditions in Artas, as well as in her other publications, methods that combined statistics, participant observat ion and commentaries by local people were used. This combination made her a ble to distinguish between the ideal and the actual. Hilma Granqvist became the victim of a stagnating scientific school. Her academic career was tota lly blocked in Finland. Although she received international recognition, sh e had to work alone without support and encouragement, (C) Scandinavian Soc iologlcal Association 2000.