Ph.D., D.Soc.Sci. Osmo Pekonen holds two doctorates: the one written in Pure Mathematics; the other in Northern Ethnography, under the guidance of Juha Pentikäinen, a Finnish professor in Northern Ethnogpahy who has visited several times the Polar Museum in Fermo. Thus, Pekonen has two facets in his academic life: math and myth. In some studies of structuralist analysis of myths, he has even managed to build a bridge between the two.

In the present program, Pekonen interviews the Finnish-Italian scholar of Northern Ethnography Vesa Matteo Piludu, another former student of Juha Pentikäinen.

Vesa Matteo Piludu is a researcher and adjunct teacher in Studies of Religions at the University of Helsinki. He is the author of the monograph "The Forestland's Guests: Mythical Landscapes, Personhood, and Gender in the Finno-Karelian Bear Ceremonialism" (2019, freely downloadable from the university website: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/282220).

He is the editor and translator of Sulle tracce della renna del cielo. Scritti sullo sciamanesimo nordico di Juha Pentikäinen e Anna-Leena Siikala" (Rome, 2007); and the prestigious "La Mitologia del Kalevala", by Juha Pentikäinen, published by Vocifuoriscena (Viterbo 2014) and, with Frog, the scientific anthology "Kalevala: epica, magia, arte e musica / Kalevala: Epic, Magic, Art and Music" (2014 , published both in bilingual and Italian editions). He currently carries out researches on the hero Kullervo and sacred trees in Finland and Karelia.

Vesa Matteo Piludu 

È ricercatore e docente a contratto in Studi sulle religioni al­l’Università di Helsinki. È autore della monografia The "Forestland’s Guests: Mythical Landscapes, Personhood, and Gender in the Finno-Karelian Bear Ceremonialism" (liberamente scaricabile dal sito universitario https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/282220).

È curatore e traduttore di Sulle tracce della renna del cielo. Scritti sullo sciamanesimo nordico di Juha Pentikäinen e Anna-Leena Siikala (Roma, 2007); e del prestigioso Mitologia del Kalevala, di Juha Pentikäinen, edito da Vocifuoriscena (Viterbo 2014) e, con Frog, dell'antologia scientifica "Kalevala: epica, magia, arte e musica / Kalevala: Epic, Magic, Art and Music" (2014, pubblicato sia in edizione bilingue e solo italiana). Attualmente svolge ricerche sull'eroe Kullervo e sugli alberi sacri in Finlandia e in Carelia.