Academic Research Projects On

Asia in Finland 2022

Finnish University Network for Asian Studies

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Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Bangladesh ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
China................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
India .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Indonesia .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Japan ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20
Korea (North Korea and South Korea) ..................................................................................................................................... 28
Myanmar .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Singapore ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 31
Taiwan .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 31
Thailand ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 32
Vietnam ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Regional Issues and Comparisons within Asia ......................................................................................................................... 33

Published in October 2022 Cover photo credit: Djedj, Pixabay

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Introduction
This catalogue contains information about on-going or recently completed academic research
projects on Asia in Finnish universities and research institutes. The data was collected with an e-
mail form that circulated among Asia researchers in Finland during the summer and autumn of
2022. Forthcoming academic publications as well as publications between 2020 and 2022 are also
included, while Master’s theses and audio publications are omitted.

An electronic version of the catalogue is available on the website of the Finnish University
Network for Asian Studies at www.asianet.fi/research-catalogue/.

Bangladesh

Abdul Kadir Khan, PhD Candidate (Development Studies), University of Jyväskylä, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy
abdul.k.khan@student.jyu.fi
Keywords: Humanitarian action, localization, NGOs, humanitarian space, Rohingya response

I am Abdul Kadir Khan, a PhD student (a four year program) in Development studies at the
University of Jyväskylä. I have started my PhD in 2020, aiming for an article-based dissertation. My
project titled as "From Humanitarian response to Development: Exploring the dynamics of
localizing humanitarian action and development in protracted Rohingya refugee crisis in
Bangladesh".
My research is determined to address three main issues that remain contested on the ground of
Rohingya response in Bangladesh. First, the impediments to the realization of the localization
agenda in the Rohingya response. Second, to explore the humanitarian space in constrained settings
of the Rohingya response, from the perspective of Bangladeshi NGOs. Third, to understand
perspectives and the impact on host -communities due to the massive refugee settlement that
precipitated a heavy toll on the host communities in Cox`s Bazar. To address these challenges, the
humanitarian-development nexus should be considered. This project is, therefore, determined to
analyze the dynamics of the localization agenda from the humanitarian response to development
with special reference to the Rohingya response.
Finally, I will write the summary of my article-based dissertation by compiling three articles that I
intended to publish. I aim to finalize my PhD by June 2024.

Publications:
Khan, A.K. & Konttinen, T. (2022) Impediments to localization agenda: humanitarian space in the
Rohingya response in Bangladesh. International Journal of Humanitarian Action 7, 14.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-022-00122-1

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China

Tiina Airaksinen, Senior Lecturer, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultural Studies

tiina.h.airaksinen@helsinki.fi
Keywords: China, Kiinan sensuuri/censorship in China, suomalaiset Kiinassa/Finnish in China

Publications:
- ”Kiina ja Ukrainan sota” (työnimi) 2023, kirjassa Maailma ennen ja jälkeen Ukrainan sodan,
Gaudeamus, hyväksytty julkaistavaksi.
- “Forming of Anti-Imperialist National Identity in Republican China: The Finnish Interpretation”,
2022. Nations and Nationalism, accepted for publication 2022.
- ”Kiinan sensuuri ulottuu kansainvälisiin julkaisuihin”, kirjassa Tieteen vapaus ja tutkijan
sananvapaus. Väliverronen, E. & Ekholm, K. (toim.). Tampere: Vastapaino, 2020.
-”Sensuuri, kielletyt aiheet ja tieteellinen julkaiseminen Kiinassa”, Tieteessä tapahtuu, 2/ 2020.

Hermann Aubié, Senior Researcher, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
heraub@utu.fi
Keywords: China, humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR), medical aid, foreign aid/development finance, BRI, human rights,
censorship, disinformation, EU-China relations

- Aubié, H. (forthcoming 2022) "Re-Examining China’s Health Silk Road and Covid19 Health Aid:
Towards a Greater Role in Global Health Governance?" in China’s Stances Towards International Norms
Viewed Through the BRI edited by Mario Esteban and Yue Lin. Book chapter. Routledge.
- Aubié, H. and Paltemaa, L. (forthcoming 2022-3) A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed? Rethinking
Beijing's ‘Humanitarian Aid’ Diplomacy Campaign during COVID-19's First Wave, China Quarterly.
- Beijing's domestic and overseas information control and manipulation before and during Covid19
- China's mask and vaccine diplomacy before and during Covid19
Expected time of completion: late 2021/early 2022.

Albion M. Butters, Research Fellow/PhD, University of Turku, John Morton Center

albion.butters@utu.fi
Keywords: Tibet, Buddhism

Current work:
- Independently researching and writing on Longchenpa (14th c. Tibet) and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo
(19th c. Tibet)
- Editor at Studia Orientalia Electronica
- Editor at Khyentse Vision Project (https://www.khyentsevision.org/).

Recent publications:
- "The Life and Works of Longchenpa" (Oxford Encyclopedia of Buddhism, forthcoming 2022).
- Butters, Albion M. (ed.) (2020). Purāṇas, Āgamas, and Tantras: Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit
Conference held in Helsinki, Finland, 13–18 July 2003. Studia Orientalia 121. Helsinki: Finnish Oriental
Society.

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Julie Yu-Wen Chen, Professor, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultures
julie.chen@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative, globalization, Russia, local agency

Recent publications:
- Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2022) Implementation of the HSK and Its Home Edition during the Covid-19
Pandemic: A Survey of European Test Centres. International Journal of Chinese Education. Forthcoming.
- Chen, Julie Yu-Wen (2022) Reconciling Different Approaches to Conceptualizing the Gocalization of the
Belt and Road Initiative Projects. Globalizations. Forthcoming.
- Ekaterina, Nekhay; Chen, Yu-Wen (2022) Russian Federation and China: Cooperation under the Belt and
Road Initiative. Issue & Policy Briefs. Stockholm: Institute for Security and Development Policy. 1-8.
- Chen, Yu-Wen (2022) Glocalization of Belt and Road Initiatives: The Importance of Local Agency, in
Paulo Afonso Brardo Duarte, Francisco Leandro and Enrique Martínez Galán (eds.) Palgrave Handbook
of Globalization with Chinese Characteristics. Singapore: Palgrave-Macmillan.
- Chen, Yu-Wen; Hodzi, Obert (2021) The Chinese Model of Development: Substances and Applications in
and Beyond China, in Chris Shei and Weixiao Wei (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Studies.
London: Routledge.
- Chen, Yu-Wen (2021) Ethnic Conflict in Xinjiang and Its International Connections, in Michael Weiner
(ed) The Routledge Handbook of Race and Ethnicity in Asia. London: Routledge.
- Chen, Yu-Wen; Günther, Olaf (2020) Back to Normalization or Conflict with China in Greater Central
Asia? Evidence from Local Students’ Perceptions. Special issue “Encounters after the Soviet Collapse:
Chinese Presence in the Former Soviet Union Border Zone”. Problems of Post-Communism 67(3): 228-
240.

Pia Eskelinen, PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Faculty of Law

pia.j.eskelinen@utu.fi
Keywords: China, women, gender, Xi Jinping, political discourse

Back to Family Values: Xi Jinping´s Embracement of Confucianism and its Effect on Chinese
Women

This research examines Chinese gender policies since 2016 when president Xi Jinping held his famous speech
on family values. The particular focus of this study is on the role of the All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF), the
most important women’s organization in China, in representing women’s interests. The research addresses the
organization’s role as balancing between the state, the Chinese Communist Party, and the women it seeks to support
and represent. Using feminist intersectional methods, an analysis on the policy changes and their effect on Chinese
women and the ACWF in particular is presented. The research methods facilitate the understanding of Chinese society
as including a variety of perspectives and voices, the study of which calls for attentive observation and collection of
diverse evidence.

Chinese Rural Women and their land rights

Land is a powerful asset, but it also has a social function. Its economic and social aspects are central in
advancing gender equality. Legal control of land as well as legal and social recognition of women’s uses of
and rights to land, can also have catalytic effects of empowerment, increasing women’s influence and status
in their homes and communities. This research focuses on Chinese rural women and their land rights. It
also looks at President Xi Jinping´s political discourse and how it effects the All China Women
Federation´s position in the Chinese society.
Expected time of completion 2022.

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Karoliina Hurri, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki, Aleksanteri Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences
karoliina.hurri@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Climate leadership, COPs, UNFCCC, global south, BASIC group

Funding: Kone Foundation, Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation

Duration: 2018-2023

PhD candidate in the project "Climate responsibility as a normative cornerstone of

multilateral cooperation?"

The doctoral thesis in World Politics investigates the construction of China’s leadership role in the
post-Paris era. Research focuses on China's role based on external and internal expectations for its
climate leadership. Climate leadership has traditionally been expected from developed countries,
hence recognizing China as a leader requires rethinking climate leadership.

Publications:
-Hurri, K. Rethinking climate leadership: Annex I countries' expectations for China's leadership
role in the post-Paris UN climate negotiations. Environmental Development (2020),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100544
- Kopra, S., Hurri, K., Kauppila, L., Stepien A. & Y. Yamineva (2020). China, climate change and
the Arctic environment. In Koivurova, T. & S. Kopra (ed.): China’s Policy and Presence in the
Arctic. Brill Publishing, Leiden.

Anni Kajanus, Assistant Professor, University of Helsinki, Social and Cultural Anthropology
anni.kajanus@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Child development, culture and cognition, education, cooperation, competition, hierarchy

Chinese children's social and cognitive development in comparative perspective

Broadly, this research investigates human cooperation, and the competitive and conflict behaviours
that revolve around cooperation. Babies are born with basic cognitive capacities and psychological
motivations to cooperate with others. As children grow up in an environment of particular social
norms and cultural values, the development of their cooperative behaviours is shaped by them.
This project has investigated different mechanisms of cooperation, e.g. fairness norms, competitive
motivation, punishment, mutualism, and prestigious and dominant leadership, from a comparative
perspective in Chinese communities, and in the UK.

Publications:
- Kajanus, A. and Stafford, C. (in press). Cooperation and punishment, in Cambridge Handbook
of the Anthropology of Ethics and Morality, ed. J. Laidlaw. Cambridge University Press.
- Kajanus*, A., Afshordi*, N. and F. Warneken (2020). Children’s understanding of dominance
and prestige in China and the UK. Evolution and Human Behavior 41(1): 23-34.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.08.002

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Jyrki Kallio, Senior Research Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs
jyrki.kallio@fiia.fi
Keywords: China, soft power, Confucianism, IR theory

Title: Probing the "Confucian" Core of Chinese Soft Power

Description: Ongoing research on China’s soft power dissemination efforts and the rhetorical uses
of traditional values as the core of China’s soft power, especially in formulating China’s foreign
policy goals and ambitions as a global power. Discussion on a "Chinese (Confucian) IR theory".
Analysis of the roots of Confucianism and its "original" nature with regard on the development of
Contemporary New Confucianism.

Publications (monographs and edited volumes only):

- 2025 (est.) forthcoming. Mestari Kongin kadonneet sanonnat. Gaudeamus.
- 2023 forthcoming (transl. & ed.). Xunzi: Suomennosvalikoima. Gaudeamus.
- 2022 (transl. & ed.).Avain kungfutselaisuuteen. Gaudeamus.
- 2021 The Chinese worldview in flux. (Chapter in an edited volume on the impact of the May 4th
Movement.) Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien.
- 2020 (transl. & ed.). Mengzi: Veljellisyyden tie. Gaudeamus.

Annukka Kinnari, Research Student, University of Helsinki, Media and Communication

annukka.kinnari@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Media studies, urban studies, Chinese megacities, urbanization in China, city image

Guangzhou Re-globalising - Analysing a city’s changing image in transforming China. A

dissertation for PhD degree. Research is about urban changes in Guangzhou between 1980 and
2010 and how these changes are reflected in foreign newspaper writings about the city. The study
also analyses newspapers as a space for placemaking and as a place for city image building.

Sanna Kopra, Senior Researcher, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland

sanna.kopra@ulapland.fi
Keywords: China, Arctic, climate policy, responsibility

On-going project: China's Arctic Policy and the Changing Arctic Security Dynamics (the
Support Foundation for National Defence, 11/2021-10/2022)

Recently completed project: The Rise of China and Normative Transformation in the Arctic
Region
(Academy of Finland, 9/2018-8/2021)

Publications:
- (2022, with Liisa Kauppila) “China’s Rise and the Arctic Region up to 2049 – Three Scenarios for
Regional Futures in an Era of Climate Change and Power Transition.” The Polar Journal.
- (2022) “China and a New Order in the Arctic.” In: Cornelia Navari & Tonny Brems Knudsen
(eds.) Power Transition, Fundamental Institutions and the New World Order. Palgrave MacMillan.
- (2022) “Kiinan geopoliittiset tavoitteet ja toiminta arktisella alueella” [China’s geopolitical goals
and activities in the Arctic region]. In: Ossi Kettunen (ed.) Arktisen alueen geopolitiikka 2000-
luvulla [Arctic geopolitics in the 21st century]. Helsinki: National Defence University.
- (in press) “China and a new order in the Arctic.” In: Cornelia Navari & Tonny Brems Knudsen
(eds.) Power Transition, Fundamental Institutions and the New World Order. Palgrave MacMillan.

