Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto

I am Adjunct Professor (Docent) in Political Geography in University of Helsinki (since 2009)

Regional studies and Political geography

Urban studies and spatial identity politics

Migration policy and governance

Methodology and research methods in social sciences

Memory studies and visual methodology

Policy relevance of research

Research fellow:

• Doctoral Student, Academy of Finland, “Cross-border regional development in the New Europe”. Project leader: Prof. Häkli (1998–2000) 

• Post-doctoral researcher, Academy of Finland, Research Council for Biosciences and Environment, Project “Globalization and the experience of place”. Project leader: Prof. Häkli (2003)

Principal investigator and project leader:

• Post-doctoral Fellow, Academy of Finland, Research Council for Culture and Society, “Searching for a sense of place: the experiences of Finnish War Children and Karelian Evacuees”. Project leader and principal investigator: Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto-Arponen. (2004–2007)

• Academy Research Fellow, Academy of Finland, Research Council for Culture and Society. “Transcultural Memories of Childhood Displacement: Tracing the Emotive-Spatial Tactics of Belonging”. Project leader and principal investigator: Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto-Arponen. (2013–2018)

• Key project funding, Academy of Finland, “Transcultural roadmap for supporting belonging among unaccompanied children and young people (TRUST)”, Project leader Kuusisto-Arponen, 2016–2018. 

Senior researcher in following projects:

• Centre of Excellence in Research on the Relational and Territorial Politics of Bordering, Identities and Transnationalization (RELATE) (led. by Prof. Paasi and Prof. Häkli), Academy of Finland, (2014–2019)

• Academy of Finland Strategic Research Council, Dwellers in Agile City (DAC), (led. by Docent Leino), (2016–2019)

• Cost action (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), In Search of Transcultural Memory in Europe (ISTME), (2012-2016). Grand holder and leader: Lund University, Prof. Törnquist-Plewa 

Till, E. Karen and Kuusisto-Arponen, Anna-Kaisa (2015). Towards Responsible Geographies of Memory: Complexities of Place and the Ethics of Remembering. Erdkunde, 69: 4, 291¬–306. DOI: 10.3112/erdkunde.2015.04.01

Kuusisto-Arponen, Anna-Kaisa (2015). Relating self, place and memory: Spatial trauma among the British and Finnish War children. In Harker, C and Horschelmann, K. (eds.). Geographies of Children and Young People: Conflict, Violence and Peace. Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-4585-98-9_18-1 [on-line Dec 2015]

Kuusisto-Arponen, Anna-Kaisa & Ulla Savolainen (2016). The interplay of memory and matter: narratives of former Finnish Karelian child evacuees. Oral History Journal, 44: 2, 59–68.

Kuusisto-Arponen, Anna-Kaisa (2016). Perheettömiksi suojellut. Yksin tulleiden alaikäisten oikeus perheeseen. In Fingerroos, O & Tapaninen, A-M, Tiilikainen, M. (eds.). Perheenyhdistäminen. Kuka saa perheen Suomeen, kuka ei ja miksi? Tampere, Vastapaino, 89–109.

Bäcklund, Pia & Kuusisto-Arponen, Anna-Kaisa & Luukkonen Juho (2017). Julkishallinto sosiaalisten käytäntöjen kimppuna: teoreettis-metodologisia näkökulmia julkishallinnon toiminnan tutkimiseen. Hallinnon Tutkimus –lehti, 2/2017, 81–91. 

Korjonen-Kuusipuro, Kristiina & Kuusisto, Anna-Kaisa & Tuominen, Jaakko (2018). Everyday negotiations of belonging - Making Mexican masks together with unaccompanied minors in Finland. Journal of Youth Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2018.1523539

Kristiina Korjonen-Kuusipuro & Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto (2019) Socio-material Belonging – Perspectives for the Intercultural Lives of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors in Finland, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 40:4, 363-382, DOI: 10.1080/07256868.2019.1628725

Kuusisto-Arponen, Anna-Kaisa & Gilmartin, Mary (2019). Embodied migration and the geographies of care: the worlds of unaccompanied refugee minors. In Katharyne Mitchell, Reece Jones and Jennifer L. Fluri (eds.). Handbook on Critical Geographies of Migration, Edward Elgar, 80–91. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786436030.00014

Gilmartin, Mary & Kuusisto-Arponen, Anna-Kaisa (2019). Borders and bodies: siting critical geographies of migration. In Katharyne Mitchell, Reece Jones and Jennifer L. Fluri (eds.). Handbook on Critical Geographies of Migration, Edward Elgar, 18–29. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786436030.00008

Kaukko, Mervi & Korkiamäki, Riikka ja Kuusisto, Anna-Kaisa (2019). Normatiivisesta etiikasta elettyyn kohtaamiseen: tutkimuksellista hengailua yksin tulleiden maahanmuuttajanuorten kanssa. Teoksessa Rutanen, Niina & Vehkalahti, Kaisa (toim.) Tutkimuseettisestä sääntelystä elettyyn kohtaamiseen. Lasten ja nuorten tutkimuksen etiikka II, Nuorisotutkimusverkosto, 86–102. 

Kuusisto, Anna-Kaisa & Tuominen, Jaakko (2019). Epäilyä ja myötätuntoa: yksin tulleet alaikäiset turvapaikanhakijat Aamulehdessä, Helsingin Sanomissa ja YLE:n verkkouutisissa 2014–2016. Media ja viestintä, 42: 3, 187-212.