University Lecturer Kati Parppei gained journalistic experience at local newspapers, and it has proven highly beneficial for the expert on Russia.
“Doing research and writing about it are what makes me tick: trying to understand things and conceptualise them in such a way that one’s own insights can be made understandable to others too,” says University Lecturer Kati Parppei, summing up her interest in historical research.
For many Finns, Parppei is a figure familiar from the media where she appears as an expert commentator on Russian history. Having worked as a journalist herself, she has a solid background in popularising research-based knowledge.
“When I was a student, Professor Jukka Korpela urged me to do an internship at a local newspaper. That was an absolutely brilliant piece of advice. I later expanded my journalistic skills in, for example, Liperin Kotiseutu-uutiset and Lempäälän-Vesilahden Sanomat newspapers, as well as in magazines.”
Working as a journalist broadened the history student’s and doctoral researcher’s horizons with regard to different communities, society and, above all, writing.
“Anything that puts things into perspective and broadens one’s worldview is useful in a researcher’s work. At local newspapers, I got to write about everything under the sun and meet a wide range of people. Writing different kinds of texts helped me develop as a writer,” Parppei says.
Parppei, who has since worked for more than 20 years as a historian and teacher at the University of Joensuu and later at the University of Eastern Finland, still encourages new generations of students to write. She leads a working life skills course for students of the Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, in which students gain a broad understanding of communication.
Parppei is concerned about how everyday use of artificial intelligence affects young people’s writing and thinking skills.
“We should have an in-depth discussion about what knowledge actually is. Universities, too, should develop a deeper understanding of the use of artificial intelligence. It is not only an opportunity, but also an unknown horizon involving fundamental questions.”
The Russian language opened the door to historical sources
Originally from eastern Finland, Parppei has lived and worked near the Russian border all her life. She became an expert on Russian history through her language skills.
“In autumn 1994, I went to Petrozavodsk to brush up on my Russian. Russia was an interesting place in the 1990s. The Chechen War had just begun and somehow, history became tangible. I was not particularly interested in history at the time, but I knew Russian and could read sources in their original language. That was how I came to know history.”
I find it fascinating how people understand and conceptualise time and the past, and how that process can be influenced. Since we have not lived through the past ourselves, it is fair game for claims and imagined narratives.
Kati Parppei
University Lecturer
After her studies in history, Parppei continued as a doctoral researcher at the Karelian Institute in 2005. The multidisciplinary research programme Russia in Europe took her to conferences around the world and prepared her for a career in research.
Parppei defended her doctoral dissertation on the formation of the historical image of the Valaam Monastery in 2010. Around the same time, she received a further grant for postdoctoral research and a grant to write a non-fiction book based on her dissertation.
After a series of fixed-term appointments, she received three-year postdoctoral research funding from the Research Council of Finland in 2012 and a five-year Academy Research Fellow position in 2017. Over the years, Parppei twice served as a visiting researcher in the UK. Her merits as a researcher also earned her the title of Docent at the National Defence University.
In her current position as university lecturer, Parppei mainly teaches and conducts research in whatever time remains.
“The good thing is that I can set my own schedule and teach independently. Still, I would like a role with a stronger emphasis on research, but it is difficult to move towards that without research funding. There simply isn’t enough time for everything.”
The past is fair game for imagined narratives
The politicisation of history in different eras, especially in Russia, has always been an overarching theme in Parppei’s research.
“I find it fascinating how people understand and conceptualise time and the past, and how that process can be influenced. Since we have not lived through the past ourselves, it is fair game for claims and imagined narratives. Russia has not even tried to hide this but has been completely open and even aggressive in utilising history for political purposes,” Parppei says.
Parppei has witnessed the rapid transformation of present-day Russia. From the 1990s until the first decade of the 2000s, Finnish researchers still travelled widely in Russia and conducted research together with Russian colleagues. For a Russia researcher, the current situation is catastrophic, as all research collaboration is frozen and materials cannot be obtained from Russia.
How does a historian view the present-day world more broadly?
“History has seen many kinds of periods, and this is the kind of period we are living through now. Although things look bleak at the moment, periods of upheaval are not unique in history. Only later will it be possible to analyse this period as a whole.”