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 - (2021, with Liisa Kauppila) “Responsible international citizenship and China’s participation in
Arctic regionalization.” In: Lassi Heininen, Heather Exner-Pirot & Justin Barnes (Eds.) Arctic
Yearbook 2021. Akureyri: Arctic Portal.
- (2020, with Matti Nojonen) “The elusive norm of climate responsibility: The Belt and Road and
COVID-19.” In: Lassi Heininen, Heather Exner-Pirot & Justin Barnes (Eds.) Arctic Yearbook
2020. Akureyri: Arctic Portal.
- (2020, with Timo Koivurova, eds.) Chinese policy and presence in the Arctic. Leiden: Brill.
- (2020) “China, Great Power Responsibility and Arctic Security.” In: Lassi Heininen & Heather
Exner-Pirot (eds.) Climate Change and Arctic Security. Searching for a Paradigm Shift, 33-52.
Palgrave Pivot.

Baoying Liu, Phd, University of Turku, Faculty of Social Sciences

baoliu@utu.fi
Keywords: State and business relations, China multinational companies, political economy, business influences

Title: “Have a Say at Home? What Does It Mean for the World?” A Comprehensive Study
on China’s Multinational Companies
By employing a hybrid methodology with structural power and instrumental power theory as the
foundation, this research plans to measure the impact of China’s growing multinational companies
(MNCs) on the party-state and depicts its unique role in the international political economy
context.
Ph.D. Degree: 4 years
Expected completion: 2024

Outi Luova, University Lecturer, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
outi.luova@utu.fi
Keywords: Urban cities, environment, science, AI, governance, regional economies

EU Horizon project "ReConnect China" (consortium led by Ghent University). Co-leader

of WP6. Project funding period: 11/2022–10/2026.

Publications:
-Luova Outi (2022) Kiina johtaa Yhdysvaltaa tiedekamppailussa määrällä - mutta ei laadulla.
Politiikasta. https://politiikasta.fi/kiina-johtaa-yhdysvaltaa-tiedekamppailussa-maaralla-mutta-ei-
laadulla/
- Luova Outi (2022) Kiina tanssii ja futaa. Liikunta & tiede 1. https://www.lts.fi/liikunta-
tiede/artikkelit/kiina-tanssii-ja-futaa.html
- - Luova, Outi (2021) “China's Normative Challenge”, in: Finland, Europe and the Western
security community. What next? ed Antti Vesala, Helsinki: Toivo Think Tank, pp 30-35,
https://toivoajatuspaja.fi/finland-europe-and-the-western-security-community-what-next/
- Kurki Suvi, Luova Outi, Pitkänen Ari-Joonas (2021) Tunne kiinalainen patnerisi (1): Kiinan
korkeakoulu- ja tutkimusjärjestelmä. CEAS Insights 1, https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-8727-
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- Luova Outi (2021) Tunne kiinalainen patnerisi (2) - Kiinan korkeakoulujen ohjausjärjestelmä.
CEAS Insights 3, https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-8729-0
- Luova, Outi, (2020) “Local environmental governance and policy implementation: Variegated
environmental education in three districts in Tianjin, China”. Special issue “New directions of
urban studies in China”, Urban Studies, 57:3, 2020
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0042098019862230

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Mikael Mattlin, Research Professor, Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Keywords: China, investments, political system, Taiwan, games, simulations, international relations, EU, economic statecraft, pedagogy

Ongoing research projects:

1. Academy of Finland research project ”Foreign acquisitions and political retaliation as threats to
supply security in an era of strategic decoupling” (ForAc), https://sites.utu.fi/forac/en/.
(project director and PI). Research team members: Prof. Shaun Breslin (University of
Warwick), Doc. Outi Luova (UTU), Dr Elina Sinkkonen (FIIA), Liisa Kauppila (UTU), Ines
Söderström (UTU) and Tero Poutala (UTU). Collaborators: Dr Matt Ferchen (Leiden
University), Dr Björn Jerdén (UI) and Assistant prof Mikko Rajavuori (UTU). Project funding
period: 8/2020–11/2023.
2. EU Horizon 2021 research project "ReConnect China" (consortium led by Ghent University;
member of the UTU research team). Project funding period: 11/2022–10/2026.
3. Use of negotiation games as pedagogical platforms (project lead). Collaborators: post-doc, Dr
Elina Ketonen (UH) and Milla Kruskopf (UH). Ongoing research project.
4. ”Kiinan poliittinen järjestelmä” –Finnish language textbook project supported by the Joel
Toivola Foundation (project lead). Collaborators: Prof. Lauri Paltemaa (UTU) and Prof. Juha
Vuori (TUNI). Project completed in April 2022.

Publications:
1. Mattlin, Mikael, Lauri Paltemaa & Juha A. Vuori (2022) Kiinan poliittinen järjestelmä.
Tampere: Vastapaino, 388 p. https://vastapaino.fi/sivu/tuote/kiinan-poliittinen-
jarjestelma/3858480
2. Poutala, Tero, Elina Sinkkonen & Mikael Mattlin (2022) ”EU strategic autonomy and the
perceived challenge of China: Can critical hubs be de-weaponised?” European Foreign Affairs
Review 27: 79–98.
3. Mattlin, Mikael (2021) “Normative economic statecraft: China’s quest to shape the world in
its image,” in Chris C. Shei and Weixiao Wei (eds) Routledge Handbook of Chinese Studies.
London: Routledge, pp. 24–40.
4. Mattlin, Mikael (2021) “Anarchy is what students make of it: Playing out Wendt’s three
cultures of anarchy,” Journal of Political Science Education (online first)
https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2020.1861457
5. Paltemaa, Lauri, Juha A. Vuori, Mikael Mattlin & Jouko Katajisto (2020) ”Meta-Information
censorship and the creation of the Chinanet Bubble,” Information, Communication & Society
23 (14): 2064–2080. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1732441
6. Mattlin, Mikael (2020) “Kanariefågeln som tystnade. Finlands gestalt shift om kinesiska
investeringar,” Internasjonal Politikk 78 (1): 54–67.
http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/intpol.v78.1797
7. Paltemaa, Lauri, Juha A. Vuori, Mikael Mattlin (2020) ”Informaatiokuplat digitaalisen
diktatuurin välineenä – tapaus Kiina” Futura 1/20: 54–60.

Alicia Ng, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki

alicia.ng@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Electronic waste, soil pollution, bioremediation, waste, technology, microbes, nature-based solutions, multispecies, circular
economy of China, ecological civilization

Doctoral degree (ongoing): Expected date of completion Jan 2025

Publications (upcoming):
- "Discard and decay: the materiality of rhizosphere soil interactions in the bioremediation of
electronic waste-contaminated soils". Article (in revision). Expected in 2022.

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 - "Polluted Histories, Clean Futures? Opposing Scenarios for an Electronic Waste Circular
Economy in China". Waste Now! Publication project. Expected in 2022.

Lauri Paltemaa, Professor, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
Keywords: China, political history, internet, technology, disaster management

EU Horizon project "ReConnect China" (consortium led by Ghent University). Co-leader

of WP6. Project funding period: 11/2022–10/2026.

Research Interests:
The Internet and the politics of technology in contemporary China
Disaster management

Publications:
- Mattlin, Mikael, Lauri Paltemaa & Juha A. Vuori (2022) Kiinan poliittinen järjestelmä. Tampere:
Vastapaino, 388 p. https://vastapaino.fi/sivu/tuote/kiinan-poliittinen-jarjestelma/3858480
- Paltemaa, Lauri: Kiinan käännös totalitaariseen yksinvaltaan? [A Totalitarian Turn in China?]
Kosmopolis 51:3 2021, 81-92.
- Paltemaa, Lauri, 2021. ”Kiina astumassa uudelle aikakaudelle?” Turun Sanomat, 30.11.2021
- Paltemaa, Lauri, 2020. "Kiina - muuttuva jättiläinen" Kirjassa Lohikäärme, tiikeri ja krysanteemi:
johdatus Itä-Aasian yhteiskuntiin. Turun yliopisto, Studies in Contemporary East Asia. 1.
- Paltemaa, L., Vuori, J., Mattlin, M., & Katajisto, J. (2020). Meta-information censorship and the
creation of the Chinanet Bubble. Information, Communication & Society, 1–17.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1732441

Marko Pihl, Doctoral Researcher, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
marpih@utu.fi
Keywords: Sino-African relations, civil society

Publications:
- Pihl, Marko & Aubié Hermann (2022) ”Rokotediplomatiassa hyvä tarina on parempi kuin hyvä
rokote.” Turun Sanomat 23.2.2022
- Aukia, Jukka, and Marko Pihl.. 2021. “Kiinalainen Elokuva Kärjistää Suurvaltakilpailua.”
Helsingin sanomat. https://www.hs.fi/mielipide/art-2000007887681.html.
- Pihl, Marko, and Jukka Aukia. 2020. “Rasismikeskustelua Kärjistyvässä Suurvaltapolitiikassa.”
Turun sanomat.
https://www.ts.fi/puheenvuorot/5007272/Rasismikeskustelua+karjistyvassa+suurvaltapolit
iikassa.

Marco Volpe, PhD Candidate, University of Lapland, Faculty of Social Science

mvolpe@ulapland.fi
Keywords: China’s Arctic policy, science diplomacy, Central Arctic Ocean, ungoverned space

Title of the Ph.D. research project: Chinese scholars in Science Diplomacy: how global
challenges and global interests may lessen the confrontational perception of China's
presence in the Arctic. (2021-2025)

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 The research looks at Chinese language-based debate among Chinese scholars. Through thematic
analysis of Chinese language-based literature paired with semi-structured interviews with Chinese
experts, I analyze Chinese language-based knowledge production pertaining to areas identified by
Gluckman's scholarship of Science Diplomacy (e.g. transboundary resources and ungoverned
spaces). The project aims at, firstly, framing Chinese scholars' perspectives in the cited areas and,
in a second stance, at enlarging Science Diplomacy scholarship in international relations as a tool
to dismantle the power transition mean of China's presence in the Arctic. My analysis will increase
the knowledge of region-wide and inter-governmental politics employed by non-Arctic actors,
stake, and shareholders involved in the resource development that come from outside the Arctic
region. The proposed in depth-analysis of Chinese scholars' perspectives not only will shed more
light on the overlapping role of academics and government officials but will also contribute to
figuring China's future posture to the upcoming issues in the Arctic region at the institutional and
local levels that may be relevant to Arctic stakeholders and decision-makers.

Publications:
On-going article: Ungoverned spaces triggering international security? The Central Arctic Ocean
within China's domestic academic debate.

Suvi Rautio, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki, Social & Cultural Anthropology
suviprautio@gmail.com
Keywords: Collective recollection, memory retrieval, place-making, Chinese state-society relations, cultural revolution, autoethnography,
intimate ethnography, intellectual class, collective violence

Suvi Rautio is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki, where she received her
doctorate in 2019. Guided by stories of her own family history, she is currently working on a four-
year (2021-2025) postdoctoral project funded by the Kone Foundation that applies intimate
ethnography to look at the transmission of memory and loss among Beijing’s intellectual class
during the Maoist era.

Peer Reviewed Publications:

- Rautio, S. (2021). Material Compromises in the Planning of a ‘Traditional Village’ in Southwest
China, Social Analysis, 65(3), 67-87. Open Access from
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/65/3/sa650304.xml

Dusica Ristivojevic, Senior Researcher, University of Helsinki, Departnent of Cultures

dusica.ristivojevic@helsinki.fi
Keywords: China, global politics, social activism, transnational support networks, Anglophone media, post-socialist and post-decolonial
histories and theories, China in Serbia, SEE

Research projects:
1 - Decolonizing non-Western social transformation: The case of social activism in China, its
representations and transnational support (2019-2022)
2 - Iron-clad friendship and its discontents: China's presence in Serbia (Working title, ongoing)

Most recent publications:

- “On Silence and the Reestablishment of Non-Western Connections”, In Forum: Chinese
Feminism under (Self-)Censorship: Practice and Knowledge Production, With Zeng Jinyan, Wang
Zheng, Ye Haiyan, Xianzi, Feng Yuan and Huang Yun, Made in China Journal 2/2021, pp. 142-
175.
- “#MeToo in China: How Do the Voiceless Rise Up in an Authoritarian State?” With Xiong Jing.
Politics & Gender 17 (3). Cambridge University Press, 2021, pp. 490–499.

