Abstract: This paper seeks to explore the relationship between gender and
political narratives by drawing on autobiographical memoirs generated by way
of a collection project called Politics and Power Games, which was organised by the
Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society in 2006–2007. The materials
stored in the memory institution with a long history of collecting cultural heritage
open up a terrain for experiences of political culture and traces of gendered
political heritage as occurring in ordinary people’s minds and narratives. By
highlighting experiences of gender-based political culture, the article aims to
show the importance of collecting and archiving political narratives as part of
history culture and heritage. When writing to an archive, narrators participate
in a dialogue not only between the present and the past but also between the
personal and the public sphere.
Keywords: archive collections, autobiographical memoirs, cultural heritage,
gender, history culture, oral history, political culture, political narratives