Tuija Pulkkinen

Tuija Kaarina Pulkkinen
Born 30 July, 1956, Pihlajavesi

Master of Political Science 1982 (Political History), Licentiate of Political Science 1989 and Doctor of Political Science 1996 (Practical Philosophy), University of Helsinki;

Docent of Practical Philosophy 1998, University of Helsinki
Docent of Political History 2002, University of Turku
Docent of Politics, Philosophy and Women’s Studies 2002, University of Jyväskylä

Professor of Women’s Studies 2008-, University of Helsinki

Editor of collected works of J.V. Snellman, Council of State (1983–91)
Research Assistant, Academy of Finland/University of Helsinki (1991–95)
Researcher (1996–97), Senior Project Researcher (1998–2003); Professor (2003–07), University of Jyväskylä
Academy Professor, Academy of Finland (2011–15).

Research abroad: Freie Universität, Berlin (1986); University of California, Santa Cruz (1991–94); University of Greifswald (1998–99); University of Minnesota (2002); University of Manchester (2007-09); Université Paris 8 (2012).

Research interests
Political thinking and concepts, feminist theory, political theory, history of philosophy, history of concepts, German idealism.

Publications, research projects and other academic activities

Over 100 academic publications, incl. nine books.

Deputy Director, Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence: Political Thought and Conceptual Change (2006-11)
Academy Professor, Academy of Finland 2011–2015
Director, National Doctoral Programme of Gender studies (2012–15)
Director, Doctoral Programme ‘Gender, Culture and Society’, University of Helsinki, 2014-
Board member, InterGender – International Consortium for Interdisciplinary Feminist Research Training (2009-)
Chair, Sukupuolentutkimuksen seura (SUNS) (‘Association of Gender Studies’) (2009-)
Board member, International Association of Women in Philosophy (IAPh), (2009-)

Awards and special achievements
Member, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (2011-)

Photo: Mika Federley
Written by Tuija Pulkkinen and Suvi Uotinen (ed.)
Translated by John Calton

Multidisciplinarity is the Asset of a Gender Studies Scholar

I often introduce myself as “hopelessly” multidisiciplinary since my MA and PhD degrees at the University of Helsinki are in two profoundly different fields in the humanities, the first one in history and the second one in philosophy, and my first appointment as a full professor was in political science, whereas now I am a professor in Gender Studies.

It is precisely because of this multidisciplinary background that I feel particularly comfortable in Gender Studies, which has been exceptionally interdisciplinary from the outset. It is also an exceptional field in having preserved its multidisiplinarity while developing into a distinct discipline. It is for this reason that the term transdisciplinary is sometimes applied for Gender Studies. Daily life in Gender Studies entails considering, on the one hand, developing our own discipline further and, on the other hand, continuing as an open field of multiplicity which brings together ideas originating from various directions and encourages innovation.

It is often said that multidisciplinary fields of this kind are the future of the University. In terms of quality, though, I consider the balance to be very important: what is needed for quality is, on the one hand, a thriving and well-resourced discipline of Gender Studies based on a certain degree of repetitive tradition; and on the other hand the maintenance of active and open networks of gender-related research also conducted in other disciplines. And these two should be kept in balance. In Gender Studies this is traditionally referred to as “the dual strategy”.

I was invited to talk about gender research when the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University in London organised an event called Disciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity in Gender Studies in May 2012. This is available as a podcast here.

By Written by Tuija Pulkkinen. Translated by John Calton.