The research network Hip Hop in Finland: Genres and Generations is an initiative of the Finnish Youth Research Society. The research network was established in 2014 with an aim to provide a platform for sharing, mapping, and developing research made in Finland that is related to hip hop culture in all its forms.
Up-to-date information about events and other activities can be found on the network’s Facebook page and Instagram.
Leading group:
Elina Westinen, chair of the network, works as an Academy Research Fellow at Finnish Youth Research Society. Her current project (2023–2027) explores ethnicity, identity and conviviality in Finnish Hip Hop Culture. Her previous postdoctoral project dealt with (’new’) ethnicities and (non)belonging in Finnish migrant hip hop in both digital and physical contexts. She was previously also part of the Research Council of Finland project Language and Superdiversity: (Dis)identification in Social Media (2012–2016). Her doctoral thesis (2014) explores the discursive construction of authenticity in Finnish hip hop culture by focusing on three Finnish rap artists (Cheek, Pyhimys, and Stepa).
Julian Owusu is a freelancing dance artist and dance educator whose artistic core lies in Hip Hop culture, community building practices, pedagogic development, decolonial practices and reimagining. Julian teaches courses at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences, the Helsinki Theatre Academy and in commercial dance schools. He worked as Regional Artist for Youth Culture at the Arts Promotion Centre (Taike) in Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu regions from 2016–2021, and was a member of the working group for Cultural Reconstruction at the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland from 2021–2022. Julian Master’s thesis in Artistic Development focused on the pedagogics of Hip Hop dance.
Inka Rantakallio works as a postdoctoral researcher in Musicology at the University of Helsinki. In her postdoctoral project (Research Council of Finland, 2021–24), she focuses on women rappers in Finnish hip hop and the role and meaning of feminism, gender, race, and whiteness in the construction of artist identities and artistic expression. Her doctoral thesis (2019) centers on four Finnish underground rappers (Ameeba, Julma Henri, Khid, and RPK) and discourses of authenticity, spirituality, and atheism. Her publications deal with the various intersections of rap music, ideologies, and identities. She also works as a freelance journalist/editor and DJ.
Alma Rinta-Pollari (MA) is a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on representations of masculinities in Finnish rap music. Rinta-Pollari’s background is in Literature Studies, hence the specific focus of her dissertation is on rap lyrics. Her research interests include feminism, politics, sports culture, and arts and culture more generally.
Annukka Saaristo is a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on local identities and their significance for rap artists from Espoo. She has also worked as a Youth worker in Espoo and Helsinki prior to her university studies and holds a Master’s degree in Folklore Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences. Saaristo is interested in popular culture and identity building in different communities and she aims to write research papers that everyone can understand.
Venla Sykäri is a researcher and docent affiliated with the discipline of Folklore Studies at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include hip hop’s oral and lyrical practices, particularly freestyle and battle rap, and the processes of disseminating knowledge and values in informal, grassroots practice contexts and in rap workshops.
Erica Åberg works as a university lecturer in Economic Sociology at the University of Turku, Finland. Her research interests include social media, consumption, Nordic drill and trap culture, and the public debate surrounding these musical genres. In addition to social media performances and media representations, Åberg is interested in concerts where the aesthetics of these musical genres are co-created and negotiated.
Dragana Cvetanović (1973–2023) was a sociolinguist at the Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies and Aleksanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki. Her PhD research dealt with language, identity and performance in Finnish and Serbian rap lyrics. She contributed to global sociolinguistics and questions on trans-modern identities, and also taught courses on various topics concerning contemporary Balkan (cultural) history and youth studies. Dragana was a founding member of the Hip Hop in Finland research network and contributed to the network’s publications and events throughout the years.
Hip Hop in Finland: Genres and Generations 