Postdoctoral Fellow, 1.1.2019-(on leave 18.3.2019- 31.1.2020)-16.6.2021
Office: Atalpa 213
Tel. +358 50 318 2314
Email: johanna.vuorelma@tuni.fi
I am currently working as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Social Research (IASR) at Tampere University. Previously I worked as University Lecturer (2018) and Postdoctoral Researcher (2017–2018) at the Centre for European Studies, University of Helsinki. I hold a PhD in Politics and International Studies from University of Warwick (2017). My PhD thesis ‘Losing Turkey? Narrative Traditions in Western Foreign Policy Analysis’ examines representation in foreign policy analysis concerning Turkey.
My current research project at IASR focuses on moralising impulses in foreign policy and its analysis. The project examines language in foreign policy from the theoretical perspective of Hayden White who argued in his essay ‘The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality’ (1980) that the ‘demand for closure in the historical story is a demand, I suggest, for moral meaning, a demand that sequences of real events be assessed as to their significance as elements of a moral drama’. In my research, I bring White’s theorising in International Relations and argue that foreign policy analysis as a field of knowledge is narratively structured, demanding moral meanings in relations to events in international politics. I have also used a narrative approach to study trust in international politics.
My research also focuses on the use of facts and truth in political language. I have been inspired by the discussion around post-truth and analysed its different manifestations in political rhetoric.
My forthcoming research project (2022–2024), funded by the Kone Foundation, studies irony in international politics. I will continue developing theoretical approaches to understand how irony is used in international politics.
Under my editorship in 2014–2018, Politiikasta was awarded the Science Communication Award of the Year (Vuoden tiedeviestintä -palkinto) by the Finnish Association of Science Editors and Journalists as well as honoured for its significant contributions in science communication by the Finnish Association for Scholarly Publishing. I am leading the Kone Foundation funded project ‘Politiikasta – yhteiskuntatieteet vaikuttamaan monialaisesti ja laajasti yhteiskunnassa’ from 2019 until 2022.
Background
IASR Postdoctoral Research Fellow since January 2019
University Lecturer, Centre for European Studies, University of Helsinki since 2018
Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for European Studies, University of Helsinki 2017–2018
PhD in Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick 2017
Projects
IASR Postdoctoral Research Fellow 2019–2021: ‘Moralising impulse in the language of foreign policy and its analysis’
Current positions of trust
2020– Chair, Finnish International Studies Association (2016-2019 Vice Chair)
2018–2021 Vice Chair of the Evaluation Panel Political Science, Public Administration and Law, Publication Forum, Federation of Finnish Learned Societies
2018– Board Member, Nordic International Studies Association (NISA)
2018– Board Member, Finnish Association for Scholarly Publishing
2018 Board Member, Finnish Political Science Association
2018–2022 Member, Young Academy Finland, Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Recent publications
2020 ‘Tutkija kritiikin kohteena tieteen julkisuuden yhteiskunnallisilla areenoilla’. In Kai Ekholm & Esa Väliverronen (eds.) Tieteen vapaus ja tutkijan sananvapaus. Tampere: Vastapaino (forthcoming).
2020 ‘Ironiset virrat ja naurettavat vyöryt: kamppailu luonnonvoimapuhetta vastaan’. In Jussi Laine & Noora Kotilainen (eds.) Muuttoliike murroksessa: Mielikuvat, merkitykset ja metaforat. Tampere: Vastapaino (forthcoming).
2020 ‘From Identification to Division: Contesting the Unity of the West from Within’. In Marko Lehti, Henna-Riikka Pennanen, Jukka Jouhki (eds.) Contestations of Liberal Order: The West in Crisis? Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
2019 ‘An Ironic Western Self: Radical and Conservative Irony in the “Losing Turkey” Narrative’. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 47:2, 190–209.
2019 ‘Kamppailu kansallisesta yhtenäisyydestä: Turkki, islam ja sekularismi’. In Heikki Pesonen, Tuula Sakaranaho, Sini Paukkunen (eds.) Uskonto ja maailmanpolitiikka. Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 191–209.
2019 ‘Usko eduskunnan talouspoliittisessa retoriikassa’. In Jaana Hallamaa & Timo Koistinen (eds.) Jumalan paluu 2000-luvulle. Helsinki: Suomalaisen teologisen kirjallisuusseuran julkaisuja 291.
2019 ‘Kuinka politiikassa tiedetään? Politiikan tietoihanteet eduskuntakeskustelussa’. Tiedepolitiikka 4/2019, 23–30.
2019 ‘Rohkeus, totuus ja utopiat’. With Paul-Erik Korvela. In Ilari Hetemäki et al. (eds.) Kaikenlaista rohkeutta. Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 307–320.
2018 Trust in International Relations: Rationalist, Constructivist, and Psychological Approaches. Edited with Hiski Haukkala and Carina van de Wetering. London & New York: Routledge.
2018 ‘Trust as narrative: Representing Turkey in Western foreign policy analysis’ . In Hiski Haukkala, Carina van de Wetering, Johanna Vuorelma (eds.) Trust in International Relations: Rationalist, Constructivist, and Psychological Approaches. London & New York: Routledge, 37–56.
2017 ‘A Narrative Battle: Debating Finland’s EU policy during the Economic Crisis’. National Identities 19:1, 11-31.
2017 Puhun niin totta kuin osaan. Politiikka faktojen jälkeen. Edited with Paul-Erik Korvela. Jyväskylä: Docendo.
You can access all my publications here.
Updated 5 February 2020