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.
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
Written by Mikko Saikku (Tiia Niemelä, ed.)
Translated by Matthew Billington
International academic networks
Dr Mikko Saikku has been quite active in various learned societies for American studies and environmental history both in Finland and abroad.
– I think every self-respecting university teacher or researcher must participate in some fashion in the broader academic community. It is an inseparable part of this job.
Dr Saikku points out that academia has always been an emphatically international community. The academic community isn’t restricted to just one city or one university, it is global. He feels that at least humanities scholars at the University of Helsinki have nothing to be ashamed of regarding the extent of their international connections, as we are well-networked and well-known abroad. He is somewhat bemused by the demands for more internationalisation aimed at the University in recent years, since he feels that at least the University of Helsinki is already doing very well indeed in this respect.
In May 2015 at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Dr Mikko Saikku and Dr Ari Helo of the Finnish American Studies Association (FASA) held a symposium on the Revolutionary era of the United States attended by several leading American historians. From the left: Peter Onuf (University of Virginia), Alan Taylor (UC Davis/University of Virginia), Annette Gordon-Reed (Harvard University), Ari Helo (University of Oulu), Sami Pihlström (University of Helsinki), Gordon Wood (Brown University), Daniel Walker-Howe (UCLA/Oxford University), Andrew O’Shaughnessy (University of Virginia) and Mikko Saikku (University of Helsinki). Photo: Jonathan Lagerquist.
Visiting Fulbright Bicentennial Professors on the University of Helsinki’s North American Studies program, and the international Maple Leaf & Eagle Conferences hosted by Dr Markku Henriksson opened doors to the international academic community for Dr Saikku and many another future American Studies researchers when they were just undergraduates. Dr Saikku wants to emphasise that international academic networking benefits not only researchers themselves but also their students. He encourages students to be active in networking and go abroad to gain broader perspectives. His early postgraduate studies at the University of Kansas under Dr Donald Worster were invaluable to Dr Saikku, not only for his own research work and academic networking but also for broadening his cultural understanding and overall worldview. He feels anyone studying a foreign culture must visit their research area, preferably as an undergraduate.
– I’d say it would do everybody good to spend a few years abroad. At least for me, staying in the United States for longer periods has been extremely rewarding. You get a new perspective on the good and the bad sides of both the Finnish and American system.
As an expert on the United States, Dr Saikku is critical of the current trend in Finland for unquestioning imitation of “the American system,” with nothing but the most superficial understanding of it. He finds it problematic to copy features of other cultures without knowing their background.
Dr Saikku wants to emphasise the role of the academic community in research. He feels it is dangerous for researchers at the beginning of their career to shut themselves in their own little corner doing their own little thing without dialogue with the broader community. He always encourages his students to seek feedback for their work and consult researchers interested in the same field, because their suggestions can be invaluable. After all, we are not alone in this world.
– Academia is a genuinely global community and has been for centuries.
Dr Mikko Saikku’s most important positions of responsibility in academic associations and societies:
Member of the Editorial Board, American Studies in Scandinavia, Nordic Association for American Studies and University Press of Southern Denmark, 2014–
By
Written by Tiia Niemelä and Mikko Saikku, translated by Tero Heikkinen, revised by Matthew Billington
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.
