The Research Council for Culture and Society of the Academy of Finland has granted a five-year term as Academy Research Fellow to Anna-Leena Toivanen for research combining mobility studies with literary analysis. In addition, Maija Dahlberg, Sanna Mustasaari and Maryam Zarra-Nezhad were awarded a three-year Postdoctoral Researcher grant. Their research projects focus on constitutional control, child protection and welfare in transnational contexts and promoting social-emotional learning in early childhood.
Afroeuropean mobilities in Francophone African literatures
Senior Researcher Anna-Leena Toivanen was granted 438 874 euros for the project The Poetics of Afroeuropean Mobilities in Francophone African Literatures.
This project examines how Francophone African literatures from the mid-20th century to the present represent forms of human physical travel in the wider context of Afroeuropean mobilities: student mobilities, tourism and exploration, professional mobilities, criminal mobilities, return travel, and clandestine travel. The project produces new knowledge about the representation of mobility in Francophone African literatures in a way that pays attention to the evolution of the theme and its formal representation throughout the period, and develops analytical tools for analysing mobilities in literature. It is through the intertwinement of mobility studies with literary analysis that the project contributes to the renewal of science. The project recognises Africans in Europe as travellers, not only as migrants, and defines Europe as a postcolonial continent. It is through the intertwinement of mobility studies with literary analysis that the project contributes to the renewal of science.
A more complete understanding of constitutional interpretation
University lecturer Maija Dahlberg was granted 255 386 euros for the project In search of a more complete understanding of constitutional interpretation: the legitimacy and transparency of constitutionality control.
The research will analyse the legitimacy and transparency of constitutionality control. Constitutionality control of laws ensures that no legislation is in force that conflicts with the constitution. Constitutionality control means, in practice, that the rather vague and imprecise provisions of a national constitution must be interpreted in relation to the legislation at hand. In Finland, Parliament – more specifically, its Constitutional Law Committee – has primary responsibility for the task of ensuring that laws comply with the constitution. This approach differs from most other European countries, in which the courts are tasked with constitutionality control. The Committee consults constitutional law experts on a regular basis and generally follows their opinion. Consequently, these constitutional law experts hold significant power. However, there is a lack of transparency as to how they are chosen and how the Committee weighs different experts’ opinions against each other.
Child protection and welfare in transnational contexts
Postdoctoral researcher Sanna Mustasaari was granted 262 239 euros for the project Children Abroad: A Relational Analysis of Finnish Child Protection and Welfare in Transnational Contexts [CARELA].
The research project investigates child protection and welfare in transnational settings from the perspective of Finnish child welfare, especially in situations where the child is abroad. Child protection and welfare are studied from three inter-related perspectives: individuals who have been affected by transnational child welfare, child welfare practices and law, and political struggles pertaining to transnational child welfare. Multiple sets of data will be collected and analysed, including interviews with individuals, interviews and focus group discussions with bureaucrats, legislation and case law, and parliamentary debates, TV documentaries and newspaper articles. The main objective of the project is to produce new empirical knowledge on and new theoretical and conceptual understanding of the different meanings and processes central to the wellbeing of mobile children, as well as about how the needs of these children are addressed by laws and practices.
Promoting social-emotional learning in early childhood
Postdoctoral researcher Maryam Zarra-Nezhad was granted 212 393 euros for the project Nurturing Social-Emotional Development in Early Childhood: A Universal Curriculum-Based Intervention.
The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of an intervention program i.e. POM & Pedasens on early childhood social-emotional development, in Finland. POM & PedaSens has been designed to reinforce children’s social-emotional competency by focusing on fostering teachers’ pedagogical sensitivity, promoting children’s social-emotional learning, and reducing their behavioral problems. The impact of the intervention is measured by valid questionnaires collected from the preschool teachers and parents before and after the intervention. The data will be analyzed using statistical methods. It is expected that children in the intervention group show decrease in overall behavioral problems and increase in their social-emotional competencies and well-being. The results also expected to support the growing need for pedagogical program that increase teachers’ and parents understanding of social-emotional learning in early childhood.
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Funding decisions by the Research Council for Culture and Society on 7.5.2020: