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  • The well-being of startup employees : contradictory value systems at work 
    Sugiura, Akira (2023)
    This research concerns the well-being of the people associated with a startup company geographically located in and around Finland. It explored the ideal world of startups through ethnography and thematic analysis utilizing anthropological theories of value. Entrepreneurs are often portrayed as exemplary, self-driven citizens who contribute to society through innovations and economic growth. People with such a mindset of freedom and self-dependence formed the startup organization to bring the ideal world to life. However, they simultaneously relied on hierarchical and role-based relations to function as a coherent organization. Living in such contradictions, feelings of euphoria and vague emptiness roomed as the ideal world seemed to be within reach yet impossible to actually attain. In such a place, having anything that could truly be called well-being - if it means being one with the world they envision and attaining what they consider important - was difficult.
  • “The Whole World Needs Housing” : The Formation of Common Notions through Expansive Learning in the Spanish Mortgage Movement la Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca 
    Brunila, Mikael (2019)
    Since the beginning of the housing crisis in Spain in 2008, la Plataforma por Afectados de la Hipoteca (PAH) has grown to become one of the most dynamic and powerful social movements in the country. In my Master’s thesis, I use theories from political economy, Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and a minor reading of the work of political philosopher Benedict de Spinoza, to look at the path two people who were “affected by mortgage” took from emotional and financial distress towards collective and transformative agency. Instead of leap-frogging from the personal crisis of our informants to the point of empowerment, I utilise the concept of expansive learning to dwell on the different stages in the process. Through the Spinozan concept of affects and contemporary neuropsychological theories of emotion, I distinguish between different instances of emotion and affect that the informants express as they reflect over how they chose to challenge the banks demanding that they give up their homes. Through collectively processing the hierarchies associated with debt and money, and by expanding the object of their activities from merely overcoming an untenable situation with their mortgage to a wider, shared framework of mutual aid, the informants show how expansive learning in the context of PAH appears as a joyful sensation of an increased capacity to act upon the world together with others. In this framework, expansive learning can, following Spinoza, be understood as a formation of common notions, as people who are dispossessed or risk dispossession encounter each other to find shared ground in their experiences and move from lonely, sad, and passive affects to a joyful and active feeling of collective power. To understand this process, I use thematic analysis together with a theory of affect and emotion to show how phases in the cycle of learning can be understood as successive transitions towards a joyful capacity to act upon the world together with others. Finally, I look at how the intrusion of global financial actors has imposed a serious threat and challenge to this local process of empowerment.
  • The willingness to fund post-secondary studies with a student loan among Finnish upper secondary school students 
    Oksanen, Saara (2016)
    The aim of this study is to find out whether gender and parental education level are determinants to the willingness to take risks in general, if the willingness to fund upcoming post-secondary studies is affected by gender, parental education level, risk attitudes, the expected future salary and the employment rate from a chosen field of future education and is there a relationship between the willingness to fund post-secondary studies with a student loan and the highest degree planned to complete.The data set which is used in this study is collected from 59 randomly chosen high schools from 18 provinces in Finland and it is a representative sample of Finnish upper secondary school students. The data set has 3,437 respondents in total of whom 1980 (approximately 58 percent) are female. In the survey almost every (more than 99 percent) respondent is between the age of 17 and 19. The main findings of this thesis are the following. I do not find reliable evidence that gender or parental education level influence to the individuals’ risk attitudes measured by a general risk question. I do find evidence that gender and parental education level affect to the willingness to fund post-secondary studies with a student loan. In the linear regression where the dependent variable is the willingness to fund post-secondary studies with a student loan and independent variables are; gender, parental education level, risk attitude, expected future salary and expected employment rate the coefficients for gender and parental education level are -0.170 and 0.082, respectively. Both of the coefficients are statistically significant at 1 percent significance level when holding other independent variables constant. These results indicate that females are less willing to fund the upcoming post-secondary studies with a student loan and that there is a positive relationship between the parental education level and the willingness to take a student loan; the higher is the mean education level of parents the more willing the student is to take a student loan. No evidence was found that the willingness to take risks, measured by the general risk question, expected future salary from a chosen field of future education or the average employment rate from a certain field have an impact to the willingness to take a student loan. There is a positive correlation between the highest degree planned to complete and the willingness to fund post-secondary studies with a student loan.
  • The wood procurement in Indian pulp and paper industry and its challenges 
    Onali, Harri (2017)
    The paper industry is one of the largest industrial sectors in India. In general, wood procurement processes play an important role in the operations of the paper industry, but there is very less research on India in this topic. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the present state of wood procurement in the Indian paper industry and finally to detect possible bottlenecks in the system. The data was collected by interviews from a total of 10 paper mills in India. Paper industry in India is entirely based on a plantation forestry, where private farming plays a very large role. Wood procurement begins with planning. The field officers cooperate with the vendors in the field. The vendors are private operators who trade directly with up to thousands of farmers and are therefore necessary for the successful operations. Wood is almost always harvested manually by axes and rarely with chain saws. Long-distance transport is mainly carried out by trucks which can carry about 15 to 20 tons of wood at a time. At the reception, the quality of the raw material and the papers are checked, and the load size is weighed. After reception, the wood is transported either to the wood yard or alternatively directly to the chipper. The load is unloaded either by loaders, or sometimes, but rarely, by hand. The results show clearly that the mills are dissatisfied with the present state of wood procurement. The biggest problem is that there the domestic supply is insufficient, which makes the wood raw material price very high and forces the industry to buy wood from abroad and longer distances which affect negatively to transport costs. In India, land ownings of farmers are also small and it complicates efficient wood procurement processes. In addition, farming trees does not interest the local people. Infrastructure is also weak and the use of trains in wood transport is difficult. Some mills stated that the policy plays too big role in determining the price of the raw material. In addition, expertise in supply chain management is weak and no suitable software is available.