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Eero Suoranta, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultures
eero.suoranta@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Chinese literature, science fiction, alienation, estrangement

A PhD. dissertation titled “Estranging Illusions: Alienation in Contemporary Chinese

Science Fiction” (ongoing, expected time of completion 2025)

In the words of science fiction author Chen Qiufan, “Contemporary China is a society in the
transition stage when old illusions have collapsed but new illusions have not taken their place.”
One symptom of this collapse has been wide-spread social alienation, or disconnect between
individuals and the values and norms of wider society. This has also been a frequent topic of social
commentary, criticism and literary exploration from the end of the Mao era onwards. In my project,
I will analyze how these Chinese discourses on alienation are exemplified and possibly challenged
by contemporary Chinese science fiction works (by pioneering and often under-researched authors
such as Chen, Han Song, and Xia Jia), and how their use of the techniques of science fiction can
make visible aspects of alienation that might otherwise remain hidden.

Publications:
- Suoranta, Eero. 2022. "Mikä tekee ”kiinalaisesta scifistä” scifiä?" Aasian tutkimus -blogi.
https://blogs.helsinki.fi/aasiantutkimus/2022/04/04/mika-tekee-kiinalaisesta-scifista-scifia/

Tero Tähtinen, PhD Candidate, Tampere University, Comparative Literature

tero.tahtinen@tuni.fi
Keywords: Chinese poetry, Buddhism, Tang poetry

I am working on a article dissertation entitled "Tyhjä vuori ja tyhmä mieli. Ihmisen ja luonnon
suhde klassisessa kiinalaisessa luontorunoudessa".So far, I have published two articles in Avain
journal:
https://journal.fi/avain/article/view/75072/40754
https://journal.fi/avain/article/view/95403

Tao Zhang, PhD Candidate, Tampere University, Information Technology and Communication Sciences
ztanthony@gmail.com
Keywords: China, media regulation, digital technology companies

How Digital Technology Corporations’ Ownership in News Media Influence Government’s Media
Control in PRC

Tatu Laukkanen, Affiliated Researcher, Tampere University, Communication Sciences

tatu.laukkanen@gmail.com
Keywords: China, Film, Media, Crime Film, War Film, Documentary, Transnational Cinema, Nationalist Blockbusters,
Propaganda, Hong Kong. The BRICS countries, Arctic, China-Russia, Geopolitics, Jia Zhangke

Tatu Laukkanen received his PhD in 2017 from the Department of Comparative Literature at the
University of Hong Kong researching BRICS Cinema. A film scholar and industry professional,
he is affiliated with the Department of Communications at the Tampere University. He is a
specialist on the BRICS as a cultural bloc and a member of TaRC (Tampere Research Centre for

12
 Russian and Chinese Media). Right now I am working on a book on gangster film in the BRICS
(after economic liberation) as well as continuing my research on nationalist blockbusters In Russia
and China, as well as their interests in the Arctic in the media, particularly film.

Publications:
- Co-authored book chapter: Tatu Laukkanen and Arja Rosenholm “The Ambiguity of the Arctic
Littoral: Changing Perspectives of Chukchi Communities" In Two Russian Films” in: Cold
Waters: Flows of Knowledge and Means of Thinking, edited by Elena Trubina, Arja Rosenholm
and Markku Lehtimäki, (Springer Nature 2022)
- Forthcoming book chapter: “A Double-edged Sword? The Nationalist Blockbusters of China
and Russia” in: The Geopolitics of Culture in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, edited by Sanna
Turoma, Saara Ratilainen ja Sigrid Kaasik Krogerus (Bloomsbury Academic 2022)
- Co-authored book chapter: Tatu-Ilari Laukkanen and Iiris Ruoho
"Neoliberal capitalism and BRICS on screen" in BRICS Media: Reshaping the Global
Communication Order?. edited by Daya Kishan Thussu and Kaarle Nordenstreng editors,
(Routledge, 2021) pp. 262-279

Website: https://www.revistas.usp.br/novosolhares/article/view/172000

Junhua Zhu, PhD Candidate, University of Turku

junzhu@utu.fi
Keywords: AI ethics, China, technology governance

AI Ethics with Chinese Characteristics: Concerns and Preferred Solutions

This doctoral research will include three separate articles about (1) discourses on the ethics of AI in
Chinese academia, (2) Chinese AI ecosystem, (3) the empirical case study on how Chinese AI
company addressing ethical concerns. The final dissertation will combine these three articles and
can be expected to come out in 2024.

Publications:
Zhu, Junhua (2022). AI ethics with Chinese characteristics? Concerns and preferred solutions in
Chinese academia. AI & Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01578-w

Haoxuan Sa, Researcher/PhD, University of Helsinki, Social Research

haoxuan.sa@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Land and Housing Policy, China

Publications:
Sa, H. (2022). Land Transformations, Urbanized Actors, and Collective Values in Urban Villages in
China. Doctoral Thesis (Article Based). University of Helsinki. (Pass with Distinction).

Sa, H. & Fabinyi, M. (2022). From A Fishing Village to Tourists’ Destination—Hongjia Village in
Northeastern China. Shima. https://www.shimajournal.org/article/10.21463/shima.173

Sa, H. & Vuolteenaho, J. (2022). Land relations and rural migrants’ translocal lives in Xiamen,
China. Book Chapter. The Political Economy of Land. New York: Taylor and Francis

Sa, H. & Haila, A. (2021). Urban villagers as real estate developers: embracing property mind
through 'planting' housing in North-east China. Housing Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2021.1888889.

13
5. Sa, H. (2021). Urban Village Shareholding: Cooperative Economic Organization in Northeast
China. American Journal of Economics and Sociology.

6. Sa, H. (2020). Do Ambiguous Property Rights Matter? Collective Value Logic in Lin Village.
Land Use Policy. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837719323385

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India

Mikko Autere, Doctoral researcher & university lecturer in South Asian Studies, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultures &
Department of Languages
mikko.j.auterei@helsinki.fi
Keywords: South Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, modern history, contemporary society

Mikko Autere & Hanna Mannila (eds.):

Etelä-Aasian yhteiskunta, kulttuuri ja politiikka. Intia, Pakistan ja Bangladesh. (Studies in
Contemporary Asia; University of Turku: Centre for East Asian Studies CEAS, December 2022)

Sisältö:
1. Johdanto Mikko Autere & Hanna Mannila
2. Siirtomaahallinnosta itsenäisiin kansallisvaltioihin Mikko Autere
3. Kieli, etnisyys, kasti ja uskonto kansallisvaltiossa Mikko Autere
4. Kuka kuuluu? Muukalaisuus, murros ja menneisyys nykypäivän Intian ja Pakistanin populismissa
Alana Saul
5. Kieli ja uskonto Bangladeshin nationalismissa Jafrin Rezwana
6. Intia muuttuvassa maailmanpolitiikassa Jyrki Käkönen
7. Intian köyhä mutta kehittynyt talous Jørgen Dige Pedersen
8. Kohti kestävää kehitystä? Intian, Bangladeshin ja Pakistanin kamppailu ympäristöongelmien
kanssa Sirpa Tenhunen
9. Media, kulttuuri ja sukupuoli Intiassa: naiset ja tytöt TV-sarjoissa ja videopeleissä Xenia Zeiler
10. Etelä-Aasian klassiset tanssit - ikivanhoja traditioita vai uusperinteitä? Hanna Mannila
11. Vapauden valtakunta vai mystisen viisauden koti? Elämäntapamuuttajat ihmeellisessä Intiassa
Mari Korpela

Hanna Mannila, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultures

hanna.mannila@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Guru, dance gurus, kathak, Indian classical dance, social media, mediatization

Indian Dance Gurus and Their Authority in Transformation: Changes and continuities in
the perceptions of the gurus' status, role and function from text to digital media
My PhD research project explores the transformations in the figure of guru and his authority in
Indian society from classical Sanskrit texts to the contemporary mediatized contexts, focusing on
the gurus of Indian classical kathak dance. Gurus traditionally have a specific and highly revered
position in Indian society – they can be seen as an embodiment of authority. Gurus and guru-like
figures can be found everywhere in Indian society, from religions and arts to politics and business.
This research focuses on kathak dance as the base of exploration, examining the changes and
continuities in the authority ascribed to the guru in the transmission of dance heritage from one
generation to the next. The approach is multi-disciplinary, combining methodological and
theoretical elements from South Asian Studies, Religious Studies, Ethnology, and Communication
and Media Studies.
Expected time of completion: 2023.

Publications:
- Autere, Mikko and Hanna Mannila, eds. Forthcoming. Nykypäivän Etelä-Aasia – yhteiskunta,
kulttuuri ja politiikka. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
- Mannila, Hanna. Forthcoming. “Etelä-Aasian klassiset tanssit – ikivanhoja traditioita vai

15
 uusperinteitä?” In Nykypäivän Etelä-Aasia: yhteiskunta, kulttuuri ja politiikka, edited by M. Autere
and H. Mannila. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
- Mannila, Hanna and Xenia Zeiler. 2020. “Mediatized Gurus. Hindu Religious and Artistic
Authority and Digital Culture.” In Digital Hinduism, edited by X. Zeiler. London and New York:
Routledge.

Xenia Zeiler, Professor, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts

xenia.zeiler@helsinki.fi
Keywords: India, digital culture India, video games, cultural heritage India, Indian festival cultures, Durgapuja

- The Durga Puja Mystery: An Educational Video Game, released 2020,

https://blogs.helsinki.fi/durgapuja-the-videogame/
Prof. Xenia Zeiler (UH, Finland) and Satyajit Chakraborti (Flying Robots Kolkata, India)
The educational video game Durga Puja Mystery introduces to Indian festival culture, by focusing
on the arguably most popular and widespread Hindu festival Durga Puja. Today, Durga Puja is not
only widely celebrated in India, but the festival is also a highly important event in the global Indian
communities. The game is a third-person 3D adventure game, filled with mystery and using
educational tasks, puzzles and riddles. It takes place inside and around a majestic heritage mansion
near Kolkata, India – during the time of Durga Puja, of course!

- Indian Video Games and Cultural Heritage, ongoing research

Publications:
Zeiler, X (forthc 2023). This is her game. Video games and gender. Digital Asia, Asiascape. 2023
anniversary special issue, "The Shape of the Asiascape: Ten Years of Digital Asia Research
Zeiler, X. (forthc 2023). Gamified embodiment experiences in Indian video games. In H. Campbell,
& P. H. Cheong (Eds.), Digital Religion 2:0 Routledge.
Zeiler, X., & Mukherjee, S. (2022). Video Game Development in India: A Cultural and Creative
Industry Embracing Regional Cultural Heritage(s). Games and Culture, 17(4), 509-527.
Zeiler, X., & Thomas, S. (2021). The relevance of researching video games and cultural heritage.
International Journal of Heritage Studies, 27(3), 265-267.
Zeiler, X. (2020). Digital Humanities Practices and Cultural Heritage: Indian Video Games. In M.
Dodd, & N. Kalra (Eds.), Exploring Digital Humanities in India: Pedagogies, Practices, and
Institutional Possibilities Routledge, 177-185.

- Mediatized Festival Cultures - Durgapuja in India and in the Indian Diaspora, ongoing research
Publications:
Zeiler, X. (2022). Festivals on the move: Cultural heritage, Indian migrant communities and
Durgāpūjā in Helsinki. Heritage on the Move (Blog of the UNA Europa transnational research
team “Heritage, Global Migration and Mobility”). https://herblog.hypotheses.org/139
Zeiler, X. (Author), & Chakraborti, S. (Author). (2021). Durga Puja Beyond Borders: An
Educational Video Game about Global In-dian Fest-ival Cul-tures. Digital or Visual Products
https://blogs.helsinki.fi/durgapuja-the-videogame/new-durga-puja-beyond-borders/
Zeiler, X. (Author), & Chakraborti, S. (Author). (2020). The Durga Puja Mys-tery: An Edu-ca-tional
Video Game. Digital or Visual Products https://blogs.helsinki.fi/durgapuja-the-videogame/
Wessman, A., Zeiler, X., Thomas, S., & Vainonen, P. (2020). The Durga Puja pop-up exhibition at
the National Museum of Finland: Studying, Designing and Hosting an Exhibition as University
Education-Museum Collaboration. Nordisk museologi, 29(2), 96-105

- Digital religion, book project and ongoing research

Publications:
Zeiler, X. (forthcoming 2023). Past, Present and Potential Futures of Digital Hinduism Research. In
H. A. Campbell, & P. H. Cheong (Eds.), Handbook of Digital Religion, Oxford University Press.

16
Zeiler, X., (forthcoming 2023). Digital Tantra: Tantric Studies and Digital Religion Initiate a New
Research Field. In Hayes, G. A. & Payne, R. K. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies,
Oxford University Press
Zeiler, X., & Borkataky-Varma, S. (Eds.) (2022). Special Issue: Digital Tantra. International Journal
of Hindu Studies, 26(2). Springer.

