Biography
Biography
I’m a philosopher, writer and teacher specialized in feminist thinking and history of philosophy. I’m currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, where I work as principal investigator of the four-year research project Origins of Racializing Thought (2022–20126), funded by the Kone Foundation. For more information on this exciting project, please visit our homepage.
You can find the project’s description here.
In 2008–2013, I worked as a doctoral researcher in in the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence entitled Philosophical Psychology, Morality and Politics, led by Profs. Simo Knuuttila and Juha Sihvola. In 2008, I was a visiting scholar at the University of Oslo, Norway. I received my doctorate at the Department of Philosophy, University of Helsinki, in 2013.
I worked as a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the Columbia University in the city of New York in 2016-17 where I finalized my monograph Gender and Sexuality in Stoic Philosophy (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2018). During this time, I also had the opportunity to collaborate with the Columbia University’s Rethink: Philosophy Outreach Program where I, among other things, participated in designing and conducting workshops on philosophy of hope with young women incarcerated at Rikers Island prison. You can read the program coordinator Adam Blazej’s thoughts on this excellent program here.
I have been teaching philosophy and gender studies at the University of Helsinki and Helsinki Open University since 2007. My teaching experience includes, among many things, the class “Foundations of Gender Studies” which I have co-taught with my colleague and friend Dr. Maria Svanström for more than 15 times. Over the years, I have taught several seminars and lecture classes e.g., on Ancient philosophy, feminist philosophy and Michel Foucault. As a teacher, I’m particularly inspired by the interaction and conversations with my students which constantly help me to develop as an educator and thinker.
In addition to my philosophical work, I have received invaluable professional experience in the fields of dance and arts education. In 2017, I worked as Arts Education Coordinator and Venue Manager at the Bronx Music Heritage Center, run by the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Coorpoartion WHEDco, in the Bronx, NY. As a teaching artist for Center for Arts Education and other organizations, I had the opportunity to teach dance programs for at-risk children and youth in diverse neighborhoods of New York City (2016–2017). In 2012–2016, I taught dance education works shops at several Finnish cultural institutions such as Helinä Rautavaara Museum and Theater Museum. These experiences continue to inspire and inform my philosophical work and provide a rich resource for my writing.