  • The Woods Are Burning! : The Restoration of the American Dream and Expressionism in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman 
    Immonen, Jarkko (2012)
    Tutkielmani käsittelee ekspressionismin ja amerikkalaisen unelman keskinäistä suhdetta Arthur Millerin näytelmässä Kauppamatkustajan kuolema (Death of a Salesman). Aiempi tutkimus on suurelta osin keskittynyt analysoimaan joko ekspressionismia tai amerikkalaisen unelman käsittelyä näytelmässä, mutta sitä, miten nämä kaksi näkökulmaa liittyvät toisiinsa, on tutkittu varsin vähän. Valtaosa näytelmää tutkineista katsoo sen ennen kaikkea kritisoivan amerikkalaista unelmaa. On kuitenkin niitä, jotka tulkitsevat näytelmän peräänkuuluttavan amerikkalaisen unelman palauttamista alkuperäiseen altruistiseen muotoonsa, ja päätavoitteenani tässä tutkielmassa on selvittää, millä tavoin näytelmän ekspressionismin ja amerikkalaisen unelman tematiikan keskinäinen suhde tukee tätä tulkintaa. Keskityn tutkielmassani analysoimaan päähenkilöä, Willy Lomania; millä eri keinoin hänen käsityksiään amerikkalaisesta unelmasta tuodaan näytelmässä esille ja mitä nämä käsitykset saattaisivat olla. Perustan analyysini osittain Gayle Porterin bisneseettiseen teoriaan. Porter jakaa perinteisen amerikkalaisen unelman kuuteen avainteesiin ja esittelee, miten kukin näistä teeseistä on ajan saatossa vääristynyt ja kärjistynyt. Tutkin laajemminkin amerikkalaisen unelman käsitteen historiaa ja muuntumista 1700-luvulta tähän päivään tukeakseni Porterin teoriaa. Tämän jälkeen peilaan päähenkilön valintoja ja päätöksiä Porterin teoreettiseen malliin ja selvitän, löytyykö päähenkilö Willy Lomanin maailmankuvan keskiöstä Porterin esittämiä avainteesejä, niiden vääristymiä tai kärjistyksiä. Väitän tutkielmassani, että näytelmä ei esitä amerikkalaista unelmaa Willy Lomania tuhoavana voimana, kuten monet ovat tulkinneet. Syy Willyn traagiseen kohtaloon löytyy hänen kyvyttömyydestään sovittaa yhteen oma vakaa uskonsa perinteisen amerikkalaisen unelman hyveellisiin avainteeseihin nopeasti muuttuvan yhteiskunnan tapojen ja tarpeiden kanssa. Analysoin Willy Lomania myös ekspressionistisesta näkökulmasta. Esitän, että näytelmän ekspressionistiset elementit sallivat tulkinnan, jonka mukaan osa näytelmän henkilöistä, erityisesti muut Lomanin perheenjäsenet, voidaan nähdä Willyn mielenliikkeiden representaatioina tai heijastumina. Pohjaan tulkinnan kahteen tosiseikkaan: ensiksikin näytelmän nimeksi piti tulla alun perin The Inside of His Head, vapaasti suomennettuna Hänen päänsä sisällä . Toiseksi Millerin alkuperäisenä mielikuvana näytelmän lavastuksesta oli jättimäinen pää, jonka sisällä näytelmä tapahtuisi. Tukeakseni ekspressionismin tulkintaani analysoin lavastusta, valaistusta ja äänitehosteita koskevien näyttämöohjeiden sekä tiettyjen dialogissa esiintyvien kielikuvien funktioita. Tämän jälkeen tarkastelen jokaista perheenjäsentä erikseen selvittääkseni, miten he kuvastavat päähenkilön ajatusmaailmaa ja hänen amerikkalaista unelmaansa. Tutkielmani pääväittämä kiteytyy Willyn ja hänen poikansa Biff Lomanin suhteeseen. Ekspressionistisessa valossa Biff näyttäytyy kaikkein selkeimmin Willyn jatkeena tai heijastumana ja jakaa suurelta osin isänsä maailmankuvan. Olennaisin osa näytelmän draamasta perustuu Willyn ja Biffin ongelmalliseen suhteeseen. Biff toimii näytelmässä katalyyttina, joka pakottaa isänsä kohtaamaan todellisuuden ja näin ajaa näytelmän huippukohtaansa. Biff on kuitenkin Lomanin perheestä ainoa, joka oppii virheistään ja jolla on näytelmässä selkeä kasvukaari. Näytelmän lopussa vain Biffillä tuntuu olevan toivoa paremmasta tulevaisuudesta; tulkintani mukaan tämä johtuu siitä, että hän on oppinut ainakin osittain yhdistämään perinteisen amerikkalaisen unelman ympäröivän yhteiskunnan vaatimuksiin. Näin ollen näytelmän viesti amerikkalaisesta unelmasta ei ole luonteeltaan tuomitseva, vaan näytelmä kannustaa löytämään perinteisen amerikkalaisen unelman arvot uudestaan ja oikaisemaan käsitteen vääristymät ja kärjistykset.
