Professor Ann Phoenix from the University of Helsinki will be delivering the closing words at the WeAll “Pressure as a Catalyst for Change?” seminar this Thursday at Hanken. The seminar will be held at the Hanken Festsalen from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm and is open to the public. Leading up the seminar, we wanted to ask Professor Phoenix about her current research focus.
What is your current research focus in and how does it relate to the themes of the WeAll project?
My current research is on family lives, environment, transnational migration and masculinities in Finnish boys. All of these themes fit with the themes of WeAll in that all are concerned with equality and diversity as well as wellbeing. The Project on Family Lives and Environment that I am currently writing up is about getting more complex understandings of what environment means to members of families, with a view to developing really sustainable practices. It considered rural-urban commonalities and differences for affluent and economically poor families in India and the UK. The small-scale study of boys and masculinities aims to understand boys’ masculinities in a changing Finland where ethnic diversity is more foregrounded than previously.
In your opinion, why are the themes researched in the WeAll Project especially crucial in the context of the Finnish society today?
Issues of intersectional equalities and social justice are increasingly central to global agenda, where, in a post-Brexit world with Donald Trump as president elect of the US, parochialism, racism and sexism are being taken-for-granted By some as ordinary and acceptable. The serious attention paid By the WeAll Project to multiple, multilayered inequalities and their intersections is both admirable and crucial for ensuring that Finnish society addresses its increasing plurality in ways that enable all its citizens to thrive.
To see the full seminar program please visit here. We look forward to an engaging afternoon!
Professor Ann Phoenix
