2016 ← EnglanTY

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 1

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 ...

SLT historical linguistics seminar 13.5 – Winding through the dusty deserts of a lush philology, pt 2

Jun

9

2016

The seminar continued with the Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric languages revealing its onomastic side, as we heard presentations from Kirsi-Maria Nummila and Regina Bűdi. Nummila studies medieval street names in Turku and the credit that is their due to Baltic Sea region city plans or the so called German city plan. This city plan ...

SLT historical linguistics seminar 13.5 – Winding through the dusty deserts of a lush philology, pt 1

Jun

9

2016

What games of chance did the ancient Romans play? What role did Latin have to play in fifteenth-century England? Can a portion of medieval street names in Turku be seen as loans from Baltic Sea region city plans, and to what degree do they draw their names from their context and functions, like a nearby ...