- Sweetening and Intensification: Processes and Currents Shaping Hindu Practices in

Contemporary South Asia and its Diasporas, 01/01/2020 → 31/12/2021
Prof. Xenia Zeiler (UH, Finland) and Prof. Amy Allocco (Elon University, USA)
This collaborative research project analyzes two converging and diverging currents associated with
Hindu deities, beliefs, and ritual practices in contemporary South Asian communities, namely
“sweetening” and “intensification.” It examines the move to, on the one hand, standardize
practices alongside efforts to, on the other hand, insist on the continuing relevance of more
rigorous (and frequently marginalized) ritual practices and beliefs. While we have historically seen
and continue to witness movements to soften or mute the fiercer aspects of some Hindu
goddesses’ representations, iconography and ritual practices, we also see contemporary assertions
of these representations and practices as intrinsic and an insistence on continuing them. This
project takes a more inclusive approach as it brings these two threads – sweetening and
intensification – into sustained conversation with the aim of enriching our collective scholarly
understanding of the diverse ways that Hindu beliefs and practices are negotiated and contested in
contemporary contexts.

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Indonesia

Ratih D. Adiputri, Postdoc Researcher/University Lecturer, University of Jyväskylä, Social Sciences and Philosophy (political science)
ratih.d.adiputri@jyu.fi
Keywords: Southeast Asia, parliament, SDGs, education, development, policy, Indonesia, politics

Current research:
I am completing my research manuscript on the role of Southeast Asian parliament in the
Sustainable Development Goals.
- "The role of parliament in Sustainable Development Goals, case study of parliaments in
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore"
For the next project, I am interested with the issue of Sustainable Future with the synergy of
political policy/government intervention and individual action (nurtured by education).
A manuscript on Teacher Education in the Digital Era is upcoming for publication.
- "Teachers' education" [in Indonesian language: "Learning how to teach"/ Belajar Cara Mengajar]
- finalizing an academic article: "Power and Education, case of Indonesia"
See more info in my website: www.ratihadiputri.com

Publication:
- Adiputri, Ratih (2021). "Literasi Abad ke-21". Kompas (Indonesian national newspaper). Opinion
section.
- Adiputri, R. 2021. "The Role of Parliament in Sustainable Development Goals: A Case Study of
Southeast Asia in International Parliamentary Forums". Jurnal Perencanaan Pembangunan: The
Indonesian Journal of Development Planning, 5 (1), 127-143.
- Adiputri, Ratih (2021), "Pandemic election in Indonesia". Politiikasta, 19.1.2021.
- Adiputri, Ratih (2020). "Persiapan Belajar Tatap Muka 2021: Belajar dari Finlandia hingga
Tiongkok", published in Kompas 2 December 2020.
- Adiputri, Ratih. 2020. “Global education policy on assessment and its application in Indonesia
(learning from the Finnish education system)” in International Journal of Information and
Communication Technologies, Vol.1, Issue 4, December, pp. 223-232, access to paper:
https://iitu.edu.kz/documents/1089/%D0%9C%D0%A3%D0%98%D0%A2_4.pdf
- Adiputri, Ratih (2020). “Social Science Research in Southeast Asia: the Challenges of Studying
Parliamentary Institutions”, in Social Science in the age of transformation and disruption, edited by
Hermin Indah Wahyuni and Vissia Ita Yulianto, Yogyakarta: Center for Southeast Asian Social
Studies (CESASS), Universitas Gadjah Mada, pp. 121-148.

Satia Zen, Phd Researcher, Tampere University, Faculty of Education and Culture, Doctoral Programme in Education and Society
satia.zen@tuni.fi
Keywords: Teacher education, teacher identity, international teacher programme, positioning, narrative

Doctoral Dissertation Tentative Title: Dynamics of Teacher Identity Reconstruction:

Indonesian Teachers' Experience in Finnish International Teacher Programme

The aim of the study is to explore teacher identity reconstruction process during learning and after
graduation that reflect negotiation process through identity positioning. The findings highlights the
significance of teacher identity work that support negotiation between diverse contexts in ITP.
Furthermore, the findings also describe temporal and spatial dynamics of this process. The study is
conducted in an international Teacher Programme (ITP) between Indonesia and Finland from
2015-2017. The site of this study is located in Aceh, Indonesia and Tampere, Finland. Aceh as a
post-conflict and post-tsunami area provide additional dimension to the learning and post-

18
graduation experience. The study use participants' narratives as data which describe the subjective
impacts of participating in ITP. The study may support contextual understanding about learning in
ITP and how individual teachers make sense and integrate insights from their learning in ITP that
may influence future practices. Furthermore, the study also highlights the negotiation process after
graduation and challenges in implementing different practices in the local context.

Duration: 2017 to 2022 (tentative)

Publications:
- Zen, S., Ropo, E., & Kupila, P. (2022). International teacher education programme as a narrative
space for teacher identity reconstruction. Teaching and Teacher Education, 109.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103527
- Zen, S., Ropo, E., & Kupila, P. (2021). Teacher Identity under Reconstruction: Positional Analysis
of Negotiations in an International Teacher Education Programme. Australian Journal of Teacher
Education, 46(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2021v46n4.4

19
Japan

Yoko Demelius, University teacher/PhD, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
yoko.demelius@utu.fi
Keywords: Japan, Zainichi Koreans, diversity, sustainability, community, gender, civil society, vaccine hesitancy, spirituality

On-going projects:
- "Anti-Science and Conspiracy Theories in East Asia: Vaccine Hesitancy and Anti-Vaccination Activism in
Japan During the COVID-19 Pandemic (ASCOT)" with Kamila Szczepanska (on-going)

Completed projects:
- "COVID-19 and Vaccine Hesitancy in Japan" with Kamila Szczepanska (2022)
- “Contemplating 'Koreanness' through Narratives of Kimchi in Contemporary Japan” (in review)
- “A Healing Process through Sharing Tasks: Honoring Elderly Zainichi Korean Women and Crossing
Unspoken Boundaries in Japan” (in review)

Rie Fuse, University Instructor (yliopisto-opettaja), University of Helsinki, Department of Languages, Faculty of Arts
rie.fuse@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Critical cultural studies, media and communication, Japanese society and culture, Japanese language education, media
education and media literacy, fieldwork method, collaborative learning

On-going projects:
- ‘Finnishness’ in Japanese Consumer Culture (9.2021-)
- Commodified and consumed ‘Finnishness’ in Japanese blogs (9.2021-)
- Transnational Cooperation and Interaction across Interdisciplinary in Japanese Studies. Rie Fuse
(University of Helsinki) & Yuki Hata (Niigata University) (1.2019-)
- Project 私と仕事とフィンランド Minä ja työni Suomessa
Japanese guests who are working in Finland are invited to the Advanced Japanese courses at the
University of Helsinki and students conduct interviews with them. These interviews are translated
by students and published in Japanilaisen kulttuurin ystävät yhdistys journal, Tomo. (9.2018-)

Publications:
- Constantini, H., & Fuse, R. (2022). Health Information on COVID-19 Vaccination: Readability of
Online Sources and Newspapers in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. Journalism and
Media, 3(1), 228-237. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia3010017
- Fuse, R. (2022, Feb). ライフワークバランスを図る意味. Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science (JSPS). https://cheers.jsps.go.jp/report/report13/
- Hata, Y. & Fuse, R. (2022, under review). 日本とフィンランドの異分野協働によるくずし
字セミナーの実践. 新潟大学高等教育研究.
- Fuse, R. (2021). Othering Finland in Japan: Representation of Aki Kaurismäki’s Films in Reviews
in Japanese Magazines.
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-2033-1
- Tsuda, M., Fuse, R., Osamitsu, Y., Kenttä, L., Heiskanen, M. T., & Repo, S. (2020). フィンラン
ド国立図書館蔵 合巻『仮名手本忠臣蔵』調査報告 (Investigating a Gōkan Book of the
Treasury of Loyal Retainers: Kanadehon chūshingura, Finnisn National Library Collection). 慶應
義塾大学日吉紀要 人文科学 第 35 号 (The Hiyoshi Review of Humanities, 35).
https://koara.lib.keio.ac.jp/xoonips/modules/xoonips/detail.php?koara_id=AN10065043-
20200630-0221
- Hata, Y., & Fuse, R. (2020). Kuzushiji-seminaari Helsingin yliopistolla: kirjoitusmerkit,

20
 kirjoitusjärjestelmä ja kirjojen historia Japanissa. Tomo: Japanilaisen kulttuuri ystävät ry:jäsenlehti,
(4/2020), 20-22.
- Fuse, R., Kenttä, L., Osamitsu, Y., Repo, S., & Heiskanen, M. T. (2020). Kansalliskirjaston
japanilaiset aarteet: Japonica-kokoelma. Tomo: Japanilaisen kulttuuri ystävät ry:jäsenlehti, (4/2020),
6-12.

Olavi K. Fält, Emeritus professor, PhD, University of Oulu, History

olavi.falt@oulu.fi
Keywords: West, Japan, interaction, globalization, interdependence, transcultural information

Personal project: The West and Japan: interaction, globalization and transcultural
information

Publications:
2021:
- Keskustelu nationalismista ja fasismista: rajapintatulkinnat 1930-luvun japanilaisessa
englanninkielisessä lehdistössä (Debate on Nationalism and Fascism: Interface Interpretations in
the Japanese English-Language Press of the 1930s). Faravid. Historian ja arkeologian tutkimuksen
aikakauskirja 51/2021. Pohjois-Suomen Historiallinen Yhdistys: Rovaniemi 2021, 49–63.
2020:
- The Changing Image: The Formosan Expedition in 1874 in the Eyes of the Local Anglo-Saxon
Press. War and Stereotypes. The Image of Japan’s Military Abroad. Frank Jacob, Sepp Linhart
(eds.). War (Hi) Stories. Edited by Frank Jacob, Sarah K. Danielson, Hram Kümper, Sabine Müller,
Jeffrey M. Shaw. Vol. 7. Brill/Ferdinand Schöning 2020, 1–28.
- The Stabilization of the Image: The Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 in the Eyes of the Local Anglo-
Saxon Press. War and Stereotypes. The Image of Japan’s Military Abroad. Frank Jacob, Sepp
Linhart (eds.). War (Hi) Stories. Edited by Frank Jacob, Sarah K. Danielson, Hram Kümper, Sabine
Müller, Jeffrey M. Shaw. Vol. 7. Brill/Ferdinand Schöning 2020, 29–50.
- Ystävät alusta alkaen: 100 vuotta Suomen ja Japanin diplomaattisuhteita 1919–2019 (Friends from
the beginning: 100 years of diplomatic relations between Finland and Japan 1919–2019). Faravid.
Historian ja arkeologian tutkimuksen aikakauskirja 49/2020. Pohjois-Suomen Historiallinen
Yhdistys: Rovaniemi 2020, 203–214.
- Maailma oli jo pieni – Japanin murros 1865–1868 suomalaisessa lehdistössä (The world was
already small – the Japanese transition in 1865–1868 in the Finnish press). Faravid. Historian ja
arkeologian tutkimuksen aikakauskirja 50/2020. Pohjois-Suomen Historiallinen Yhdistys:
Rovaniemi 2020, 55–88.

Silja Keva, Dr. Soc. Sci (Asian Studies), University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
silja.keva@utu.fi
Keywords: Japanese politics, Japan’s foreign policy and foreign policy norms, Japan’s parliamentary diplomacy, collective memory of war in
Japan

Publications:
-Keva, S. 2nd World War in Japan’s political rhetoric – focus on contemporary parliamentary
narratives on the memories of war (ongoing research).
- Keva, S. Parliamentarians and Normative Power Diffusion – Case Japan. (under review).
- Kansanedustajat normien ja demokratian edistäjinä kansainvälisellä kentällä. Aasian ja Euroopan
kansainvälinen kumppanuus (ASEP). Kosmopolis 2/2022.
- Japanese Parliamentarians and Japan's Normative Power Diffusion in the Asia-Europe
Parliamentary Partnership. Japan Forum (Under review) 2021.

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 - Lohikäärme, tiikeri ja krysanteemi: johdatus Itä-Aasian yhteiskuntiin (uudistettu laitos). Keva, Silja
(ed). University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies, Studies in Contemporary East Asia.
2020.
- Alueellinen yhteistyö Itä-Aasiassa. Kirjassa Keva (ed.) Lohikäärme, tiikeri ja krysanteemi -
Johdatus Itä-Aasian yhteiskuntiin (uudistettu laitos). University of Turku, Centre for East Asian
Studies, Studies in Contemporary East Asia. 2020.

Lasse Lehtonen, PhD, University of Helsinki

lehtonen.lasse@gmail.com
Keywords: Japanese culture, Japanese society, music

Projects:
- Japanese women singer-songwriters of the 1970s: Female agency, musical impact and social
change.
- Establishing Jean Sibelius in Japan: Performance, reception and global music histories.

Publications:
Monographs:
- 2023 (forthcoming): 『ユーミンの「14 番目の月」』(tentative title; a Japanese-language
translation of Yuming's The 14th Moon). Tokyo: Heibonsha.
- 2022: Yuming's The 14th Moon. Bloomsbury Academic, 33 1/3 Japan Series.

