My research focuses on place, emotion, migrant settlerhood, community-building, and the everyday in both historical and current contexts. Most often, my work centers on the histories of Finnish migrants in Canada, the United States, and Soviet Karelia.

I engage methodologically with the challenges and opportunities of life writing, historical research practices, mapping, and multi-sensory story telling. I am increasingly interested in developing an artistic practice aongside my research.

Some of my ongoing and recent projects include:

• “Deep Mapping the ‘Uncharted Territories’ of Finnish Migrant History”

• “Sanna Kannasto and Networks of Migrant Radicalism”

• “T-Bone Slim and the Transnational Poetics of the Migrant Left in North America” (PI Kirsti Salmi-Niklander)

• “Soviet Karelia in the Life Writing of Finnish North Americans”

• “Death and Mourning in ‘Finnish North America’”

I am currently a Kone Foundation Senior Researcher at the Migration Institute of Finland, where I am also Senior Research Fellow (Vastaava tutkija). At the Migration Institute, I lead research on emigration and Finns abroad, as well as oversee archival development. I am a Docent of Cultural History at the University of Turku and I hold a Ph.D. in History from York University. Previously, I served as an Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Turku’s John Morton Center for North American Studies. I am the founder and Chair of the international History of Finnish Migration (HoFM) Network and the Vice-Chair of the Finnish Oral History Network (FOHN).

I have taught at the University of Turku, Lakehead University, Confederation College, and as a Teaching Assistant at York University.

I love spending time in the forest, foraging, mushroom-picking, taking photos, and bathing my senses. At home, I enjoy gardening, cooking, reading, music, and board games with my family and friends.