Ansioluettelo

Research Interests

• Theorizing of radical right populism and parliamentarian extremism from an intersectional perspective;

• Femininities and masculinities and the identity performative in a political context;

• Gender and conceptual metaphors theory in the political discourses;

• Political parties and leadership and comparative politics;

• Political communication and media;

• Areas of interest and expertise: the Northern Countries (focus on Finland and Sweden), Central and Eastern Europe (especially Hungary, Romania, Moldova), Western Europe (Belgium, France, the UK), former Republics of the Soviet Union (the Baltic Countries, Moldova), the EU;

Postdoctoral research project

The research project explores and scrutinizes, in a comparative framework, the ideological conceptualization of the European project, focusing on multiple inequalities (inequality systems at the intersection of gender, ethnicity/race, social class, and sexuality) by populist radical right parties from an intersectional perspective, through blending relevant European studies, political sociology with critical discourse analysis and gender studies. Focus is on the (True) Finns (Party) (Perussuomalaiset/Sannfinländarna, PS/SF) in Finland, the National Front in France, the Greater Romania Party in Romania, and the Sweden Democrats in Sweden. I will examine these parties’ campaigning in the two most recent European Parliamentary elections in 2009 and 2014, and the national parliamentary elections these parties have participated in during the period covered by the study. The aim is to cast more light on the specific places of resistance against equality efforts, and against the processes of EU integration.

Doctoral research Project

My doctoral research (January 2007 - January 2014), in the Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki pertained to issues of gender studies/gender equality and democracy. The research project has benefited from the intellectual input and the close fieldwork made possible by my being welcomed as a Guest PhD student at the Department of Political Science/ Statsvetenskapliga institutionen from Stockholm University/ Stockholms universitet, Stockholm (Sweden) (2008-2013). The research project was an inter-disciplinary dialogue. It drew its resources from scholarship focusing on the study of masculinity and the feminist performativity; at the same time, it was anchored in political sciences, with a special sensitivity to the outburst of rightist extremism within the wider European context and developing an innovative way of employing conceptual metaphor theory. The ambition was to contribute to the political and scientific goals of cultural diversity as well as democratic equality.

Awarded Research Grants

• For the purpose of pursuing the postdoctoral project abroad I was awarded a Postdoc pooli 1-yr grant on behalf of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (SLS) (Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland).

• My postdoctoral research project was funded with a 1-yr grant from Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation/ Ella och Georg Ehrnrooth Stiftelse/ Ella ja Georg Ehrnroothin säätiö (awarded in 2014) (taken up starting from July 2014).

• Towards the completition of my dissertation, I was awarded the University of Helsinki Dissertation Completion Grant (April – May 2013). Previously, my doctoral research project was funded by a 1-yr grant from Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation/ Ella och Georg Ehrnrooth Stiftelse/ Ella ja Georg Ehrnroothin säätiö (awarded in 2011); a 3-yrs research grant by The Finnish Cultural Foundation/ Suomen kulttuurirahasto (awarded in 2008). I was also awarded the TAPRI Research Grant for 2008/2009, undertaking my research at the Tampere Peace Research Institute/ Tampereen Rauhan- ja konfliktintutkimuskeskus (TAPRI), within the University of Tampere/ Tampereen yliopisto, Finland. Besides that, I was awarded several research travel grants by the Oskar Öflund Foundation/Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse; the Nordic Research School in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies; the Roskilde Universitetscenter, Institut for Samfund og Globalisering.