Kustaa Gideon Vilkuna (born 26 October 1902 in

Nivala Nivala is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Ge ...

– died 6 April 1980 in

Kirkkonummi Kirkkonummi (; sv, Kyrkslätt, , Sweden ) is a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of inhabitants () in southern Finland. The literal meaning of the words "''Kirkkonummi''" and "''Kyrkslätt''" in English language, English is "church heath". ...

) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

, linguist and historian. Vilkuna was a member of the

Academic Karelia Society The Academic Karelia Society (''Akateeminen Karjala-Seura'', AKS) was a ethnic Finn, Finnish nationalist and Finno-Ugric countries, Finno-Ugric activist organization aiming at the growth and improvement of newly independent Finland, founded by aca ...

(AKS) until resigning in 1932 and again from 1942–1944. He was appointed a professor of ethnology at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

in 1950. In politics, he was a member of the Agrarian League and the Minister of Education in Reino Kuuskoski's cabinet. He was also closely associated with then-president

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

, being even described as the

éminence grise An ''éminence grise'' () or grey eminence is a powerful decision-maker or adviser who operates "behind the scenes", or in a non-public or unofficial capacity. This phrase originally referred to François Leclerc du Tremblay, the right-hand man ...

of Kekkonen. His daughter Kirsti Vilkuna is the widow of the prominent Finnish industrialist

Pekka Herlin Pekka Aksel Herlin (15 July 1932 – 4 April 2003) was a Finnish businessman, the president of the elevator and escalator maker Kone from 1964. In 1954, Pekka Herlin joined Kone, and succeeded his father as president in 1964, and started plannin ...

. His grandsons Janne Vilkuna and Kustaa H. J. Vilkuna are historians as well.

References

External links

Kustaa Vilkuna in 375 humanists – 12 April 2015.
Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilkuna, Kustaa 1902 births 1980 deaths People from Nivala People from Oulu Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Centre Party (Finland) politicians Ministers of Education of Finland Finnish ethnologists Linguists from Finland University of Helsinki alumni Academic personnel of the University of Helsinki 20th-century linguists