The overarching theme in my research is the interaction between oral and written culture. My 2004 doctoral dissertation, Itsekasvatusta ja kapinaa (‘Self-education and rebellion’), dealt with conversational community of working-class youth in the 1910s and the 1920s in Karkkila. The most important source material was a handwritten Valistaja (‘Enlightener’) magazine published by the young proletariats, which was found in the attic of the Karkkila police station. Handwritten magazines have taken me on long voyages in time and space.

The one university memory that stands out above all others is the defence of my doctoral thesis on March 6, 2004 — although I can remember surprisingly few details. Despite the fact that it was right in front of my eyes, I decided in advance I would not look at the clock. When I finally dared to take a look, to my amazement I saw that almost three hours had flown by.

Academic networks have been very important to me in the different stages of my research career. I was a member of the board of the Finnish Society for Labour History between 1993 and 1999. The biggest project from those years was the research symposium Crisis, chaos or challenge? which was organised in Karkkila in August 1995. The idea originated from the economic crisis in Karkkila in the early 1990s.

Uppsala and Liverpool are important cities to me both for their academic contacts and their historical significance. My entire family lived in Uppsala between 1995 and 1999, as did my husband and I with our dachshund for the spring term of 2014. I visited Liverpool John Moores University in 2012 and 2015, when we organised a workshop there with the Fragmented Visions project. I have forged links with researchers of working-class culture and literature at other English universities as well.

I am fascinated by graveyards, which provide valuable research material for my studies. Some graves have even become an obsession. One of the guidelines of my research is to follow compulsions and strange byways! Even the wrong track will get you somewhere, though it may not be your intended destination.

What is there still left for me to dream about? As a researcher I have already achieved many of the things I have worked toward. I have learned to deal with disappointments but also to keep my feet firmly on the ground and my head cool in moments of sudden…