Tuija Pulkkinen is professor emeritus of Gender Studies at the University of Helsinki. Tuija is philosopher, historian and political theorist whose work focuses on texts, thoughts and thinkers. Their area of specialty includes German Idealism, in particular Hegel, and 19th-century ideas of nation and the state. They have worked extensively on 20th century French thought (Derrida, Foucault, Lyotard), Hannah Arendt, as well contemporary feminist theorist, such as Judith Butler, Adriana Cavarero and many others. In the course of their work Tuija has developed methods inspired by conceptual history to explore the politics of concepts and their use in texts.
Tuija’ publications include: The Postmodern and Political Agency (1996/2000) and the co-edited The Ashgate Research Companion to the Politics and History of Democratisation in Europe (2009), Hegel’s Philosophy and Feminist Thought (Palgrave 2010) and The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism and Feminist Philosophy (2023). Tuija has also co-translated Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble into Finnish (2006), and is the editor-in-chief of the journal Redescriptions – Political Thought, Conceptual History and Feminist Theory.
In the context of Anti-Gender Trouble, Tuija is particularly interested in further reflection of theories of democracy, as well as exploring the politics in the use of key concepts, ‘people’ as well as ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ in the texts In the context of Anti-Gender Trouble, Tuija is particularly interested in further reflection of theories of democracy, as well as exploring the politics in the use of key concepts, ‘people’ as well as ‘majority’ and ‘minority’ in the texts which we study.
Katja Kahlina is a Science Research Specialist at Åbo Akademi University and will join the Anti-Gender Trouble project as a Senior Researcher in its later stages. A recipient of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship, she has previously conducted research at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Helsinki, where she served as Principal Investigator for the project Sexuality and Democracy: Exploring the Links and Re-thinking the Concepts for Feminist Politics.
Katja’s research primarily examines the rise of populist far-right and anti-gender politics in Europe and its implications for social inclusion and democracy. Her publications address topics such as the use of populist discourse by anti-gender actors and the civilizationist geopolitics of transnational anti-gender networks, such as the World Congress of Families. Katja also serves as Managing Editor of Redescriptions: Political Thought, Conceptual History and Feminist Theory, a scholarly journal published by Helsinki University Press.
Julian Honkasalo is a docent and senior researcher in gender studies at the University of Helsinki. They have completed two independent postdoctoral research projects (Academy of Finland 2019-2023 and Kone 2016-2019) which focused on the historical connection between eugenics and transgender sterilization legislation and on the resistance of gender minorities to biopolitical violence. Honkasalo holds a PhD in gender studies (University of Helsinki, 2016) and a PhD in political science (The New School for Social Research, NYC, 2018), where Honkasalo was first a Fulbright visiting student and then enrolled as a full degree program PhD candidate. Their PhD degree from The New School consists of a major in political theory, with a focus on Hannah Arendt’s political thinking s well as a minor in American politics, with a historical focus on James Madison’s Federalist 10. In 2018 Honkasalo’s doctoral dissertation Superfluous Lives: An Arendtian Critique of Biopolitics was awarded with the Hannah Arendt award in politics, the New School’s award for an outstanding dissertation. Honkasalo’s current research interests include philosophy of democracy, democratic theory, freedom of speech, counterspeech, democratic debate and argumentation, anti-gender mobilizing, Michel Foucault and Hannah Arendt. They are currently working on a non-fiction book on free speech in the context of Finland.