  • The Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) - toimintakykymittarin käyttö toimintakyvyn arvioinnissa ja seurannassa 
    Juntura, Janna (2023)
    Toimintakyky on moniulotteinen kokonaisuus, joka kuvastaa miten yksilö pärjää arjessansa ja se sisältää ihmisen fyysiset, psyykkiset, sosiaaliset ja kognitiiviset toiminnot. Sairastuminen psykiatriseen tai somaattiseen sairauteen voi heikentää yksilön toimintakykyä. Toimintakyvyn arviointi on täten tärkeä osa potilaan hoidon suunnittelua ja sen mittaamiseen on käytetty kansainvälisesti useita satoja eri mittareita. The Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS) on lyhyt potilaan itse täytettäväksi tarkoitettu kysely, jolla arvioidaan, onko potilaan toimintakyky heikentynyt tietyn ongelman tai sairauden vuoksi. WSAS keskittyy sosiaaliseen toimintakykyyn sekä työkykyyn. Se on mittarina vielä melko tuntematon Suomessa. Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen tavoitteena oli selvittää WSAS-mittarin soveltuvuus ja käyttökohteet. Suoritin haun PubMed ja Web of Sciences tietokannoissa. Lopullisten artikkelien kriteerit olivat: 1) Käytetty WSAS-mittaria toimintakyvyn arviointiin, 2) Verrattu WSAS-mittaria toiseen toimintakykymittariin. Hakua täydennetty lisäksi manuaalisesti. Lopullisia artikkeleita valikoitui 35. Tutkimuksessa keskityttiin työikäisiin ihmisiin. WSAS-mittarilla on todettu olevan hyvä reliabiliteetti ja validiteetti useissa psykiatrisissa ja somaattisissa sairauksissa. Sen on todettu olevan herkkä muutokselle ja sillä pystytään erottelemaan sairauksien eri vaikeusasteet toisistaan. Se on koettu helpoksi ja nopeaksi kyselyksi. Erona muihin käytössä oleviin toimintakykymittareihin se pyrkii kohdistamaan kysymyksen tietyn ongelman tai sairauden vaikutuksiin toimintakykyyn yleisen toimintakyvyn arvion sijaan. WSAS-mittari soveltuu nopeutensa vuoksi käytettäväksi kliinisissä tilanteissa.
  • The World Happiness Report and the “Happiest Country” Finland : Why do Finns tend not to agree with the results? 
    Jinushi, Ayako (2021)
    This thesis is about the World Happiness Report and Finland. Finland has been chosen as the world’s “happiest country” for four consecutive years from 2018 to 2021 in the World Happiness Report and is often reported as the “happiest country” in both national and international media outlets. Yet many Finns seem to question the idea of Finland as the “happiest country” in the world. This paper explores both why Finland ranks high in the World Happiness Report and why Finns tend not to agree with the results. It examines the concept of happiness in scholarly literature and analyzes the responses to a questionnaire regarding Finns’ attitudes toward the report. The leading hypothesis is that the usage of the particular word “happiness” is a major reason why Finnish people tend not to believe the results of the World Happiness Report. The research consists of two parts. The first part analyzes the concept of happiness and topics around happiness in relation to the World Happiness Report. It also overviews how the related terms, such as subjective well-being and life satisfaction, are used in the World Happiness Report. It shows happiness is a concept that can be understood in various ways and that the term happiness is ambiguously used in the World Happiness Report. In addition, topics related to happiness and life satisfaction in Finland are also discussed to present that life satisfaction in Finland has been high but that the feeling of happiness may be different. The second part is social research using a questionnaire survey. The survey asked Finns how they think about the results of the World Happiness Report. The results of the survey support the hypothesis that ambiguously used terms would be one of the reasons why Finns tend not to agree with the results of the World Happiness Report. Overall, the conclusion is that Finland’s high ranking in the World Happiness Report owes much to the contentment with the current situation explained by the social structure with comprehensive support. More Finns would agree with the results of the World Happiness Report if the report stated more clearly that the ranking is based on people’s life evaluations instead of using the term happiness.