Articles and book chapters:

- 2023 (forthcoming): "Conflict and Synthesis of Traditional and Modern Japan in Hashimoto
Kunihiko’s Art Songs." In The Art Song and Lyrical Modernity in East Asia and Australia, edited
by Joys H.K. Cheung and Alison Tokita. London and New York: Routledge.
- 2022: "Jean Sibelius Japanissa: Toiseus, samuus ja globaalit musiikinhistoriat." Synteesi 41 (1-2):
14-32.
- 2021: "Expressions of Modernity and Nationality in Matsudaira Yoritsune's Prewar Work."
Journal of Musicological Research 40 (2): 95–125.
- 2021: "Japanese women singer-songwriters of the 1970s: Female agency, musical impact and
social change." Popular Music 40 (1): 114–38.

More information: http://lasseajlehtonen.wordpress.com/

Riikka Länsisalmi, University Lecturer in Japanese, University of Helsinki, Department of Languages

Keywords: Japanese, translation, writing system, academic career, nationalism, heritage language, legal culture

Länsisalmi, Riikka (toim.), 2022. Tankasta mangaan – Miten suomentaa japanin kieltä ja kulttuuria,
Tampere: Vastapaino.
https://vastapaino.fi/sivu/tuote/tankasta-mangaan/4048065

(From tanka to manga – How to translate Japanese language and culture into Finnish)

Teos valottaa japanin kääntämisen ja tulkkauksen erityispiirteitä useasta eri näkökulmasta 16 kirjoittajan
voimin. Artikkeleissa tarkastellaan mm. japanin kirjoitusjärjestelmää, japanin kielen tyylillisiä piirteitä,
japanista suomennettua kirjallisuutta, eri tekstilajien suomentamista (ja japanintamista) asiateksteistä
mangaan, tulkkaamista, kielityöläisten arkea ja japanin kääntäjien urapolkuja.

22
Sisältää kirjoituksen:
Länsisalmi, Riikka, 2022. Merkkien matkassa, sanomattoman syleilyssä – johdantoa japanin kieleen.
Tankasta mangaan – Miten suomentaa japanin kieltä ja kulttuuria, Tampere: Vastapaino, 17–51.

Aunio, Lotta & Riikka Länsisalmi (toim.), tulossa 2022. Miten minusta tuli tohtori. Itämaiden tutkijat
kertovat, osa 2. Helsinki: Suomen Itämainen Seura.

Kirjoituskokoelma täydentää kymmenen vuoden takaisen, samoin nimetyn ensimmäisen osan piirtämää
kuvaa suomalaisten ja Suomeen asettuneiden ”itämaiden” tutkijoiden akateemisen meritoitumisen
polveilevista poluista. Helsingin yliopiston laaja kielten ja kulttuurien opiskelun ja tutkimuksen kirjo
heijastuu tarinoissa, sillä se yhdistää jollain lailla kaikkia kirjoittajia, joiden tutkimusalat ulottuvat
Kaukoidästä Afrikkaan. Itämaiden tutkimus eli orientalistiikka on aina ollut monitieteistä, ja tutkimusalueita
tarkastellaan esimerkiksi kielen, historian, kirjallisuuden tai taiteen kautta.

Sisältää kirjoituksen: Länsisalmi, Riikka, 2022. Kissa kuussa ja muita sattumuksia. Miten minusta tuli
tohtori. Itämaiden tutkijat kertovat, osa 2. Helsinki: Suomen Itämainen Seura, 1–16.
Autere (ent. Viitamäki) Mikko & Riikka Länsisalmi (toim.) Nationalismin muokkaama kieli (kirjaprojekti).

Teos käsittelee kieltä, kielipolitiikkaa ja kielikoulutusta suhteessa nationalismiin. Se pureutuu kotimaisten

asiantuntijoiden kirjoitusten kautta siihen, miten nationalismi on muokannut ja muokkaa kieltä sekä
havaintoamme kielestä erilaisissa konteksteissa poliittisesta ideologiasta lainsäädäntöön ja valtion
kielipolitiikasta kielten opetukseen. Kysymys on taas noussut ajankohtaiseksi nationalismin uuden globaalin
nousun myötä. Kielen roolia 1800- ja 1900-luvun eurooppalaisessa nationalistisessa liikehdinnässä on
tutkittu laajalti, mutta mikä on kielen merkitys nykyisissä nationalistisissa diskursseissa ja agendoissa? Entä
miten nationalismi on vaikuttanut kieleen Afrikassa, Lähi-idässä ja Aasiassa?
Teos valottaa sitä, miten voimakkaasti yhteiskunnalliset ja poliittiset päätökset ja agendat ovat vaikuttaneet
ja vaikuttavat kieleen, kielipolitiikkaan ja kielikoulutukseen. Kieli ei ole muusta yhteiskunnasta erillinen
ilmiö, joka kehittyy omien, luonnonlakeja muistuttavien lainalaisuuksiensa mukaan. Päinvastoin, kieltä on
muokattu ja muutettu hyvin aktiivisesti. Teos sisältää kirjoituksia mm. japanin kielen opettamisesta ja
Singaporen ja Filippiinien kielipolitiikasta.

Länsisalmi, Riikka: Japanese legal culture and language practices in the lay jury (saiban’in)
courtroom (work in progress)

The continuation of this project addresses questions related to the introduction of a “quasi-lay” juror
(saibain’in) system in Japan in 2009, partially inspired by a “Western” legal model. The introduction of this
system is part of a process of reforms aimed at bringing the legal system into closer touch with the general
public, and strengthening the rule of law.
The questions that accordingly present themselves concern both procedural and linguistic dimensions. This
type of research requires a multi-dimensional comparative approach, a combination of analysis of structural
and institutional aspects of the Japanese legal system as reflected in “handbooks for jury trials” and of
language practices situated in a specific legal context, the courtroom.

Länsisalmi, Riikka & Sachiko Sōsa, Pääkaupunkiseudun kielivarannon kirjoa: japani äidin-, koti- ja
perintökielenä
(Japanese as Mother Tongue and Home & Heritage Language in the Metropolitan Area
Language Reserve, work in progress)

Aasialaisten kielten opetuksesta ja ylläpidosta osana Suomen kielivarantoa muina kuin vieraina kielinä ei
juuri ole tarjolla tietoa. Projektissamme keskitymme japaniin, jota opetetaan äidin- ja kotikielenä muutamien
kaupunkien kouluissa sekä kouluyhdistyksen ylläpitämässä lauantaikoulussa. Japaninkielisessä
terminologiassa kokugo (国語) ’kansalliskieli’ linkittää opetuksen ”viralliseen” äidinkielen opetukseen
Japanissa. Japanin kieleen yleensä ja erotuksena muista kielistä viitataan sen sijaan termillä nihongo (日本).

23
 Japani kielipääomana on täten nihongo, oppiaineena koulutuksen järjestäjästä riippuen myös ensikielen
veroinen ”virallinen” kokugo. Projektimme paitsi kartoittaa ja selvittää japanin opetuksen ja oppimisen
nykytilaa äidin-, koti- ja perintökielenä myös analysoi opettamiseen linkittyviä kielellisiä ideologioita ja
asenteita ja perintökielijapanin puhujien kielenkäyttöä konkreettisissa vuorovaikutustilanteissa.

Taustaa:
Länsisalmi, R. & Sōsa, S. (2020). Pääkaupunkiseudun kielivarannon kirjoa: japani äidin-, koti- ja
perintökielenä. Kieli, koulutus ja yhteiskunta, 11(7). Saatavilla:
https://www.kieliverkosto.fi/fi/journals/kieli-koulutus-ja-yhteiskunta-joulukuu-2020/paakaupunkiseudun-
kielivarannon-kirjoa-japani-aidin-koti-ja-perintokielena

For other publications and projects, see:

https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/fi/persons/riikka-länsisalmi/publications/

Satoko Naito, Docent, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
satoko.naito@utu.fi

"Anxieties of Authorship, Critique of Readership: Mishima Yukio’s Modern Noh Play

Genji kuyō," Japanese Language and Literature 55.2 (October 2021): 1-40

Oshie Nishimura-Sahi, PhD Candidate, Tampere University, Faculty of Education and Culture
oshie.nishimura-sahi@tuni.fi
Keywords: Comparative and international education, global education policy, policy transfer, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), Japan,
CEFR, foreign language education, post- and decolonial thinking

[Project I: PhD by publication, 2018 – 2023] Decentring the power of global education policy:
Analysing globalisation of the European Framework (CEFR) from the Japanese
perspective

Education policies and policy ideas which circulate around the world are termed global education
policy, constituting a major area of interest within the field of comparative and international
education. My dissertation is concerned with one global education policy, namely, the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The case I explore is the recent
Japanese educational reforms in which the CEFR was referred to: Particularly, the revision of the
national curricular guidelines for foreign language education and the introduction of private-sector
English proficiency test as part of the national standardised university entrance exams. Drawing
primarily upon documentary materials and conducting in-depth interviews, I analyse what political
circumstance gave rise to Japanese interest in the CEFR, how Japanese actors (such as academics
and teachers) modified or “borrowed” the CEFR ideas and incorporated the modified CEFR into
the Japanese education system, and how the CEFR itself has been developed into global education
policy in the course of policy transfer. In so doing, I attempt to shed light on the collective nature
of global education policies, challenging the binary conceptions of lender/borrower of global
education policies.

Publications:
- Nishimura-Sahi, O. (2022). Assembling educational standards: Following the actors of the CEFR-
J project. Globalisation, Societies and Education. DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2022.2037071 (open
access)

24
 - Nishimura-Sahi, O. (2020). Policy borrowing of the Common European Framework of Reference
for Languages (CEFR) in Japan: An analysis of the interplay between global education trends and
national policymaking. Asian Pacific Journal of Education, DOI: 10.1080/02188791.2020.1844145
(open access)
- Nishimura-Sahi, O. & Piattoeva, N. (forthcoming). “Global” as co-construction: Socio-material
analysis of global education policy. In D.B. Edwards, T. Verger, K. Takayama and M. McKenzie
(Eds.). Researching global education policy: Diverse approaches to policy movement. Policy Press.
- Nishimura-Sahi, O. (under review). Fūdo of foreign language learning in Japan and Finland: A
phenomenological comparison. The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies.

[Project II: Commissioned report, 2020 – 2021] Finnish education export: Analysis of domestic
discussions on education export / 調査研究報告書：フィンランドの教育輸出

Part of a commissioned research, “EDU-Port Japan Project 2.0,” by the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) to Kyoto University, Graduate School
of Education (2020– 2021). I contributed to this project with a report on the Finnish education
export sector.

Publication:
- Nishimura-Sahi, O. (2021). 第７章：フィンランドの教育輸出 [Chapter 7: Report on
education export in Finland]. In K. Takayama et al.「日本型教育の海外展開の在り方に関す
る調査研究事業」最終成果報告書 [Final report: EDU-Port Japan Project 2.0]. Commissioned
project by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) to
Kyoto University, Graduate School of Education (2020– 2021).
https://www.eduport.mext.go.jp/epsite/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EDU-
PORT_Report_Kyoto-U.pdf

[Project III: Book project, 2019 – 2020] Student admissions reform in higher education institutions
in Finland

Publication:
- Nishimura-Sahi, Oshie. (2020). フィンランドの入試改革：生涯学習と社会人入学の伝統
の転換 [Student admissions reform in higher education institutions in Finland]. In M. Ito (Ed.). 変
動する大学入試：資格か選抜か・ヨーロッパと日本 [Certification or Selection?: Secondary
School/University Articulation Reforms in Europe and Japan]. Tokyo: Taishūkan shoten. 197 –
200.

Pilvi Posio, PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
phahon@utu.fi
Keywords: Community, disaster recovery, reconstruction, the Great East Japan Earthquake, collective aspiring, future orientation,
temporality, security

Aspired communities: The communities of long-term recovery after the 3.11 disaster in the
town of Yamamoto
This research is a PhD dissertation project studying long-term community recovery and
reconstruction in a town of Yamamoto that was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the
ensuing tsunami in 2011. The research focuses in particular on how the locals envision and enact
community in relation to understandings of place, security and the aspired future in the post-
disaster setting. The project was completed in August 2022.

The PhD dissertation is available at https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-8940-9

25
Stephen Ranger, PhD Student, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
Keywords: Anglo-Japanese alliance, Russo-Japanese War, Korea, Manchuria, Weihaiwei, Warlord period

Current doctoral research (3rd year):

"Understanding the process of British foreign policy toward Korea and China during the period of
Japan’s Rise (1894 to 1931)"

Publications:
- Stephen Ranger, 2020, “Target Hollywood! Examining Japan’s Film Import Ban in the 1930s”,
Global Policy 11(S2): 65-71.
- Stephen Ranger, 2020, “Declining competitiveness in the film industry: the British experience in
Japan, 1910–1923”, Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research 33(4): 393-405.
Stephen Ranger, 2020, “Searching for Legitimacy? The Motivations Behind Inter-Korean Dialogue
During the Mid-1980s”, UNISCI Discussion Papers 52: 23-33.

