Susanna Välimäki studied musicology at the University of Helsinki. Both her master’s thesis (1998) and licenciate thesis (2002) dealt with psychoanalytic music research. Susanna Välimäki’s other interests include musical semiotics, postmodern music analytical engagements, gender studies and men studies, and she has published a great number of articles in Finnish and international books and journals. Susanna Välimäki will defend her doctoral thesis "Subject strategies in music. A psychoanalytic approach to musical signification" in spring 2005 at the Helsinki University. She is also the current editor-in-chief of the Finnish musicological journal Musiikki.

Susanna Välimäki joined the team in November 2004 and is carrying out a half year post-doctoral research project entitled Music and Sound in Finnish WW II Combat Films. Here she will focus on a number of Finnish films on the Winter and Continuation Wars between Finland and the Soviet Union (e.g. The Unknown Soldiers 1955 and 1985, The Winter War 1989, The Ambush 1999, Beyond the Front Line 2004). The broader background for the study is however offered by American and European WWII combat movies. Special interest is given to the representation of pro/anti-war ideology in the use of music and to the construction of masculinities. In the area of music and media, in addition to films, Välimäki has studied contemporary TV operas and music videos.

susanna.valimaki@helsinki.fi