  • The Writing Conference as a Medium for Teaching Academic Writing in English : Revising cohesion with L2 master’s students 
    Norta, Julia (2020)
    Englannin asema tieteen valtakielenä vahvistuu jatkuvasti, mikä näkyy Suomessa esimerkiksi siten, että korkeakoulututkintojen opinnäytteet, erityisesti maisterintutkielmat kirjoitetaan yhä useammin englanniksi. Näiden tutkielmien kielellisen laadun kannalta on olennaista, että opiskelijat, joille englanti ei ole äidinkieli, saavat tukea tekstiensä kirjoittamiseen. Tässä tutkielmassa esitellään esimerkki siitä, miten tällaista tukea voidaan tarjota niin kutsutun writing conference -menetelmän avulla. Tutkimuskirjallisuudessa writing conference tarkoittaa vuorovaikutteista palautteenantomenetelmää, jossa opettaja ja oppilas käyvät kahdenkeskisen keskustelun oppilaan tekstistä tai kirjoittamisprosessista. Tarkoituksena on yleensä myös työstää yhdessä oppilaan tekstiä ja sitä kautta edistää oppilaan kirjoitustaidon kehittymistä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan englanninkielisiin tutkielmateksteihin tehtyjä revisioita writing conference-tilanteessa, jossa englantia vieraana kielenä puhuvat maisteriopiskelijat muokkaavat tekstejään englantia äidinkielenään puhuvan kirjoittamisen opettajan johdolla. Tutkielman laajuuden rajaamiseksi analyysi kohdistuu yhteen akateemisen kirjoittamisen kannalta keskeiseen kielen piirteeseen eli koheesioon liittyviin revisioihin. Tavoitteena on selvittää, kuinka paljon koheesiopirteisiin puututaan, millaisia revisioita niihin tehdään ja millaisen roolin opettaja omaksuu revisioiden tekemisessä. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty osana suomalaisessa yliopistossa pidettäviä writing conference -tapaamisia. Aineisto sisälsi kuusi tapaamista, joissa kussakin yksi insinööriopiskelija ja opettaja muokkasivat opiskelijan maisterintutkielman johdantolukua. Opettaja videoi tapaamiset tietokoneen ruudun nauhoitustoiminnolla siten, että muokattava teksti näkyi opettajan ruudulla ja tekstistä käyty keskustelu tallentui videolle. Videot ja niistä tehdyt litteraatit analysoitiin kvalitatiivisesti. Kustakin sessiosta koodattiin kaikki kahteen koheesiopiirteeseen, referenssiin ja konnektoreihin, liittyvät revisiot Hallidayn ja Hasanin (1976) koheesioteorian pohjalta, jonka jälkeen revisiot luokiteltiin neljään ryhmään. Tämän jälkeen analysoitiin, miten revisiot tehtiin keskittyen tyypillisiin piirteisiin opettajan toiminnassa. Tulokset osoittivat, että koheesioon puututtiin suhteellisen vähän. Koheesiotyypeistä enemmän puututtiin referenssiin. Noin puolet revisioista oli korvauksia (substitution) kun taas poistoja (deletion) tehtiin hyvin vähän. Opettajan tyypillisiä toimintatapoja revisioiden tekemisessä olivat kysymysten esittäminen, eri vahvuiset direktiivit, revisiotarpeiden selittäminen sekä joissain tapauksissa opetusmateriaalien käyttö. Tulosten valossa voidaan todeta, että writing conference -tapaamiset luovat potentiaalisen kanavan tutkielmatekstien laadun kohentamiselle sekä vieraan kielen kirjoitustaidon kehittämiselle, joten menetelmää voitaisi tulevaisuudessa käyttää laajemminkin akateemisen kirjoittamisen opetuksessa.
  • "They don't need our money; what they want is knowledge" : Maailmanpankin, OECD:n ja UNICEFin tietoon pohjautuva legitimiteetti Brasilian koulutuspolitiikassa 
    Klutas, Anni (2016)
    In my thesis, I scrutinized the World Bank, OECD and UNICEF's aims to achieve legitimacy in Brazilian education policy by using knowledge-related governance strategies. In theoretizing the concept of legitimacy, I've employed perspectives from soft governance and knowledge governance. Thus, I was empirically interested in the question of which strategies international organizations (IOs) use to construe knowledge and 'truth' about Brazilian education, as well as how they rationalize and constitute meanings and essentiality of knowledge. My analytical angles to investigate knowledge governance are different strategies of quantification and comparison, so-called 'best practices', depolitization and acting as a spokesperson. The research is stemming from Foucauldian governance studies and is inspired by the triangle of knowledge, truth and power. I used discourse analytical analysis method with an understanding of discourse as a historical and cultural concept that displays, produces and re-produces different power relations. My method of analysis lies in between theory- and data-driven; on one hand, I used comprehension of knowledge governance and legitimacy in reading the data, on the other hand, the final theoretical perspective came to be as it is only after initial analysis. The data consisted of both interviews with the IOs and documents produced by the IOs. According to my study, there are seven different strategies of knowledge and truth governance. Those are capacity building, evidence-based policymaking, national sovereignty, public and local advocacy, external evaluator, global competition and numeric truth. The essential and intriguing part in those strategies is the positioning of oneself in relation to Brazil: knowledge is often produced either together, involving local actors, or clearly from outside, by performing as a neutral and distant expert. However, from perspective of governance studies, these positions are all different strategies of governance, which constitute the truth that serves also – or foremost? – IOs' own agendas. Therefore, I conclude the research in a discussion on how knowledge production could, at least in theory, become more democratic.
