Professor
Marianne Liljeström, PhD., Docent
I am Professor of Gender Studies at the University Turku and Vice Director of the School of History, Culture and Art. I have two PhDs, one from the Academy of Social Sciences in Moscow (1979) and one in General History from the Åbo Akademi University (1996), and I have earlier worked as teacher and researcher at the Universities of Åbo Akademi, Tampere, Birmingham (UK), Uppsala and Södertörn (Sweden).
My research interests encompass three subject matters. Firstly, I am interested in the history of Russia and the Soviet Union. My dissertation, Emanciperade till underordning (1995, in English: Emancipated into Subordination) dealt with the emergence and discursive reproduction of the Soviet gender system. In my newest monograph Useful Selves. Russian Women’s Autobiographical Texts from the Postwar Period (2004) I investigate how the selves of Soviet women were constructed during the late Soviet period.
Secondly, I am interested in the history of the field of Women's and Gender Studies, in the history of the formation and changes of this discipline during the past thirty years. My current research examines the consolidation of Gender Studies as a discipline both in transnational and Finnish contexts. This research is implemented partly through my participation in two international projects: Translating and Constructing Gender Studies in the Nordic Region 1975-2005: Perspectives from Sweden, Russia and the United States funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Södertörn university, Sweden) and Thought as Action: Gender, democracy, freedom funded by the Norwegian Research Council (2009-2012).
My third research interest relates to feminist theories of gender, sexuality and embodiment. This interest is carried out above all in my textbook production: I have edited and written chapters in three textbooks in Women's and Gender Studies: Avainsanat. 19 askelta feministiseen tutkimukseen together with Anu Koivunen (1996/2004, in English: Keywords. 10 steps to feminist research) , Feministejä - aikamme ajattelijoita with Anneli Anttonen and Kirsti Lempiäinen (2000, in English: Feminists – contemporary thinkers), and Feministinen tietäminen - Keskustelua metodologiasta (2004, in English: Feminist knowing – Discussion on methodology).
I have acted and act as director for four projects funded by the Academy of Finland:
- Two projects within the field of feminist Russian Studies: Models of Self: Russian Women's Autobiographical Texts, 1800-2000 (1998-2000) and Contrasting Russian Others: Gender and Nationality in Cultural, Historical and Literary Discourses of the 20th Century (2002-2005).
- Disturbing Differences: Feminist Readings of Identity, Location and Power (2004-2007) situated within feminist research on differences and affects.
- Regulated Liberties. Negotiating Freedom in Art and Culture since the 1960s (2009-2012) within art studies at the University of Turku.
Furthermore, I participate in the executive boards of two national research schools: Russian and East European Studies since 1998 and Women’s Studies since 2002. I am also key instructor at the Nordic InterGender Research School in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies since 2004. I am currently member of the International Editorial/Advisory Boards of the following journals: Lambda Nordica (since 2010), NORA. Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research (since 2008) and European Journal of Women's Studies (since 2004).
Contact: marianne.liljestrom@utu.fi
Publications
List of publications (pdf-file)