Hanna Ojala

I am Senior Lecturer at Faculty of Social Sciences at Tampere University. I reached my PhD in Adult Education at University of Tampere in 2011 and became a Docent in Gender Studies at University of Tampere in 2015.

My research has focused on intersections of age, gender, and class in the various contexts of men’s ageing, such as health and (chronic) illness, work and retirement, anti-ageing and management of ageing embodiment, grandfathering practices, and communities. I’m currently working on two projects on men’s ageing:

1. An ethnographic study of the Yoga for Old Guys. I’m exploring the ways in which age-related and gendered norms of bodily functioning (re)produce age-based relation(ship)s between men in a men-only environment.
2. MANage: Finnish qualitative longitudinal study on men’s ageing (2009-). Together with Ilkka Pietilä (Uni Helsinki) we are investigating how cultural ideals of masculinity create models and limits for men’s experiences of their own ageing and changing statuses (e.g. from employee to retiree) in an ageing society.

In addition, I’m co-leading several multidisciplinary psychosocial cancer research projects (https://research.tuni.fi/mopsy/in-english/). I’m also involved in a group of researchers, which is developing feminist pedagogy both in theory and in practice.

I have published in such international journals as Men & Masculinities, International Journal of Men’s Health, NORA: Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, Ageing & Society, Journal of Aging Studies, The Gerontologist, and Sociology of Health and Illness. I have also written and co-edited several books in Finnish.

I am Vice-Chair of Network for Gender Studies Finland HILMA, Vice-Chair of Finnish Association of Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities and Member of the board of Finnish gender studies journal Sukupuolentutkimus-Genusforskning.

Publications in English:

Talvitie, Anna-Maija, Ojala, Hanna, Tammela, Teuvo & Pietilä, Ilkka (2023) Prostate cancer-related sexual dysfunction. The significance of social relations in men’s reconstructions of masculinity. Culture, Health and Sexuality. DOI:10.1080/13691058.2023.2250410 (open access)

Talvitie, Anna-Maija, Helminen, Mika, Ojala, Hanna, Tammela, Teuvo, Auvinen, Anssi & Pietilä, Ilkka (2023) Missingness in the expanded prostate cancer index short form (EPIC-26) – prevalence, patterns, and explanatory factors. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 21 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-023-02175-1 (open access)

Pietilä, Ilkka & Ojala, Hanna (2023) The Loss of Work Motivation among Older Male Employees: Critical Perspectives to Policies Aimed at Extending Working Life in Finland. In Burnay N, Ogg J, Krekula C & Vendramin P (eds.) Older Workers and Exclusion Processes on the Labour Market. A life course perspective. Life Course Research and Social Policies 14. Springer, Cham. 45-60. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11272-0 (open access)

Calasanti, Toni, Pietilä, Ilkka, King, Neal & Ojala, Hanna (2022) Studying constructions of aging manhood: Methodological considerations. Journal of Aging Studies 63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2022.101050

Ojala, Hanna & Pietilä, Ilkka (2022) Seeking age-appropriate appearance among ageing men. In Outi Sarpila, Iida Kukkonen, Tero Pajunen & Erica Åberg (Eds.) Appearance as Capital. The Normative Regulation of Aesthetic Capital Accumulation and Conversion. 71-83. Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-708-120210013 (open access)

Pietilä, Ilkka & Ojala, Hanna (2021) Inclusivity, Horizontal Homosociality and Controlled Participation of “The Others”: Negotiations of Masculinity and Ageing in Two Older Men’s Communities. Nora: Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research DOI: 10.1080/08038740.2021.1981997 (open access)

Talvitie, Anna-Maija, Ojala, Hanna, Tammela, Teuvo & Pietilä, Ilkka (online first, 21 July 2021) The Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite Short Form (EPIC-26) for measuring health-related quality of life: content analysis of patients’ spontaneous comments written in survey margins. Quality of Life Research. doi.org/10.1007/s11136-021-02940-z (open access)

King, Neal, Calasanti, Toni, Pietilä, Ilkka & Ojala, Hanna (2021) The hegemony in masculinity. Men and Masculinities 24 (3), 432-450.

Seppänen, Marjaana, Tiilikainen, Elisa, Ojala, Hanna & Pietilä, Ilkka (2021) Place-bound rural community of older men: social and autobiographical insideness of the Mill Village Boys in Finland. In Mark Skinner, Rachel Winterton & Kieran Walsh (eds.) Rural Gerontology: Towards Critical Perspectives on Rural Ageing. Routledge: London and New York. 188-198.

Pietilä, Ilkka, Calasanti, Toni, Ojala, Hanna & King, Neal (2020) Is Retirement a Crisis for Men? Class and Adjustment to Retirement. Men and Masculinities 23 (2), 306-325. doi: 10.1177/1097184X17724189

Talvitie, Anna-Maija, Ojala, Hanna, Tammela, Teuvo, Koivisto, Anna Maija & Pietilä, Ilkka (2019) Factors related to self-rated health and life satisfaction one year after radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer: a cross-sectional survey. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 33 (3), 688-697.

Ojala, Hanna & Pietilä, Ilkka (2019) Class-based grandfathering practices in Finland. In Virpi Timonen (Ed.) Grandparenting practices around the world. Policy Press, Bristol. 171-187.

Pietilä, Ilkka, Jurva, Raisa, Ojala, Hanna & Tammela, Teuvo (2018) Seeking certainty through narrative closure: men’s stories of prostate cancer treatments in a state of liminality. Sociology of Health and Illness 40 (4), 639-653.

Calasanti, Toni, Neal King, Pietilä, Ilkka & Ojala, Hanna (2018) Rationales for Anti-Aging Activities in Middle Age: Aging, Health, or Appearance? The Gerontologist 58 (2), 233-241.

Pietilä, Ilkka, Ojala, Hanna, Helminen, Sanna & Tammela, Teuvo (2016) Who has the guts to make this choice? Ideals of masculinity in men’s justifications for their decisions of treatment for localised prostate cancer. International Journal of Men’s Health 15 (3), 267-282.

Ojala, Hanna, Pietilä, Ilkka & Nikander, Pirjo (2016) Immune to ageism? Men’s perceptions of age-based discrimination in everyday contexts. Journal of Aging Studies 39, 44-53.

Pirhonen, Jari, Ojala, Hanna, Lumme-Sandt, Kirsi & Pietilä, Ilkka (2016) Old But Not That Old. Finnish Community-Dwelling 90+ Aged Persons Negotiating Their Autonomy. Ageing and Society 36 (8), 1625-1644.

Ojala, Hanna, Calasanti, Toni, King, Neal & Pietilä, Ilkka (2016) Natural(ly) Men. Masculinity and gendered anti-ageing practices in Finland and the USA. Ageing and Society 36 (2), 356-375.

Pietilä, Ilkka, Ojala, Hanna, King, Neal & Calasanti, Toni (2013) Aging male bodies, health and the reproduction of age relations. Journal of Aging Studies 27 (3), 243-251.

Calasanti, Toni, Pietilä, Ilkka, Ojala, Hanna & King, Neal (2013) Men, Bodily Control, and Health Behaviors. The Importance of Age. Health Psychology 32 (1), 15-23.

Pietilä, Ilkka & Ojala, Hanna (2011) Acting age in the context of health. Middle-aged working-class men talking about the bodies and aging. Journal of Aging Studies 25 (4), 380-389.

Ikonen, Hanna-Mari & Ojala, Hanna (2007) Creating Togetherness and Experiencing Difference in Feminist Interviews. Knowing in a post-standpoint way? Graduate Journal of Social Science 4 (2), 80-103.