  • The years children spent in early education in relation to their social relations and objects of attention 
    Heikkilä, Aada (2022)
    Objectives. The purpose of this article- based master´s thesis is to study the connection between the years children spent in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and their social behaviour. The research problems were formed based on the fourfold table of social orientations by Jyrki Reunamo (2020) and the research material. In this research I decided to concentrate on the years children spent in ECEC because earlier research concerning children´s social behaviour is often focused on the quality of ECEC. This research presents one perspective to the social debate about how ECEC affects children´s growth and development by describing how the years spent in ECEC affect children´s social orientations and their main object of attention and contact. Methods. The data used in this research is a part of already existing research material collected within the Progressive Feedback project. The data was collected by observing children in ECEC units in 2017- 2021. About 200 specially trained ECEC professionals performed the observations. The research data includes 20 457 observations of 972 six-year-olds from 360 child groups in 18 municipalities in Finland. The material was analysed with IBM SPSS Statistics 27 programme with crosstabulation function using the years of attendance in ECEC, social orientation, child´s main object of attention and contact, closest social child contact and child´s gender as variables. Results and conclusions. According to this research, the years children spent in ECEC have a connection to their social orientations and their main object of attention and contact. The longer the children had been in ECEC, the less adaptive behaviour was observed. The children that had been in ECEC for under a year were observed to be less participative than other children. Dominant orientation increased the longer the children had been in ECEC. The children that had been in ECEC for over four years aimed their attention more rarely to non-social objects and adults. These same children aimed their attention more often to several children than their peers that had spent fewer years in ECEC. The years spent in ECEC seem to affect girls´ and boys´ social orientations and main object of attention and contact differently. The results could be useful when political decisions concerning ECEC, for example the two year-long pre-primary education, are made. The article The years children spent in early education in relation to their social relations and objects of attention is supposed to be published in European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ)
  • ”They need a fulltime prefrontal cortex to walk beside them!” : The need of support and governance in the discourses operating in early childhood education 
    Lindholm, Minttu Minerva (2021)
    The aim of this master thesis was to study, how the children’s need of support appears in the context of early childhood education and what kind of governance is related to it. The aim of this thesis was to study these phenomena as a part of wider inequality development in the so-ciety. The theoretical framework of this thesis takes the concepts of normalization and gov-ernance with Foucauldian power theorizing as somewhat loose background. Former research has shown that the performed need of support is related to multiple characteristics and skills of the individual, neglecting the wicked problems like ostracism, racism and poverty having their influences on the individual as well, and thus legitimating many forms of governance. This kind of research is not done so much in the context of early childhood education and the aim of this thesis is to shed light to how these phenomena operate there. For this thesis I interviewed seven employees working in the early childhood education and made a discourse analysis of the in -depth interviews. My aim was to shed light to the way of speech, which is used when describing and defining the need of support, as well as the forms of governance, which are legitimated by the need of support. The results of my thesis revealed a very individual approach, where the need of support was almost without exceptions reduced to the traits, lack of skills or neurochemical processes of the children. Further, there was a clear differentiation produced between the ”normal” children and those of in need of support. A paradoxical perception is, that even though the personnel in many cases acknowledge there is flagrant injustice beneath the need of support, the back-ground is blurred in the name of equality. Thus, it is possible, that the burden of the environ-mental and even societal problems is leaved to individual children and the interventions can even be harmful as directed perhaps in the wrong place.
  • “They’s some mad plantation vibes up in here”: Black Bodies, White Spaces, and Racial Anxiety in Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age and Raven Leilani’s Luster 
    Westendorff, Aurelia (2023)
    This thesis analyzes representations of racial anxiety in interracial encounters in the novels Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid and Luster by Raven Leilani utilizing critical race theory. The novels’ depictions of racial anxiety experienced by their respective Black female protagonists are examined using Sara Ahmed’s phenomenology of race. I show how the environments depicted in the novels represent specific white spaces which extend themselves differently towards Black and white bodies and therefore produce racial anxiety in the novels’ main characters. Furthermore, I show how the novels describe white racial anxiety as a particular expression of what Shannon Sullivan refers to as white liberalism. While Such a Fun Age depicts white characters whose concern for their public image as morally good drives them to committing covert acts of racism masked as anti-racism, Luster depicts characters whose white racial anxiety, or lack thereof, leads them into acts of nihilistic self-destruction and careless malevolence. This study contributes to the research on new contemporary fiction classified as millennial writing by showing how the experience of racism is represented from the viewpoint of millennial Black women. The novels address both situations of overt racism and covert racism in order to reveal how both of these function conjointly to uphold systems of racial oppression. The emergence of millennial novels like Luster and Such a Fun Age represents a distinct moment in the history of racial justice movements, where rapidly increasing social media activity has accelerated public discourse about subtle racism, performative allyship, and white fragility, alongside a continuous explosion of shared police brutality videos and discussions about institutionalized racism. Growing social media engagement therefore brought on a debate about different forms of racism that are interconnected as they are rooted in the same habits of whiteness. The works of Raven Leilani and Kiley Reid show this duality by depicting Black protagonists exposed to a broad range of covertly as well as overtly racist behaviors.
  • They Were Heroes That Kept Cultural Activities Going: : Celebration and Preservation of Finnish North American Heritage in the 2010s 
    Hynninen, Henrik (2023)
    This thesis looks to find what types of narrative themes emerged during the 2010s from articles published in The Finnish American Reporter related to the topics of preservation and celebration in the Finnish North American context. Additionally, this thesis examines what types of activities were featured as acts of preservation and celebration of Finnish culture and which of these acts were seen as success stories or failures. To get acquainted with the topic, this thesis introduces academic research related to the concepts of identity, ethnicity, heritage, preservation of heritage, celebration of heritage, immigration, and Americanization. These topics are further complemented by looking into what types of research has been conducted on Finns in North America prior to this thesis, and by telling the history of the Finnish community in North America. The main dataset for this thesis consists of 370 feature articles published in The Finnish American Reporter between January 2010 and December 2019. This study takes a qualitative approach and qualitative content analysis was used during the data collection process to identify relevant articles. These articles were then analyzed with narrative analysis tools in order to find themes that developed across the articles. This study finds that teamwork and collaboration was an essential theme across all the articles, which made the preservation and celebration of Finnishness possible. The variety of Finnish communities, experiences and activities were also carrying themes throughout all the articles. Several different Finnish cultural activities examined here were featured as success stories, but failures were also present in the articles. Many of the articles demonstrated Finnish communities and organizations fighting hard against the decline of Finnishness in North America.
