Virtues of visualisation: gambling in Finnish editorial cartoons

Abstract

How do editorial cartoons represent gambling? What can visually oriented thinking give to gambling research? The answers are rooted in the expanding research about visual culture, methodologies and data in social sciences and cultural studies. The discussion about 170 editorial cartoons from the Finnish print media, from 1961 to 2005, shows how the cartoons profile the Finnish gambler and what emotions are associated with gambling. The discussion then turns to Finnish gambling culture and gambling's role in society. Space, communication, power relations, and the use of gambling as a political metaphor are highlighted. The assessment demonstrates the value of popular-cultural data for gambling studies. The examination complements the existing cartoon research and visual-cultural studies and has interdisciplinary pedagogical potential.

Keywords:

• gambling
• qualitative
• culture
• geography
• Europe

Acknowledgements

We thank the artists and their copyright holders for the kind permission to reproduce the images. The article draws from Professor Raento's research project 'Landscape, Icons, and Images', funded by the Academy of Finland (2008–2012). Drafts of this paper have been presented in scholarly meetings in Helsinki and Auckland.