Bio

Dr Tuomas Tepora (Title of Docent) is Lecturer in history during the terms 2018–2021.  Before his current position he worked as Core Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (2015–2018).

He received his PhD and earlier degrees from the University of Helsinki. During his doctoral studies he spent one semester at Birkbeck College, University of London in 2007. In 2011, he defended his thesis on the notions of sacrifice in early twentieth-century Finland. In the same year he received a postdoctoral position in the research project focused on the history of emotions and modern war funded by the Academy of Finland. From September 2012 until June 2013 he worked as a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at Queen Mary College, University of London. Dr Tepora’s book Sinun puolestas elää ja kuolla: Suomen liput, nationalismi ja veriuhri 1917–1945 (Living and Dying for the Nation: The Finnish Flag, Nationalism, and Blood Sacrifice 1917–1945) received the annual Best Academic Book Prize of 2011.

He has co-edited a volume on the history and memory of the Finnish Civil War 1918 (2014). His 2015 book Sodan henki. Kaunis ja ruma talvisota (The Spirit of War: The Beautiful, Ugly Winter War) sheds new light to the experiences of war enthusiasm and disillusionment during and after the Winter War (1939–40). The book received an honorary mention from Lauri Jäntti Foundation in 2016.

His latest book co-authored with Aapo Roselius and published in 2020, concerns the relocatin of Karelian evacuees to Finland's Swedish-speaking areas between 1940 and 1950. According to a persistent popular narrative, the Swedish-speaking areas were all but freed from the Karelian settlement. The study shows that the narrative should be concidarably revised. The study is available in Finnish and in Swedish (Muukalaisten invaasio / Kampen om den svenska jorden).

Research interests

Tuomas’s research deals with a wide variety of topics related to the cultural history of war and the history and politics of emotions. His particular interest is the concept of sacrifice in modern context. This includes the various notions, symbols and memories of modern war-related sacrifice and also the politics behind the experiences of sacrifice, self-sacrifice and victimisation. His interests also include the history of youth in early 20th-century nationalist movements – a subject which intertwines closely with sacrificial thought. Tuomas also finds the new research within the field of critical neuroscience fascinating.

His current research project deals with the myth of Marshal Mannerheim and his personality cult in Finland. C.G.E. Mannerheim was a military leader and politician in early twentieth-century Finland whose public image has retained a revered and hated position in Finnish society since 1918. The research traces the various images and counter-images of Mannerheim in their transnational context of non-totalitarian personality cults.

Teaching

During the terms 2018–2021 I work as a fixed-term lecturer in history. My teaching area is modern Finnish history.

I have designed and taught courses in the cultural history of war, the history of nationalism and the history of emotions at the University of Helsinki since 2008. I have also lectured in a number of other universities.

21 August 2020

1. PERSONAL DETAILS

Tepora, Tuomas

Orcid:0000-0002-0373-1947

b. 1978; nationality: Finnish

LinkedIn: https://fi.linkedin.com/in/tuomas-tepora-6b5b723

2. EDUCATION

-4/2011: Ph. D., University of Helsinki,Finland.

-1/2005: MA, University of Helsinki, Finland

-10/2015: Title of Docent, Finnish and Nordic history, University of Helsinki.

3. CURRENT EMPLOYMENT

-8/2018–(7/2021): University lecturer in history, University of Helsinki, Dept. of Philosophy, History and Art Studies.

4. PAST EMPLOYMENT

-9/2015–7/2018: Core fellow/university researcher, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.

-8/2014­–8/2015: Postdoctoral grant researcher, University of Helsinki, funded by Kaatuneiden muistosäätiö & Kordelin Foundation.

-7/2011–7/2014: Postdoctoral researcher, University of Helsinki, Dept. of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, researcher in the Academy of Finland project “Emotions and the Cultural History of War in Finland, 1939–1951”.

-9/2012–6/2013: Visiting postdoctoral fellow, Queen Mary College, University of London, Centre for the History of Emotions.