  • “The Zoo and The Boudoir” : The Anthropocentric Fallacy of Posing Animals as Malevolent Adversaries in Contemporary Horror Fiction 
    Hill, Anttoni Graham Joonatan (2023)
    Within the conventions of horror fiction, which allow for the production of ethically extreme and polarising narratives and characters, animals are often placed into a characteristic framework of being othered and perceived as adversarial monsters. This thesis articulates how such narratives can pose animals as adversaries to humans, and argues that such characterisations of animal characters are unfairly justified. The positioning of animal characters as malevolent beings often fails to acknowledge the anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism involved in such characterisations, both on the level of producing such characters and ethically evaluating such characters. This thesis formulates this argument as the anthropocentric fallacy, utilising close reading and theories on anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism, human-animal relations, monster theory and protagonist-antagonist relations as a theoretical approach, and provides two case studies of killer animals in which anthropocentrism plays a crucial role in the murderous behaviour of these animals. The two narratives under study, Jack London’s “The Devil-Dog” (1914) and Clive Barker’s “New Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1984), provide a variation on how human-influence plays a role in these killer animals’ behaviour. The narrative of “The Devil-Dog” attempts to dilute the immorality of the violence a dog, Bâtard, is subjected to by positing that Bâtard is equally as malevolent as his master, Black Leclère. “New Murders in the Rue Morgue” is more explicit in recognising the influence of humans in creating a murderous ape. However, the narrative poses the ape as the monster of the narrative, resulting in an othered and unfair portrayal of an animal as a monstrous figure in spite of the narrative’s anthropocentric self-awareness. These narratives thus elicit the anthropocentric fallacy in attempting to position animals within the trope of horror conventions as being adversarial and malevolent monsters.
  • Things Past and Present : A Study on the Setting of the Epistle of Barnabas 
    Juhala, Jaripekka (2020)
    Epistle of Barnabas, included in the collection of Apostolic Fathers, is an early christian text composed betweed \AD 70–135, today mostly known for its anti-Judaism. It enjoyed some popularity in the early church, being for example included in Codex Sinaiticus. The purpose of this work is to treat in depth a set of introductory questions, which rarely receive in-depth treatments: unity, form, dating and provenance. In the past interpolatory theories have been proposed to explain some incoherencies in the text. There's also an abrupt transition in \ibibleverse{Barnabas}(17:) from theological to ethical teaching, a section known as the Two Ways, and an ancient Latin verion omits the Two Ways section. Nevertheless the text shows highly unified style and the Two Ways themes are present throughout. The Latin version is clearly secondary. The text should be treated as unity. Despite clear epistolary features, it's often been suggested that the text isn't a true letter but a treatise. The epistolary features have been explained as fiction, pseudepigraphy or following literary conventions. As the epistle is anonymous but includes repeating personal references, no clear parallel exists. The explanations given for the epistolary features are unsatisfactory, and today the text is often recognized as a real letter. Various more precise datings have been suggested based on allusions in chapters \ibibleverse{Barnabas}(4:) (10 kings) and \ibibleverse{Barnabas}(16:) (temple). When evaluated, all the suggestions are revealed to be problematic, including the lately popular ones based on the Hadrianic temple of Jupiter, which might have never existed. Its best to settle with the range \AD 70–135. Various locations have been suggested as the origin of the epistle with many different lines of evidence. These are handled in detail, including the more exotic ones. The insight that a letter has both an origin and a destination makes it possible to settle one of these: The destination must have been in Egypt based on the early reception of the text there. The main contributions of this work are settling the destination of the epistle and bringing the problems of the dating based on the Hadrianic temple to light. Evaluating these questions is an important basis for reconstructing the purpose of the epistle. Also a couple of interesting subjects for future study were noticed along the way.
  • Think global, eat local : julkisten ruokapalveluiden mahdollisuudet käyttää kotimaista ja ravitsemussuositusten mukaista ruokaa 
    Reime, Kaisa (2017)
    The role of public catering services in nutrition policy and health promotion is of great significance. Local procurement and meal choices that meet dietary recommendations can improve food security. The origin of food in public procurement or the relationship of dietary recommendations and the meals being served have not been examined on a national level. The purpose of this study was to find out how much local food (national produce) is being offered in public catering services. In addition, we wanted to examine how the food being served met dietary recommendations. Factors related to serving local food and to meeting dietary recommendations were examined as well. The cross-sectional study was carried out as an online survey (n=295). In all, 118 representatives of public catering services responded to the survey. The online form was comprised of three parts: Back ground factors, local food procurement rate and dietary recommendations. Numerical results were saved and basic parameters were determined with Excel 2016 and SPSS 23 programs. The dependence of variables was examined with cross tabs and Chi-square test. Open questions and their answers were themed. The amount of local procurement among milk and meat products and eggs was high (> 90 %) in most (75−89 %) of the public catering services. Grains excluding rice were mostly (82 % of respondents) procured locally. The origin of procurement of fresh fish, berries and vegetables varied. High quality, safety, availability, good logistics and procurement contracts enhanced local procurement. Price was not mentioned as the main limiting factor to local procurement. Regarding red meat, 31 % of respondents reported having decreased its use as meal ingredient. The supply of red meat had decreased most in towns (p≤0,05). The average amount of red meat of all procured meat was 46 % (SD 22 %). Supplying red meat was more frequent in countryside public catering units than in towns (p=0,004). In all 66 % of respondents reported having increased serving vegetables at meals. The use of plant-based protein was still rare. Sharing information, product availability and easy-to-use recipes were reported as factors enhancing the use of plant-based protein. Taste preferences, attitudes and low supply of easy-to-use food products were regarded as limiting factors to plant-based protein use. Public catering services value highly local procurement but due to low availability, low supply of easy-to-use products or inefficient procurement contracts achieving high local procurement rate is sometimes challenging. The use of plant-based protein as ingredient in meals can be promoted by effective communicative and instructive measures and improving both product availability and supply of easy-to-use food products.