Kamila Szczepanska, University Lecturer, PhD, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
kamila.szczepanska@utu.fi
Keywords: Japanese NGOs in regional and global governance, development assistance and Japanese NGOs, disaster risk management
and Japanese NGOs, Japanese civil society, Japanese social movements, war memory and commemoration in Japan and East Asia,
reconciliation processes in East Asia

Japanese Civil Society in Global Governance: Focus on International Cooperation,

Development and Humanitarian Assistance (ongoing)

My research explores experiences of Japanese NGOs/NPOs working in the international

cooperation, development, and humanitarian assistance sectors. In my research I focus on
identifying their involvement and participation in global governance processes and examining their
roles in global politics and addressing trans-boundary challenges. Furthermore, I investigate
domestic determinants of Japanese NGOs/NPOs’ participation in processes intended to tackle
trans-boundary problems and challenges.

Szczepanska, Kamila (2020), “NGO Capacity Building in the Wake of Japan’s Triple Disaster of
2011: The Case of the TOMODACHI NGO Leadership Programme (TNLP)”, Asian Studies
Review Vol. 44(3), pp. 401-421. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2020.1720600

Eija Niskanen, Researcher, University of Helsinki, East Asian Studies & Film and Television Studies
eija.niskanen@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Japanese cinema, Asian cinema, anime, Moomin, film festival research

Moomin brand in Japan; Moomin animations produced in Japan

Research on Asian film festivals and European film festivals that center on Asian cinema and
animation

Publications:
- Upcoming article: Soundtrack in Moomin animations.in Palgrave Hanbook on soud in Japanese
Anime. Ed. Marco Pellitteri, 2023
- Finding a Position on the Global Map of Film Festivals: The Yamagata International
Documentary Film Festival. Documentary Film Festivals Vol. 1 (pp.143-163). Ed. Aida Vallejo,
2020.

26
Helli Kitinoja, Professor/PhD, Chiba University, Graduate School of Nursing, Division of Visiting Nursing
helli.kitinoja@gmail.com
Keywords: Ageing society, health care technology, home care robots, international joint research, social implementation

Title of the research project: Exploring perceptions toward home-care robots for older
people in Finland, Ireland, and Japan: A comparative questionnaire study

Partners:
Chiba University, Japan (1); University College Dublin, Ireland (2); Seinäjoki University of Applied
Sciences, Finland (3); University of Tokyo, Japan (4); City of Pargas, Finland (5); Toho University,
Japan (6).
Sayuri Suwa (1), Mayuko Tsujimura (1), Naonori Kodate (2), Sarah Donnelly (2), Helli Kitinoja (3),
Jaakko Hallila (3), Marika Toivonen (3), Hiroo Ide (4), Camilla Bergman-Kärpijoki (5), Erika
Takahashi (1), Mina Ishimaru (1), Atsuko Shimamura (6), Wenwei Yui (1).

Purpose:
To clarify potential users’ perceptions toward the development and social implementation of home-
care robots in Japan, Ireland, and Finland.

Methods:
Unsigned, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to adults aged 65 or older, family
caregivers, and home care/health and social care professionals (HSCPs). A total of 1004 responses
were collected.

Conclusions:
Devising optimal strategies for the development and social implementation of home-care robots by
incorporating various perspectives while valuing human dignity will require examination of each
country’s characteristics with respect to history, culture, policies, and values related to robots.

Publications:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2020.104178
https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13327
https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/511735/A36.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

27
Korea (North Korea and South Korea)

Sabine Burghart, University Lecturer, PhD, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
sabine.burghart@utu.fi
Keywords: North Korea, South Korea, ODA, humanitarian assistance, transformation of socialist systems

North Korea: Socioeconomic transformation and the role of external actors

This research concerns the socioeconomic transformation in North Korea with a focus on the role
of external actors. Since the 1990s and spurred by an economic crisis, the country has experienced a
‘dramatic transformation’ (Kim BY 2017). During this time period that also saw humanitarian
emergencies, various international aid actors – multilateral, bilateral, international and non-
governmental – entered the country resulting in new arrangements, structures and policies
(Collaboration with California State University: AKS-2020-C11; Northeast Asia Council Project).

- ‘Frauen in Nordkorea: Systemrelevant, aber machtlos?, Korea Forum 28, 2021, 118—121.
- (with Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Eric Ballbach, Nicola Casarini, Mario Esteban, Lucia Husenicova,
Sangsoo Lee, Françoise Nicolas, John Nilsson-Wright, Oskar Pietrewicz and Elina Sinkkonen) “It’s
Time for the European Union to Talk to North Korea”, Commentary, 38North - Informed
Analysis of North Korea, 2 March 2020, https://www.38north.org/2020/03/eu030220/
- (with L. Zakharova and D. Park) “The DPRK's Economic Exchanges with Russia and the EU
since 2000: An Analysis of Institutional Effects and the Case of the Russian Far East”, Asia Europe
Journal, 2020, pp. 1-23, DOI: 10.1007/s10308-019-00544-4

South Korea’s official development assistance in East Africa

This project examines South Korea’s role in its recent development partnership with Tanzania with
a focus on the Global Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement, SMU) programme. South Korea
claims to pursue a new way of providing development assistance characterized by its own
experience as a former aid recipient. The official donor rhetoric points towards more symmetric aid
relationships: emphasis on national ownership, request-based approach, notions of self-reliance and
non-hierarchical relationships. Tanzania’s experience with the SMU programme has been selected
for an in-depth case study (Collaboration with University of Frankfurt: AKS-2018-INC-2230006;
and University of Turku).

- Engagement and Encounters with the Global South through Saemaŭl Undong, In Ahn, YS (ed)
Korea and the Global Society: Engagement, Reciprocity, and Tension. Routledge: London
(forthcoming, 2022).
- ‘South Korea’s Engagement with Africa: A History of the Relationship in Multiple Aspects’,
Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 2022, 40:1, 147-149, DOI:
10.1080/02589001.2021.1931057 (published online 17 Jun 2021)
- “Deconstructing the Global Saemaul Undong Programme: A systematic review of the scholarly
literature”, conference paper, International Conference “Korea and the Global Society:
Engagement and Reciprocity”, December 4-5, 2020, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main,
Germany, 18 pp.

28
Suik Jung, PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
suik.jung@utu.fi
Keywords: North Korean refugees, social integration, social capital, South Korea

Title: Integration of North Koreans in South Korea: The Role of Social Capital in North
Korean Refugees’ Employment Outcomes and Mental Health

This doctoral project explores the association of social capital with North Korean refugees’
employment outcomes and mental health. The number of North Korean refugees has dramatically
increased in South Korea since the mid-1990s. Along with the increase, it was reported that many
of the refugees failed to adapt to South Korean society. This failed integration has posed a serious
social problem in recent years. Early studies of North Korean refugees discovered that poor
employment outcomes and mental health were the main obstacles to the North Koreans’ successful
integration. Some studies showed that social capital plays a crucial role in the integration processes
of refugees. Therefore, this project attempts to investigate the detailed information about North
Korean refugees’ social capital and its relationships with employment and health. Ultimately, the
project would contribute to the better integration of North Korean refugees into South Korea.

Publications:
- Jung, S. (2021). Resettlement of North Korean refugees in South Korea: Obstacles to building
good relationships with South Koreans. S/N Korean Humanities, 7 (2), pp. 49-77.
https://www.snkh.org/Journal/Article/115

Katri Kauhanen, PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
katri.kauhanen@gmail.com
Keywords: South Korea, history, women’s movement, equality, feminism, authoritarian regime

Women’s Movement Re-examined: the Korean National Council of Women in the Cold
War South Korea and beyond

This doctoral dissertation studies the mobilization, networks and activities of the Korean National
Council of Women, a South Korean women’s organization established in 1959 and affiliated to the
International Council of Woman a year later. By discussing what Cold War feminism stands for the
study reveals an organizational history of the Korean National Council of Women during the Cold
War intertwined in the larger narrative of Korean history, Korean women’s movements and
transnational feminisms of the 20th century. I argue that the dynamism of women’s activism
through women’s organizations in the authoritarian era South Korea, largely overlooked in the
previous research, signals a bridge, not a gap, in Korean women’s movements. The study is based
on Korean and international archival records, publications of the women’s organizations and other
contemporary print media.
Ongoing since spring 2015.

Publications:
- Katri Kauhanen: "From Seoul to Paris: Transnational Character in the Work of the Korean
National Council of Women in Authoritarian South Korea," positions: asia critique 28 (3) August
2020: 575-602.

29
Jeong-Young Kim, University Lecturer, PhD, University of Helsinki
jeong-young.kim@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Korea, Korean kielen oppikirja, Korea alku, Korean perusteet

'Korea alku! Korean perusteet' (julkaistu vuonna 2022)

"Korea Alku! Korean Perusteet" on korean alkeisoppikirja, joka johdattaa lukijan erilaisten dialogien
ja tekstien kautta korean kieleen. Tavoitteena on saavuttaa kielitaito, jolla pärjää erilaisissa
arkitilanteissa Koreassa.

Co-authors:
Eeva Holopainen, Maija Marjala, Sini Räihä, Virva Räsänen

Pekka Korhonen, Professor, University of Jyväskylä, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Keywords: North Korea, Samjiyon Orchestra, New Cold War

Publications:
- Pekka Korhonen & Tomoomi Mori 森類臣 (2020) ’The Samjiyon Orchestra as a North Korean
Means for Gender Based Cultural Diplomacy’, European Journal of Korean Studies, vol. 19, no 2,
pp. 57-82. DOI: 10.33526/ejks.20201902.57
- ’A New Cold War?’, Asia Insight, Ritsumeikan University Center for East Asian Peace and
Cooperation, 6 August 2020, http://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/file.jsp?id=465692

Sungju Park-Kang, Adjunct Professor, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies
Keywords: Korea, security, narrative, gender, methodology, international relations, transitional justice

Publications:
- Park-Kang, Sungju (2022): “Contested Victimhood of a ‘Virgin Terrorist’”, Polity, 54(4).
- Park-Kang Sungju (2022): Tears of Theory: International Relations as Storytelling, Rowman &
Littlefield.
- Park-Kang, Sungju (2020): “North Korea over the Rainbow: A Mysterious Demon?” in:
Helgesen, Geir and Harrison, Rachel (eds) East-West Reflections on Demonization: North Korea
Now, China Next? Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 160-179.
- Kurki, Kristian & Park-Kang, Sungju (2020): “Korealainen selviytymistarina – suurvaltojen varjo
ja kaksi valtiota.” Teoksessa Keva, Silja (toim.) Lohikäärme, tiikeri ja krysanteemi – Johdatus Itä-
Aasian yhteiskuntiin, 2. uudistettu painos. Turku: Turun yliopisto, 131-179.

Stephen Ranger, PhD Student, University of Turku, Centre of East Asian Studies
Keywords: Anglo-Japanese alliance, Russo-Japanese War, Korea, Manchuria, Weihaiwei, Warlord period

Current doctoral research (3rd year):

"Understanding the process of British foreign policy toward Korea and China during the period of
Japan’s Rise (1894 to 1931)"

Publications:
- Stephen Ranger, 2020, Searching for Legitimacy? The Motivations Behind Inter-Korean Dialogue
During the Mid-1980s”, UNISCI Discussion Papers 52: 23-33.

30
Myanmar

Tiina Airaksinen, Senior Lecturer, Asian Studies, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultural Studies
tiina.h.airaksinen@helsinki.fi
Keywords: China

Myanmar's Buddhist nationalism

Publications:
Myanmar ja nationalismin vaikutukset [Myanmar and impacts of nationlism], Lukion historian
Forum -oppikirja, 2021

Singapore

Erkki Viitasaari, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultures

erkki.viitasaari@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Southeast Asia, Nationalism, Museology, Brunei, Singapore, Taiwan, Palau

PhD thesis "Legitimizing an Existence among Giants: National Museums in Singapore,

Brunei, Taiwan, and Palau"

Taiwan

Ari-Joonas Pitkänen, PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science
ajrpit@utu.fi
Keywords: Taiwan, national identity, nationalism, identity, geography

Doctoral dissertation: Performing the Pacific Island: Spatial De-Sinification and Re-
territorialisation in Taiwan

A qualitative study on the geographic and spatial dimensions of national consciousness in the
politically contested island of Taiwan, investigating how Taiwan’s spatial and geographic islandness
has historically influenced its separation from the Chinese realm and how current-generation
Taiwanese are receiving Taiwan as an “island” through spatial life experiences.

Planned completion: 2025

31
Thailand

Erja Kettunen-Matilainen, Adjunct Professor, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Economic Geography; Dept. of
Marketing and International Business
erja.kettunen-matilainen@utu.fi

Title: Innovation Districts in Thailand: The landing of an urban planning concept in the
Global South

A sub-study of the research project "Innovation Districts in Emerging and Advanced Economies
for Sustainable Urban Development" (IDeaS) (PI P.Oinas) presents the case of how the idea of
innovation districts (ID) is introduced, adapted and implemented in Thailand. The study analyzes
the roles of different stakeholders (public and private, local and international) and the institutional
environment in the landing processes of the ID concept, allowing for comparing the case with a
number of IDs in the global North and South.
Publication:
Kettunen, Erja (2020) Innovation Districts in Bangkok: The concept and its implementation.
Proceedings of the 57th Annual Meeting of the Japan Section of the Regional Science Association
International (JSRSAI), December 12-13, Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan.