-7/2010–6/2011: Postdoctoral grant researcher, University of Helsinki, funded by Ehrnrooth Foundation.

-9/2005–6/2010: Doctoral fellow, University of Helsinki,

Funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the University of Helsinki Funds.

-9/2004–11/2004: Editorial Assistant, Finnish Literature Society.

-Since 2005: Public lecturer and non-fiction writer.

5. PERSONAL RESEARCH FUNDING AND GRANTS

-6/2018: research grant, Ehrnrooth Foundation, 16,500 €.

-5/2018: research grant, Helander Foundation, 12,000 €.

-9/2015–7/2018: university basic funding, based on an international call for research applications, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.

-1/2015–12/2015: research grant, Kordelin Foundation, 28,000 €.

- 5/2015: research grant, Committee for Public Information in Finland, 3,500 €.

-8/2014–12/2014: research grant, Kaatuneiden muistosäätiö, 10,000 €.

-9/2012–6/2013: visiting fellowship in the UK, Ehrnrooth Foundation, 11,000 €.

-7/2011–7/2014: employed postdoctoral project researcher, Academy of Finland, University of Helsinki.

-7/2010–6/2011: research grant, Ehrnrooth Foundation, 16,000 €.

- 12/2009–5/2010, research grant, University of Helsinki Funds, 8,330 €.

-9/2006–8/2009, research grant, Finnish Cultural Foundation, 50,000 €.

-9/2005–8/2006, research grant, University of Helsinki Funds, 14,500 €.

- Joint application responsibilities, 9/2010 call: Academy of Finland project funding, “Emotions and the Cultural History of War in Finland, 1939–1951”, head Prof Henrik Meinander, my responsibility was 45 % of the application.

6. LEADERSHIP AND SUPERVISION EXPERIENCE

-Supervision of doctoral dissertations (2, ongoing); MA theses (2); BA theses (12)

7. TEACHING EXPERIENCE

-2018–(2019): full-time teaching position, university lecturer, BA & MA studies in history, including praktikum/BA seminar, University of Helsinki.

-Since 2007: teaching and designing courses in several universities.

8. EXPERIENCE OF ORGANISING SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS

-2017: The Historicity of Emotions Symposium, HCAS, chair of the organising committee, 20 participants.

-2014: Emotions and the Cultural History of the World Wars Conference, University of Helsinki, member of the organising committee, 50 participants.

-Since 2006: Domestic workshops and seminars.

9. AWARDS AND HONOURS

-The Academic Book of the Year Award (2011) (Vuoden tiedekirja), “Sinun puolestas elää ja kuolla”.

-Honorary mention of Lauri Jäntti Foundation in 2016, “Sodan henki”.

-Shortlisted for Vuoden tiedekynä Academic Writing Award by Kone Foundation in 2020.

-Shortlisted for the Kanava prize for non-fiction in 2015, “Sodan henki”.

-Shortlisted as a part of the group of authors for the “Finlandia Prize for non-fiction” (Tieto-Finlandia) in 2008, “Ruma sota”.

10. OTHER SCIENTIFIC MERITS

-2014–2020: Total number of eer-reviews (29)

-2016–2018: Staff representative on the Board, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.

-2018–(2021): Member of the Board, BA programme in history, University of Helsinki.

-2017: Invited keynotes at Queen’s University, Belfast, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg & University of Turku, Finland.

Since 2015: Production of scientific, peer-reviewed open-access publications and teaching material.

11. MEMBERSHIPS AND POSITIONS OF TRUST

-2009–2011: Vice-chair of the Historical Association (Historiallinen Yhdistys); Member of the board, 2006–2008.

-Since 2016: Finnish Historical Society (Suomen Historiallinen Seura), elected academic member.

-Since 2016: The Finnish Network for the History of Emotions, founding member.

-Other notable memberships: International Society for Cultural History, Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism, Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, Historians without Borders in Finland, Association of Finnish Non-fiction Writers.