  • Thinking the New : An Interpretation of Gilles Deleuze’s Transcendent Thinking 
    Jekunen, Jaakko (2020)
    In my Master’s thesis, I offer a novel interpretation of Gilles Deleuze’s (1925-1995) conception of transcendent thinking. As a first approximation, transcendent thinking is an unconscious disruption of quotidian thinking (i.e. empirical thinking). Deleuze’s conception is an important attempt at explaining the emergence of thought from material reality. Additionally, it offers insights into the conditions of creating something new in thinking. In Deleuze’s account, these two are closely connected. My interpretation is mainly based on Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition (1968), but I also draw from Deleuze’s other works and philosophers he discusses. Deleuze’s reading of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is important for my interpretation. I proceed by close readings of Deleuze and compare my interpretations to others from secondary literature. My thesis is divided into five chapters and I begin by introducing my reading of the relevant features of Deleuze’s overall project in Difference and Repetition. In chapter one, I introduce Deleuze’s novel philosophy of difference. According to Deleuze, all continuity we experience is constituted by the interplay of internal difference and hidden repetition. In chapter two, I introduce the relevant features of Deleuze’s ontological scheme in Difference and Repetition. According to it, actual objects are constituted through the process of different/ciation; two figures of internal difference, the differential relations of virtual Ideas and intensive differences, produce the actual objects we perceive in our experience. Situating Deleuze’s transcendent thinking into his overall project is necessary to interpret it correctly and to grasp its significance. Next, I interpret what Deleuze means by thinking. In chapter three, I read Immanuel Kant’s (1724–1804) determining judgment (e.g. “This is a dog”) as providing a case of Deleuze’s empirical thinking. This kind of thinking is what human subjects experience in the quotidian. However, transcendent thinking goes beyond empirical thinking. In chapter four, I show how transcendent thinking is comprised of a series of encounters where the different faculties (i.e. cognitive capabilities) of the thinker are elevated to their transcendent exercise. This series starts as sensibility encounters sensible intensity and it continues as subsequent faculties are traversed by a virtual Idea. In these encounters, the faculties confront their internal differences, which reveal their limits and what is most singular to them. However, intermediary encounters do not correspond to any conscious empirical experiences, nor does the whole of transcendent thinking either. In the final chapter of my Master’s thesis, I begin by arguing that my interpretation ameliorates on previous readings. First, it reveals that transcendent thinking is a case of different/ciation unravelling through the faculties of a psychic system. Second, my reading distinguishes between empirical thinking and transcendent thinking—both being kinds of thinking, for Deleuze. Third, it clarifies that learning is an instance of transcendent thinking (not vaguely thinking in general). Next, I discuss how transcendent thinking reveals the possibility of creation in thinking. Empirical thinking is incapable of change because in it, the faculties function according to the model of recognition: the thinker only recognizes what is already known using pregiven concepts. Transcendent thinking, as a case of different/ciation progressing through the faculties, changes the faculties and, in doing so, transforms the composition of the psychic system. This process is carried out on the level of being and results in something new emerging in thinking. However, transcendent thinking is involuntary and unconscious, leaving the conception of creative agency in Difference and Repetition restricted.
  • Third Party Funding and its Effect on International Commercial Arbitration 
    Luotio, Aurora (2019)
    This study researches the effect of third party funding in international commercial arbitration. Third party funding is a new financing method in international arbitration which was originally used in litigations, especially in the US. Third party funding was initially used by financially distressed parties who otherwise were not able to arbitrate. Nowadays, the ways to utilize TPF are versatile. Alongside the traditional way, TPF can be used for risk management, balancing the books, and as a corporate finance method. The use of third party funding can influence parties’ rights in international arbitration. The best feature of third party funding is said to be its capability to improve access to justice. This study researches the correctness of this argument. Access to justice is one of the human rights, which the high costs of arbitration can limit. Third party funding can give an opportunity to arbitrate for those companies that would not be able to proceed to arbitration without external funding. However, the use of third party funding can create conflicts of interest. Funders and arbitrators can have connections between them that raise doubts on the independence and impartiality of the arbitrator. Independent and impartial arbitral tribunal is one of the requirements of due process and distrust against the arbitration tribunals can reduce the integrity of international arbitration. Also, doubt on the independence and impartiality of an arbitrator can have severe consequences as it can lead to an arbitrator or arbitral award being challenged. Arbitrators have a duty to disclose possible conflicts of interest. However, arbitrators might be unaware of the presence of a third party funder if the funded party does not disclose it. In most seats, parties do not have this kind of responsibility for disclosure. Early disclosure has been suggested to solve the conflict of interest situations. The arguments on behalf of and against disclosure requirements are researched as part of this study. Hong Kong is the first country that has added mandatory disclosure requirements to its legislation. The question remains whether this is the way that other countries should follow as well. The alternatives are to update the UNCITRAL Model Law which will slowly change some of the national laws, carry out the required changes in the rules of arbitration institutes or create a soft law instrument for third party funding related issues. Portfolio funding as third party funding method is also researched in this study. In portfolio funding, funder’s return does not depend on single arbitration but instead on how all the different cases are succeeding in the portfolio. It offers funders a way to balance the risk more effectively. It can offer significant benefits also to the funded party as usually the requirements set for funded cases are lower in a portfolio than when funding is offered individually. As traditional third party funding is usually offered mainly to claimants, portfolio funding makes funding possible also for respondents, and therefore, improves their access to justice. Lastly, this thesis is researching the arrival of third party funding to the Finnish markets. The situation of Northern countries and especially Finland is unusual compared to other European countries. Finnish legislation does not prevent third party funding, and therefore, the most probable reason for the absence of third party funding is that there has not been enough demand for it as Finnish companies are very unfamiliar with third party funding. However, Finland has potential, and funders should take notice of that.
