Taina Kinnunen

I am an Associate Professor and University Lecturer of Cultural Anthropology. In my research, I have specialized on the production cultural bodily ideals and embodiment of gender in the contexts of e.g. beauty culture, sports, well-being techniques, and post-Fordist economies (e.g. high-skilled migration and production of the "new working body"). I have conducted empirical fieldwork especially on hardcore body building, winter swimming and cosmetic surgery and, in addition, interviewed e.g. recruitment consultants, high-school teachers, immigrant degree students, and spouses of USA-based Finnish technology experts.

In recent years, I have been interested in sensory anthropology and focused on the sense of touch. I have gathered written "touch biographies" from Finland and investigated archive materials about traditional Finnish childcare and communication culture practices, environmental relations and affective histories. Hopefully, this project will extend to other locations and societies in the future too.

Furthermore, I have brought together my interest in the working body studies and sensory anthropology by studying touch as a professional skill and ethical stance in client work. I co-authored a textbook on the subject in Finnish (Kinnunen et al. 2019), and we just submitted a manuscript in English to an international publisher.

I have always been interested in collaboration with artists in my projects and co-produced several visual, textual and kinesthetic projects. Another passion of mine is to popularize science by writing to newspapers and giving public lectures - both of which I have actively done throughout my career.