
Venla Rantanen
Biography
I work as a full-time project researcher at the Department of Languages and Communication Studies at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥. In addition, I am a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies. Previously I have worked as a classroom teacher and Finnish as a second language teacher in primary schools in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
Earlier degrees
MA in Applied linguistics (2019), Institute of Education/University College London, the United Kingdom
BA in Estonian philology and Finnish language (2018), Tallinn University, Estonia
Research interests
My research interests include but are not limited to ethnography, discourse studies, education, migration, intersectional feminism as a perspective, equity and social change. In 2024, I work as a project researcher in "Who knows - (de)legitimizing knowledges in a refugee serving school" (PI: Johanna Ennser-Kananen).
Doctoral disseration "Lapset maailmaa muuttamassa. Yhteiskunnallisen muutoksen ja kielellisen moninaisuuden jäljillä suomalaisessa peruskoulussa"
supervisors: Petteri Laihonen, Tamás Péter Szabó, Mari Honko
In my doctoral dissertation, I study the role of multilingual children as agents of social transformation in comprehensive education in Finland through the lens of participatory linguistic ethnography. I observe and analyse especially their talk about languages and cultures in interactional situations, and how that talk together with other semiotic practices challenges and disrupts the distinct oppressive structures of society