EnglanTY ← What the dickens is happening at the Department of English, Turku University

Your thesis in three minutes

Mar

21

2017

Thursday 9 March was an exciting day on campus, as it was the day for the final of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which was organized for the first time at the University of Turku.The competition was developed by the University of Queensland and the first 3MT competition was held at UQ in 2008. ...

Shakespeare 400 revisited

Jan

11

2017

The Shakespeare 400 course was organised jointly by the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University in autumn 2016. After the first lecture on the history of English and the early printing history of Shakespeare’s works, the students delved deeper into other topics in Shakespeare studies. Aino Mäkikalli discussed Shakespeare’s sonnets, situating them in their ...

Time flies when you have JAZZ!

Nov

17

2016

The English Department makes traditional ‘City Hikes’ to Turku destinations. This time the goal was to be jazzed at the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum with their Tuesday concert series. The programme promised a treat by the duo of the jazz pianist Aki Rissanen and the Finnish jazz guitar genius Niklas Winter. The (unexpected, unprogrammed) overture was ...

There’s a new professor in town: Q&A with Matti Peikola

Nov

9

2016

Professor Peikola in academic regalia. 1. Tell us a little bit of who you are. I am a 48-year-old Doctor of Philosophy and a lifelong learner. I live in Turku with my wife Kirsi and our Lagotto Romagnolo dog. My academic career has primarily been at Turku, with shorter periods at Helsinki, Münster, Oxford, York ...

Shakespeare 400 in Turku 1

Oct

28

2016

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. Universities and other institutions around the world have been organising special events and courses throughout the year. One of these special courses is Shakespeare 400, a joint effort of the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University. The course runs from late October ...

ÅboutU seminar: Publishing

Oct

25

2016

In September 2015, Matti Peikola from the University of Turku and Adam Borch from Åbo Akademi University held a seminar for doctoral candidates. In a workshop held after the presentations, the participants called for more contact between doctoral candidates of UTU and ÅAU, and so a committee was created for this purpose. The committee members, ...

Greetings from Gorgeous Galway

Sep

5

2016

While our historical linguists were enjoying the heatwave in Essen, another delegation from the English department went on a similar mission to a place with just one letter’s difference: ESSE – the European Society for the Study of English biannual conference in gorgeous Galway, Ireland. Our research project funded by the Academy of Finland, Out ...

Heat wave and historical linguistics in Essen 1

Sep

2

2016

For university faculty, summer does not simply equal vacation. It is also a prime time for international conferences that are part of our work as researchers. In the end of August, historical linguists flocked to Essen, Germany for the 19th biennial ICEHL conference (22–26 August). ICEHL stands for “International Conference on English Historical Linguistics”. The ...

Postmodern feminist challenging of dominant discourses: Mehdi Ghasemi’s doctoral defence

Jun

16

2016

The second one of the two doctoral defences at the Department of English in the spring 2016 was Mehdi Ghasemi’s “Quest/ion of Identities in African American Feminist Postmodern Drama: A Study of Selected Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks”. The public examination of the dissertation took place at the University of Turku on 10 June, 2016. The ...

The transmission of early scientific writing: Mari-Liisa Varila’s doctoral defence

Jun

14

2016

It is always a happy occasion for the whole department when a doctoral candidate defends their dissertation. This spring we were treated to not only one but two public examinations of doctoral dissertations. The first was that of Mari-Liisa Varila. On 28 May 2016, she defended her dissertation titled “In search of textual boundaries: A ...