Vietnam

Tomi Särkioja, PhD Candidate, Tampere University, Faculty of Management and Business
Tomi.Sarkioja@tuni.fi
Keywords: Innovative entrepreneurship, institutional change, Vietnam

A study on the development of innovative entrepreneurship and institutional change in the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam.

32
Regional Issues and Comparisons within Asia
Julie Yu-Wen Chen, Professor, University of Helsinki, Department of Cultures
julie.chen@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative, globalization, Russia, local agency

Publications:
- Mackerras, Colin; Shih, Chih-Yu; Chen, Yu-Wen (2021) Twenty-One Years of Asian Ethnicity: A
Short Recollection. Asian Ethnicity 22 (3): 399-403.
- Chen, Yu-Wen (2021) A Transnational Approach in Understanding Japanese Colonial Influence
in Taiwan: Manifestations in Taiwan’s Cinema and Popular Music, in Kevin Cawley and Julia
Schneider (eds.) Transnational East Asia. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.
- Chen, Yu-Wen (2020) The Making of the Finnish Polar Silk Road: Status in Spring 2019, in Hing
Kai Chan, Faith Ka-Shun Chan, and David O’Brien (eds.) International Flows in the Belt and Road
Initiative Context: Business, People, History and Geography, p193-216. Singapore: Palgrave-
Macmillan.
- Chen, Yu-Wen; Hao, Yu-Fan (2020) Czech Perception of the Rise of China: A Survey among
University Students. Asia Europe Journal 18(1): 157-175.
- Chen, Yu-Wen (2020) Appropriate Approaches to Studying the BRI’s Actual Impacts and Limits,
in Alfred Gerstl and Ute Wallenböck (eds.) China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Strategic and
Economic Impacts on Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Eastern Europe, p. 43-60. London:
Routledge.

Erja Kettunen-Matilainen, Adjunct Professor, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Economic Geography; Dept. of
Marketing and International Business
erja.kettunen-matilainen@utu.fi
Keywords: trade, trade policy, FTAs, business, transportations, diversity and inclusion, Innovation Districts

The internationalization of Finnish architectural and urban planning offices in Asia

This research project focuses on the impact of professional ethos of architects in their
internationalization motives as to the locations and types of architecture and urban planning they
carry out. We find that Finnish architectural offices have been active in designing cultural buildings,
eco-cities, and commercial buildings in different parts of China, as well as humanitarian architecture
projects e.g. in Cambodia and India in the Global South. These choices emphasize their value-
based choices that balance between the responsibility, aesthetics, and business elements in their
professional ethos.

Publications:
- Kettunen, Erja, Päivi Oinas & Helka Kalliomäki (2021) Circuits of architecture and urban
planning: Professional ethos and the internationalization of small architectural offices. Global
Networks, published online 22 August. Open access.
- Kettunen-M. Erja (2021) Finnish architects and urban planners in Asia and Africa. Blog post,
Global South Network, University of Turku.

Title: Free Trade Agreements and Sustainable Development

This research explores the EU's free trade agreements (FTA) in Asia and focuses on the inclusion
of sustainable development issues in FTAs. Discussing the concept of 'multilateralizing
regionalism', the research covers the EU's recent FTAs with Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, and Japan.

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Publications:
- Kettunen, Erja (2020) The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement: Multilateralizing
Regionalism? In: The Changing Global Environment in Asia and Human Resource Management
Strategies, eds. Andreosso-O’Callaghan, Bernadette, Jacques Jaussaud, Robert Taylor & Bruna
Zolin. Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, pp. 77-95. ISBN 978-1-53617-612-4.
-Kettunen, Erja (2020) Sustainable development and Free Trade Agreements. Baltic Rim
Economies 7: 2, 67.
-Kettunen-M., Erja (2020) Negotiating sustainable development. Blog post, Global South Network,
University of Turku.

Title: China's New Silk Road: trade governance and Finland-China railway transportations
This research project explores the current changes in China’s trade policies, manifest in the push
for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) or the ‘New Silk Road’ and the development of trade routes
through the Eurasian continent.

Title: The participation of Finns in the 18th Century Swedish East India Company's trade
voyages
This research focuses on the previously unstudied role of Finnish seafarers in the China trade of
the Swedish East India Company whole fleet sailed to Canton to buy tea, silk, and porcelain.
Drawing from archive materials and museum collections in Sweden and Finland, the study finds
that Finns brought both material and immaterial influences from China to peripheral Finland.

Publications:
- Kettunen, E. & C.G. Alvstam (2022) China’ New Silk Road in a Nordic Perspective: The Origins
and Development of the Finland-China Rail Routes. ICAS Conference Proceedings. The 12th
International Convention of Asia Scholars, 24-28 August 2021, Kyoto, Japan. Amsterdam
University Press.
- Kettunen-M. Erja (2021) Kiskot vievät Kiinaan, Koreaan ja Japaniin. www.kauppapolitiikka.fi
- Kettunen, Erja (2020) Cadet Israel Reinius and Finland's first China-dissertation in 1749. Blog
post. The Finnish Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Title: Employment and human resource development in Japan and Finland. A comparative
study from the perspective of diversity, inclusion and decent work.

By analyzing the best practices in Japan and Finland, this study addresses the current state of
diversity and inclusion in the employment of e.g. female workers and disabled persons in the two
countries, as well as the measures and actions taken for enhancing the inclusion of disabled people
in working life. The findings indicate differences, future challenges and possibilities, and provide
policy implications.

Publications:
- Futagami, Shiho & Erja Kettunen (2022) Employment and Human Resource Development of
Disabled Workers in Japan and Finland: A Comparative Study from the Perspective of Diversity,
Inclusion, and Decent Work. In: Sustainable Development in Asia: Socio-economic, Financial, and
Economic Perspectives, eds. Andreosso-O’Callaghan, Bernadette, Serge Rey & Robert Taylor.
Springer Nature, Cham.
- Futagami, Shiho & Erja Kettunen (2020) 二神枝保、エルヤ・ケットュネン「女性の雇用・
人材開発に関する日欧比較：産学におけるダイバーシティ＆インクルージョンの視点
からの分析」二神枝保（編）『雇用・人材開発の日欧比較：ダイバーシティ＆インク
ルージョンの視点からの分析』177-205 頁、中央経済社、東京. [A Comparison on
Employment and Human Resource Development of Female Workers between Japan and Europe:
An Analysis from the Perspective of Diversity and Inclusion in Industry and Academia. In: A

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 Comparison on Employment and Human Resource Development between Japan and Europe: An
Analysis from the Perspective of Diversity and Inclusion, ed. Futagami, Shiho, pp. 177-205. Chuo-
Keizai Publishing Company, Tokyo. ISBN 978-4-502-35071-9. In Japanese.]
- Futagami, Shiho & Erja Kettunen (2020) 二神枝保、エルヤ・ケットュネン「障がい者の雇
用・人材開発に関する日欧比較：ディスアビリティ・インクルージョンの視点からの
分析」二神枝保（編）『雇用・人材開発の日欧比較：ダイバーシティ＆インクルージ
ョンの視点からの分析』145-176 頁、中央経済社、東京. [A Comparison on Employment
and Human Resource Development of Disabled Workers between Japan and Europe: An Analysis
from the Perspective of Disability Inclusion. In: A Comparison on Employment and Human
Resource Development between Japan and Europe: An Analysis from the Perspective of Diversity
and Inclusion, ed. Futagami, Shiho, pp. 145-176. Chuo-Keizai Publishing Company, Tokyo. ISBN
978-4-502-35071-9. In Japanese.]

Title: Mapping Out EU-South Korea Relations: Key Member States’ Perspectives (Editor:
Ramon Pacheco Pardo)
What is the perspective of key EU member states towards South Korea? While EU-South Korea
relations have attracted growing attention in recent years, the relationship between key EU member
states and the Asian country remains underexplored. This report addresses this omission by
describing and analysing the recent evolution of the relationship between Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Sweden, on the one hand, and South Korea on the other. The
report covers the areas of economic relations, security relations, bilateral relations and North
Korea, and cultural relations.

Publications:
Kettunen-M. Erja & Elina Sinkkonen (2020) Finland-South Korea relations: Start-ups, innovation
and education. In: Mapping out EU-South Korea relations: Key member states' perspectives. KF-
VUB Korea Chair Report. Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Brussels.

Mikael Mattlin, Research Professor, Finnish Institute of International Affairs

Keywords: China, investments, political system, Taiwan, games, simulations, international relations, EU, economic statecraft, pedagogy

Current projects:
1. Academy of Finland research project ”Foreign acquisitions and political retaliation as threats to
supply security in an era of strategic decoupling” (ForAc), https://sites.utu.fi/forac/en/. (project
director and PI). Research team members: Prof. Shaun Breslin (University of Warwick), Doc. Outi
Luova (UTU), Dr Elina Sinkkonen (FIIA), Liisa Kauppila (UTU), Ines Söderström (UTU) and
Tero Poutala (UTU). Collaborators: Dr Matt Ferchen (Leiden University), Dr Björn Jerdén (UI)
and Dr Mikko Rajavuori (UEF). Project funding period: 8/2020–11/2023.
2. Use of negotiation games as pedagogical platforms (project lead). Collaborators: post-doc, Dr
Elina Ketonen (UH), Milla Kruskopf (UH) and Johanna Ketola (UTU). Ongoing project.

Selected recent publications (2020–22)

1. Kruskopf, Milla, Elina E. Ketonen and Mikael Mattlin (2021) “Playing out Diplomacy—
Gamified reinforcement of future skills and disciplinary concepts,” European Political Science
(online first) https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-020-00305-7

2. Mattlin, Mikael (2021) “Escaping the Thucydides Trap in IR class,” in Nena Močnik, Hanna
Meretoja, Ger Duijzings and Bonface Njeresa Beti (eds) Engaging with Historical Traumas:
Experiential Learning and Pedagodies of Resilience. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge

35
Svetlana Pasti, Senior Research Fellow/Adjunct Professor/PhD, Tampere University, Faculty of Information Technology and
Communication Sciences (ITC)
svetlana.pasti@tuni.fi
Keywords: BRICS, media systems, journalism

Recent publications:
- Daya K. Thussu and Kaarle Nordenstreng (eds.) 2021.
BRICS Framing a New Global Communication Order? London and New York: Routledge.
- Ramaprasad, Jyotika and Pasti, Svetlana. 2021. BRICS journalism as a new territory for localizing
journalism studies. In D.K. Thussu and K. Nordenstreng (eds.) BRICS Framing a New Global
Communication Order? (pp.241-261). London: Routledge.

Aleksandra Sharapova, Doctoral Student, University of Turku, Faculty of Social Sciences

alex.sharapova@mail.ru
Keywords: South Asian Studies, India, India & China, contemporary foreign policy, history

On-going research project (doctoral dissertation):

INDIA AND CHINA: FOCUS AFRICA
Indian foreign policy towards Africa in comparison to China (est. duration 2021- 2025)
Supervisor: professor Lauri Paltemaa, Centre for East Asian Studies

The research touches upon India’s foreign policy towards Africa. Africa has always caught attention
of developed and developing countries as the continent possesses abundant resources and has
connections to commercial maritime routes – the Red sea, the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the
Atlantic Ocean. It is no wonder that India is interested in Africa; the IndoAfrican trade could be
easily traced back for centuries. Today India spares no efforts not only to become a trusted trade
and political partner for African states, but to win their heartfelt sympathies. For example, Indian
leaders never tire of reminding that India – just like Africa – fought against colonialism, thereby
opposing itself to the former colonial empires and emphasizing its common historical and cultural
background with Africa. The paper will review the institutions of Indian and Chinese foreign
policy, diaspora influence and military presence on the continent. Meanwhile many countries
remain wary of the widespreading influence of China, especially in Africa, where a new Chinese
military base has been recently built. Accordingly, new alliances are forming and the balance of
power is shifting. A comparative analysis of Indian, Chinese and U.S. policy towards Africa is
to be carried out, considering the prospects of international relations between Africa and its key
partners. It seems that other countries are eager to back up India’s positions in order to create a
worthy competitor for China. The rivalry between India and China is reaching a new level.

