Mikko Saikku
Humanist of the day

Mikko Saikku

Mikko Saikku, McDonnell Douglas Professor of American Studies, is a long-term scholar of America and a well-rounded, humanities-based environmental researcher. Professor Saikku’s research has particularly focused on the environmental history of North America and the culture of the Southern United States, within the interdisciplinary framework of American Studies. He is just as interested in the blues lyrics of Charley Patton as he is in James Fenimore Cooper and Zachris Topelius’s conceptions of nature, film noir, the comparison between Daniel Boone and Martti Kitunen and Cajun food culture.

Mikko Saikku

Born February 13, 1963, Helsinki

Bachelor of Arts 1989 (general history), Master of Arts 1992, Licentiate 1993, PhD 2001 (North American Studies), University of Helsinki
Docent in American History 2007, University of Helsinki
Docent in environmental history 2002, University of Tampere

Professor of American Studies 2015–, University of Helsinki
Research fellow 2014–16, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies
Professor of general history 2011–13, University of Helsinki
Professor of American Studies 2006, University of Tampere
Professor of American Studies 2002–05, University of Helsinki
Lecturer in North American Studies, 2001–15, University of Helsinki
Research associate in non-European history 1996–2001, University of Helsinki

Research interests: environmental changes caused by human activity in the Southern United States, particularly in the lower reaches of the Mississippi; the culture of the Southern United States, the relationship to nature of Finnish immigrants in North America, the biology of extinction, environmental history and American Studies research methods, the history of nature conservation, the use of wilderness symbolism in the construction of national identity in North America and the Nordic countries.

Publications

Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
Written by Mikko Saikku (Tiia Niemelä, ed.)
Translated by Matthew Billington

Enthralled by the nature and culture of North America

Dr Mikko Saikku has always been interested in both history and nature. His year as an exchange student in Idaho kindled in him an interest in the special characteristics of not only the culture of the United States but also the nature of North America. For a while he even considered a career in biology but finally ended up studying history, which turned out to be an excellent choice. In the end the inspiration of Alfred W. Crosby, the grand old man of environmental history, made combining his interests straightforward. Dr Crosby, famous for coining the expressions “ecological imperialism” and “Columbian exchange,” was a visiting professor at the University of Helsinki when Dr Saikku was beginning his studies. In his classes, the history fresher had a moment of clarity. Already in his student days, Dr Crosby and another Fulbright professor, Tom Wendel, introduced him to researchers who were to become some of the leading lights of environmental history in the United States. Richard White, William Cronon, and Donald Worster are all acquaintances of Dr Saikku from the 1980s.

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Humanities scholar as a conservationist

Dr Mikko Saikku has always been keen on nature. He enjoyed bird-watching and fishing since childhood. His hobbies have also led him to hands-on conservation. Fishing and hunting are also connected to Dr Saikku’s research interests, which today include the position of hunting and fishing in national cultures and the construction of national identity in the Nordic countries and the United States and Canada.

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University as a way of life

I have already spent over thirty years at the University of Helsinki, as a student, researcher, and teacher, so it is impossible for me to name a single best memory. Besides, during this time my whole life has been tied up with the University in one way or another, with never a clear dividing line between work and leisure. With a bit of exaggeration you could say a college teacher in the humanities is never on holiday, since for a cultural studies scholar everything relates to everything else. The only time I've thought about my hours has been when I've tried to fit the infamous annual total of 1,600 hours into our official annual work plan forms.

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Dream of a truly cultured, civilising university

At an emotional level the University of Helsinki has always been for me the “one true university,” in whose various faculties both my parents and siblings and quite a number of my near kin have studied. Both my grandfathers earned their doctorates here, and I have the honour and good fortune of being able to wear my maternal grandfather’s doctoral hat for formal academic events.

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