Katarina Koskiranta
Humanist of the day

Katarina Koskiranta

When Katarina Koskiranta began her studies at the University of Helsinki in the 1980s with Finno-Ugrian ethnology as her main subject, she neither knew nor could guess where she would end up or what would become of her. But she has become a very useful member of the University ‘firm’ and especially the Faculty of Arts: office secretary, hourly-paid teacher, assistant and amanuensis representing four different subjects.

Katarina Koskiranta

Salli Katarina Koskiranta
Born January 23, 1962

Master of Arts (Finno-Ugrian Ethnology), University of Helsinki

Amanuensis, Ethnology and Folkoristics, University of Helsinki, 2010-

Amanuensis, Ethnology, 2004–2010, Folkloristics, 2004 and Finnish Literature, 1997–2004
Assistant, Department of Ethnology, 1992-1993, Hourly-paid Teacher, 1991–1998 and 2001–2004
Office Secretary, Department of Ethnology, University of Helsinki, 1990–1991
Research Assistant/Researcher, Workers’ culture project, National Board of Antiquities, 1989–1990 and 1994–1995

Photo: Mika Federley
Written by Katarina Koskiranta (Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta, ed.)
Translated by John Calton

Then the Laughing Virgin made a complete amanuensis out of me!

The amanuensis for the Finnish Literature Department, Irja Rane won the Finlandia Prize for Fiction with her novel Naurava Neitsyt (‘The laughing virgin’) in the autumn of 1996. I was on the fourth floor of the Main Building, buzzing along the corridors and in the department for years, doing different jobs, and because I was relatively free, i.e. on a grant, I took care of Irja’s position for a month.

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A ROOS, and proud of it

I joined the Helsinki University Assistant Association in December 1992, when I started as an assistant in the Department of Ethnology. In 2005, my amanuensis colleague Mervi Naakka-Korhonen enticed me onto the board of the Helsinki University Researchers’ and Teachers’ Association (HUART), where I stayed until 2014.

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