Recent publications:
- Sharapova A.V. India: Focus Africa? Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African
Studies, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, pp. 366–380. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2022.213 (In
Russian)
- India: Focus Africa. A brief review of Indian foreign policy towards Africa. A. Sharapova. Ex
oriente lux: the 5th International Student Conference on Asian and African Studies. St. Petersburg,
November 12-13, 2021: Proceedings/ Ed. by A. V. Chelnokova. St. Petersburg: «Skifia-print» 2021.
— p.191
- Bnei-Menashe: from Mizoram to Israel. Sharapova A.V. // XXXI International Congress on
Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa: Russia and the East. Сommemorating
Centennial of Political and Cultural Ties in Modern Times. 23–25 June, 2021: Proceedings / Ed. by
N. Dyakov, P. Rysakova, A. Pobedonostseva Kaya. — St Petersburg: NP-Print Publishers, 2021.
— Vol. 1. — pp. 284-286. (Publication in Russian)

36
Elina Sinkkonen, Senior Research Fellow, The Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Global Security Research Programme
elina.sinkkonen@fiia.fi
Keywords: China, Russia, North Korea, authoritarianism, comparative research

Title: Chinese Authoritarianism in Flux. A Comparative Analysis with Russia and North
Korea

Funded by the Kone Foundation

Description: As its main research questions this project investigates a) which combination of
factors best explains changes in the level of political repression and b) how (if at all) the level of
domestic repression is related to realpolitik behaviour. This analysis aims to produce a middle-range
theory about the relationship between domestic repression and international factors, in order to
overcome artificial distinction between domestic and external realms in the scholarship of policy-
making.

Project publications:
- Sinkkonen, Elina & Jussi Lassila. 2022. Digital authoritarianism in China and Russia: Common
goals and diverging standpoints in the era of great-power rivalry. In Kirchberger, Sarah, Sinjen,
Svenja and Wömer, Nils (eds.) Russia-China Relations: Emerging Alliance or Eternal Rivals?,
Springer. (open access)
- Sinkkonen, Elina. 2021. Dynamic dictators: elite cohesion and authoritarian resilience in China. In
Shei, Chris and Wei, Weixiao (eds): Routledge Handbook of Chinese Studies. London: Routledge.
113-126. (open access)
- Sinkkonen, Elina. 2021. Dynamic dictators: improving the research agenda on autocratization and
authoritarian resilience. Democratization 28 (6), 1172−1190. (open access)
- Sinkkonen, Elina & Marko Elovainio. 2020. Chinese Perceptions of Threats from the United
States and Japan. Analysis of an Elite University Student Survey. Political Psychology 41 (2),
265−282. (open access)

Mary Song, PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences
mahyso@utu.fi
Keywords: culinary identity, local identity, national identity, cultural institutions, museum, culture centre, UNESCO Creative Cities of
Gastronomy, creative city, culinary nationalism, gastronomic tradition, Chengdu, China, Tsuruoka, Japan, Jeonju, South Korea,
Chinese food, Japanese food, Korean food

Gastronomy tourism has grown rapidly in East Asia. Destination cities introduce their gastronomic
compositions not only in restaurants but also in museums and culture centres. Although these
cultural institutions represent gastronomic traditions as authentic, they are intently planned cultural
policies. My doctoral research will study this relation between representations of gastronomic
tradition in cultural institutions and actual culinary practice at the street-level consumption of food
through case studies in three UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy in East Asia: Chengdu,
mainland China, Jeonju, South Korea, and Tsuruoka, Japan. Through ethnographic interviews with
informants related in museums and culture centres and participant observations in these cultural
institutions, I will discuss culinary identities created by cultural organisations as a heritage building
on food and culinary nationalism in the name of a global UNESCO project. Furthermore, this
study will contribute to shed light on how socially constructed authenticity of gastronomic tradition
plays a role through institutions. This study will endeavour to reconsider roles of local cultural
institutions and global policy implementing organisations by dissecting East Asian societies through
food.

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Minna Valjakka, Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory in a Global Perspective, Centre for the Arts in
Society, Leiden University; Adjunct Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku
m.k.valjakka@hum.leidenuniv.nl

SHADES OF GREEN: Reconfiguring Interrelations of Cityscape and Nature through

Environmental Art in Asia (2020-2024)

This interdisciplinary research project funded by the Academy of Finland examines the varied
forms of environmental art in relation to civil society formation, encouraging reconfigurations of
interrelations of cityscape and nature in Asia. Given that Asian cities are at the forefront to battle
pollution, global warming and environmental degradation, it is timely to explore the possible
societal impact of ecological urbanism in the midst of the growing social discrepancies of
intensifying urbanisation across Asia.

While locally situated and empirical case studies form a solid basis for research, this project seeks to
delineate thematic and conceptual understandings of the phenomenon at large by drawing on the
rising significance of environmental humanism in Asia and by building primarily on the emerging
theoretical underpinnings of ethics and aesthetics of environmental art. The comparative approach
builds upon studies of environmental movements and arts in Asia, and aims at comprehensive and
contextualised theoretical frameworks in investigating the effects of ecological urbanism and its
aesthetics locally, regionally and globally.

Valjakka, Minna. 2022. “Layers of (In)Visible Resilience: Art, Women, and Homelessness in Japan.”
Critical Asian Studies 54 (3): 348-373. (First online 2 June 2022). DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2022.2079540. [open access].

Valjakka, Minna (guest editor). 2022. “Gender Borders: Contemporary Cross-disciplinary

Perspectives on Resistance and Resilience in Asian Cities” [Special Section]. Critical Asian Studies, 54
(3).

Valjakka, Minna. 2022. “Gendered Tonalities: Urban Publicness through Street Art and Murals by
and for Women in East Asian Cities.” In Socially Engaged Public Art in East Asia: Space, Place, and
Community in Action, ed. Meiqin Wang. Wilmington: Vernon Press. 23‒56.

Valjakka, Minna. 2021. “From Material Ephemerality to Immaterial Permanency: The

disCONNECT Exhibition and the Realms of Interactive Immersiveness.” Nuart Journal 3 (1):
120–133 [open access].

Valjakka, Minna. 2021. “Introduction: Shifting Undergrounds in East and Southeast Asia.” Cultural
Studies 35 (1): 1–26.

Valjakka, Minna. 2021. “Affective Paragrounds: Alternative Envisionings through Multidisciplinary

Contemporary Arts in Singapore.” Cultural Studies 35 (1): 183–209.

Valjakka, Minna. 2020. “Co-authoring the space: the initial Lennon Wall Hong Kong in 2014 as
socially engaged creativity.” Cultural Studies 34 (6): 979–1006.

Valjakka, Minna. 2020. “Urban Hacking: The Versatile Forms of Cultural Resilience in Hong
Kong.” URBAN DESIGN International, 25: 152–164.

Valjakka, Minna. 2020. “Arts and Ecosystems: Building Towards Regeneration of ‘Cultural
Resilience’ in Indonesia.” In Forces of Art: Perspectives from a Changing World, eds. Carin Kuoni,
Jordi Baltà Portolés, Nora N. Khan, and Serubiri Moses, 131‒160. Amsterdam: Valiz.

38
VITRI (Viikki Tropical Resources Institute) publications on Asia
Contact: Nicholas Hogarth, Dr/PhD, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences
nicholas.hogarth@helsinki.fi
Keywords: Forests, livelihoods, tropics, sustainability, non-timber forest products, NTFPs, bamboo, rural development

Note: the list includes papers where the research is fully or partially (e.g. in multi-country studies)
carried out in Asia

A. Peer-reviewed papers in journals

1. Duan, W., Hogarth, N.J., Shen, J., Zhang, Y., Chen, Q. 2021. Household risk preferences and
forestland use right transactions in China: tenure security or price illusion? Scandinavian Journal of
Forest Research.
2. Duan, W., Hogarth, N.J., Shen, J., Zhang, Y., Chen, Q. 2021. Effects of Rural-Urban Labour
Migration on Household Forest Management in the Context of Rural Reform and Development in
China. Small-scale Forestry.
3. Korkeakoski, M., Mentula, M., Vähäkari, N., Luukkanen, J., Kaivo-oja, J., Alexeeva, A., Chea, E.,
Va, D., Kallio, M., Hogarth, N. 2021. Situation analysis of energy use and consumption in
Cambodia: household access to energy. Environment, Development and Sustainability.
4. Arvola, A.M., Ha, H.T., Kanninen, M., Malkamäki, A., Simola, N. 2021. Financial Attractiveness
of Wood Production in Smallholder Plantations of Central Vietnam in the Context of Developing
Carbon Markets. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 33, 137-148.
5. Shen J., Hogarth N.J., Hou Y., and Duan W. 2021. Impact of Nature Reserves on Human
Wellbeing – Evidence from Giant Panda Reserves in China. Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 36:
No. 1-2, pp 79-101.
6. Zhang, Y., Hogarth, N.J., and Duan, W. 2021. Impact of gender and risk preference on forest
management decisions of rural households in China: Evidence from giant panda nature reserves.
Journal of Forest Economics. Vol. 36: No. 1-2, pp 141-160.
7. Duan W., Hogarth N., Shen J. 2021. Impacts of Protected Areas on Income Inequality: Evidence
from the Giant Panda Biosphere Reserves in Sichuan Province, China. Journal of Forest
Economics: Vol. 36: No. 1-2, pp 27-51.
8. Duan, W., Shen, J., Hogarth, N.J., and Chen, Q. 2021. Risk preferences significantly affect
household investment in timber forestry: Empirical evidence from Fujian, China. Forest Policy and
Economics, volume 125, 10242.
9. Vuola, M., Korkeakoski, M., Vähäkari, N., Dwyer, M., Hogarth, N.J., Kaivo-oja, J., Luukkanen,
J., Chea, E., Thuon, T., and Phonhalath, K. 2020. What is a Green Economy? Review of National-
Level Green Economy Policies in Cambodia and Lao PDR. Sustainability.

10. Myers, R., Rutt, R.L., McDermott, C., Maryudi, A., Acheampong, E., Camargo, M., Cầm, H.
2020. Imposing legality: hegemony and resistance under the EU Forest Law Enforcement,
Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) initiative. Journal of Political Ecology 27, 125-149.
11. Arvola A., Brockhaus M., Kallio M., Thuy Pham T., Thi Linh Chi D., Tuan Long H., Adiwinata
Nawir A., Phimmavong S., Mwamakimbullah R., Jacovelli P. 2020. What drives smallholder tree
growing? Enabling conditions in a changing policy environment. Forest Policy and Economics.
Vol. 116 (2020).

B. Doctoral theses

1. Arvola, Anne. 2020. Key factors in the enabling environment for smallholder tree growing –
experiences from the Global South. University of Helsinki, Tropical Forestry Reports 53. 212 p.

39
 https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/319664study analyses the impact of privatization of labor
rights regulation from the perspective of Cambodian garment workers’ struggles to build and to
defend their rights. These struggles are examined as embedded in a process of interaction between
local and international actors that began in the 1990s, and the study asks how they are shaped by
the often conflictive interests, understandings and practices that these actors have regarding labour
rights, law and regulation.
The study is theoretically connected to global political economy and labour studies, and brings
together discussions about “labour’s crisis” (weakening of labour movement’s position and power
in the context of globalization) and privatization of regulation (such as corporate social
responsibility, CSR). It emphasizes how technocratic CSR approaches tend to depoliticize the
notion of labour rights, which is sometimes strengthened by Eurocentric labour solidarity
networks. The research is methodologically inspired by legal and development anthropology as well
as social history. The main data was collected during 13 months of ethnographically oriented
fieldwork in Phnom Penh in 2016 and 2017. Interviews were conducted with 120 people, which
was complemented by participant observation. In addition, historical data was based on newspaper
archives and oral histories collected in the interviews.

Bart Gaens, Leading Research Fellow (PhD), Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), Global Security Research program
bart.gaens@fiia.fi
Keywords: Connectivity, great-power competition, infrastructure development, Indo-Pacific

Title: “Superregionalism and Contentious Connectivity in Asia”

Duration: May 2021-April 2023

This research project examines connectivity as a key area of global power competition. The focus
lies on Asia, broadly the Indo-Pacific, as a superregion, i.e., a region defined by various functional
and connective links rather than by geographical borders. The project explores linkages between
connectivity and security, economy and (sustainable) development, and contrasts and compares
connectivity strategies of key actors including China, the US, Japan, Russia, and the EU. The
working hypothesis of the project is that the infrastructures of connectivity do not only serve as a
major site of contestation, but also provide opportunities for cooperation in the decades to come.

Team members: Bart Gaens, Ville Sinkkonen, Katja Creutz, Kristiina Silvan, Anu Ruokamo,
Tyyne Karjalainen, Jyrki Kallio

Publications:
- Silvan, Kristiina and Kaczmarski, Marcin. “Russia’s connectivity strategies in Eurasia: Politics
over economy” FIIA Briefing Paper 343, June 2022.
- Karjalainen, Tyyne. “The EU’s Global Gateway: Building connectivity as a policy”. FIIA
Working Paper 127, February 2022.
- Islam, Shada; Yeo, Lay Hwee and Gaens, Bart. “The Asia-Europe Meeting needs to agree on a
connectivity code of conduct”, East Asia Forum, 9 December 2021.
- Gaens, Bart; Raik, Kristi and Jüris, Frank (eds). “Nordic-Baltic connectivity with Asia via the
Arctic: Assessing opportunities and risks” EFPI/ICDS Report, September 2021.
- “Taking Europe-Asia connectivity to the Arctic: Cooperation between the EU and Japan” in
Gaens, Bart; Raik, Kristi and Jüris, Frank (eds) “Nordic-Baltic connectivity with Asia via the
Arctic: Assessing opportunities and risks” EFPI/ICDS Report, September 2021.

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