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Hanna Snellman

Hanna Kyllikki Snellman
Born 16 April, 1961, Sodankylä

Master of Arts, 1986 and Doctor of Philosophy 1997 (European ethnology), University of Helsinki

Vice-Rector 2018–, Professor of European Ethnology 2012, Dean 2017–2018Vice-Dean 2014–2016, Acting Dean 2014–15, University of Helsinki
Assistant, Finno-Ugric Ethnology, 1987–2004, University of Helsinki
Acting Assistant, Cultural Anthropology, 1991, University of Oulu
Docent, Finno-Ugric Ethnology, University of Helsinki, 2001
Academy Research Fellow, 2004–2007 and Research Fellow, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki
Finnish Chair, Lakehead University, Canada
Docent, European Ethnology, University of Oulu, 2010
Professor of Ethnology, 2009–2012, University of Jyväskylä

Publications, research projects and other academic activities

Photo: Ari Aalto
Authors: Hanna Snellman and Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta (ed.)
Translated by John Calton

My best memories at the University of Helsinki

I always knew that I wanted to study at the University of Helsinki, but I never planned a career in research. When Juhani U.E. Lehtonen, my predecessor and the Professor of Ethnology, asked me to become an assistant during the final stages of my studies, he said that the work would include postgraduate studies. When we discussed the subject of my dissertation, I proposed doing research on river driving on the Kemijoki river. I knew the subject like the back of my hand and although it was central to the history of Lapland and Finland, it had not been addressed as a topic for ethnographic research at all.

I distinctly remember the moment I ran upstairs to tell my sister, who was also studying in the Faculty of the Arts, that I would get to research river driving and Lapland. I got the same feeling of elation when I read a review of my dissertation, ‘A requiem of an Era. River Driving in Finnish Lapland’, in the Kainuun Sanomat newspaper. The reviewer thought that reading it was like coming across a good crop of cloudberries in the forest. I felt that I had succeeded in what is important to me as a researcher: writing scientifically relevant research that also offers something to the people which the research concerns. This memory also sums up my appreciation of the 375-year-old University of Helsinki: we are a university for all of Finland!

Hanna Snellman (right) and Marja Ågren doing field work in Finnish Lapland in 2001 for Hanna’s research project “Gothenburg – Salla’s largest village”. The research project was also part of Marja’s PhD dissertation in European ethnography at the University of Gothenburg. Photo: Marianne Junila.​
Hanna Snellman (right) and Marja Ågren doing field work in Finnish Lapland in 2001 for Hanna’s research project “Gothenburg – Salla’s largest village”. The research project was also part of Marja’s PhD dissertation in European ethnography at the University of Gothenburg. Photo: Marianne Junila.​

 

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