Hannu Juusola
Humanist of the day

Hannu Juusola

Hannu Juusola became Professor of Semitic Languages and Cultures at the University of Helsinki in 2011. Previously he worked as the director of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East in Damascus. He has also lived and studied in Jerusalem. It has always been clear to Juusola that a profound knowledge of the Middle East can only be gained by living there for a longer period of time. He considers it important to share this experience in his expert assignments with the media, government and political organisations.

Hannu Juusola

Hannu Matti Sakari Juusola
Born 10 May, 1963, Rovaniemi

Master of Arts 1993, Doctor of Philosophy 1999 (Semitic Languages and Cultures), University of Helsinki
Docent of Semitic Languages and Cultures 2008-, University of Helsinki

Professor of Semitic Languages and Cultures 2011-, University of Helsinki
Doctoral student at the national research school of Asian and African Studies,1995–1997
Acting Professor of Semitic Languages and Cultures, 2001
University Lecturer in Semitic Languages and Cultures, 2001–2010
Academy of Finland Postdoctoral researcher at Yale University (Department of Religious Studies, Visiting Fellow), January 1 - July 31, 2002.

Director of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East, January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2010.
Visiting Fellow (Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of California at Berkeley), September 2013.

Publications, research projects and other academic activities

Research interests: Democracy, secularisation and citizenship discourses in the Middle East; the significance of drought in political conflicts in the Middle East; cabbala; orientalism in Finland.

Awards and special achievements
Honorary mention, Society of the Friends of History 2005 (History of Israel)
Honorary mention, The Lauri Jäntti Foundation 2006 (History of Israel)

Foto: Ari Aalto
Written by Hannu Juusola and Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta (ed.)
Translated by Kaisla Kajava. Revised by John Calton

From orientalist to scholar of the Middle East

Professor Hannu Juusola’s research focus has changed over the years. – During my study years in the 1980s the Middle East was still very far away, and our studies concentrated mostly on the classical cultures of the area, which I went on to specialise in, tells Juusola. Since his doctoral dissertation, Juusola has re-trained himself to become an expert and researcher of the modern societies and politics of the Middle East.

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