  • ”This could be a serious negative” : Postmoderni ironia George Saundersin novelleissa “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” ja “Pastoralia” 
    Kyytinen, Annika (2023)
    Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan postmodernin ironian ilmenemistä George Saundersin novelleissa "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (1996) ja "Pastoralia" (2000). George Saunders on merkittävä yhdysvaltalainen kirjailija, jonka tuotanto koostuu pääosin novelleista. Ironiaa esiintyy useissa hänen novelleissaan, ja tutkimus osoittaa valittujen novellien edustavan juuri postmodernia ironiaa. Molemmat novelleista sijoittuvat historiallisiin teemapuistoihin. Tutkimus tarkastelee puistojen postmodernia luonnetta suhteessa esimerkiksi Umberto Econ ja Jean Baudrillardin käsityksiin hypertodellisuudesta ja simulacrumista. Puistot vaativat työntekijöiltään äärimmäisyyksiin menevää totuudenkaltaisuuden tavoittelua, mutta samanaikaisesti ne edustavat keinotekoista ja totuudesta lähes tunnistamattomaksi irtaantunutta mukaelmaa. Novellien puistot toimivat myös satiirisina kuvauksina yhdysvaltalaisesta työväenluokasta. Molempien novellien kertojat toimivat perheidensä elättäjinä. Puistojen johtajat kohdistavat heihin jatkuvasti uhkakuvia irtisanomisesta. Työnantajilla on suhteessa työntekijöihin korostetun suuri valta, jota vastaan kapinoiminen tuntuisi käytännössä mahdottomalta. Tutkimus osoittaa novellien postmodernin luonteen, kun työntekijät joutuvat luovuttamaan lähes koko ihmisarvonsa toimiakseen korvattavana pelinappulana taloudellisen hyödyn tavoittelussa. Tutkimuksen novellien molemmat kertojat menettävät lopulta itsensä, toinen henkensä, toinen ihmisyytensä kautta. Novellien postmoderni pyrkii yhdistämään toivottomuuden sekä amerikkalaiseen yhteiskuntaan ja rakenteisiin kohdistuvan kärkevän ironian.
  • "This is democracy in action" : Critical discourse analysis on women’s rights organizations’ approaches to ending VAW in Pakistan 
    Baloch, Suvi (2022)
    Violence against women is a deep-rooted global injustice, yet it is less often scrutinized as a category of political economy. In this research relating to human rights advocacy in Pakistan, I seek to do so. I study the ways in which local women's rights organizations attempt to hold state to account for eliminating the malice and removing its structural causes. In particular, I examine how feminist constructions of VAW and advocacy practices towards curbing it take part in the politics of development. The research is based on fieldwork which I conducted in the mid-2010's in urban Pakistan. Interviews with 17 informants representing 12 women's rights groups, NGOs and government agencies constitute the primary data. I use ethnographic lens in mapping the organizational field, yet my main deconstructive method is critical discourse analysis. The research is underpinned by post-development theory, postcolonial feminist critique, anthropology of modernity and feminist violence research. The findings consist of three discourses and two developmental logics. Each discourse explains VAW as an issue of individual infringement of rights and a question of state structures with a distinct orientation – those of gender equity, legal protection and political reform. The discourses are rooted in 'human rights developmentalism' and neoliberalism, yet they are still locally contingent in varied ways. The developmental logics of 'saviorism in solidarity' and 'commonsense hope' render visible ways in which the organizations deploy civilisation narrative and an unquestioned hope in aid's capacity to deliver 'development' as political resources. I argue that the discourses construct VAW by reference to apolitical notions of 'backwardness' not only to justify organizational advocacy practices that center upon delivering "higher awareness and morals" to the "ignorant masses". Instead, such notions contribute to building a counter discourse to the misogynous state ideology as well as an alternative political space that enables women's rights organizations persevere in Pakistan. While the discourses fail the 'beneficiaries' of aid by upholding empty developmentalist promises, they nevertheless do not exacerbate VAW. The research suggests that development ideologies, albeit contributing to global inequalities, may serve as meaningful political tools for undoing local adversities.

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