Mari Pajala
FT, dosentti
marpaja@utu.fi +358 29 450 2842 +358 50 381 1277 Arcanuminkuja 1 Turku ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2651-7994 |
media studies; television studies; media history; popular media culture; feminist media studies; cultural memory studies
Education:
- PhD, Media Studies, University of Turku, 2006
- MA, Cinema and Television Studies, University of Turku, 1998
I was previously Government of Finland/David and Nancy Speer Visiting Professor in Finnish Studies at the University of Minnesota (2015–2017) and visiting research fellow at Utrecht University (2009–2010).
My research focuses on television history and contemporary popular media culture, with special interest in questions of nationality, memory, gender and sexuality, affect and entertainment. I have published extensively on the Eurovision Song Contest as a media event and my recent work has focused on Cold War era media and Finnish "culture television" of the 1970s and 1980s. Recent books include The Era of Culture Television: Another History of Finnish Television, 1970s to 1980s (in Finnish, co-authored with Anu Koivunen, Laura Saarenmaa and Janne Zareff, SKS 2024) and Remapping Cold War Media: Institutions, Infrastructures, Exchanges (co-edited with Alice Lovejoy, Indiana University Press 2022).
I am on the editorial board of Lähikuva and View: Journal of European Television History and Culture and Communication, Culture & Critique.
I teach courses such as Media History and Archives, Theoretical Traditions in Media Studies, MA Thesis Seminar as well as other courses in Media Studies.
- Smörgåsbord of European Television. VIEW: Journal of European Television History and Culture nro 19 (2021) Mari Pajala, John Ellis
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Stagecraft in the Service of Statecraft? Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest (2021) Russia’s Cultural Statecraft Pajala Mari, Vuletic Dean
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Yhdentymisen juhlaa ja ihanteiden kamppailua. Euroviisujen muuttuvat muodot ja merkitykset (2021)
- Lähikuva
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Kirja-arvio: Julkisen palvelun yleisradiotoiminta ja muutoksen pysyvyys. Paavo Oinonen: Vain parasta kansalaisille. Yleisradiotoiminta julkisena palveluna. 2019. ISBN 978-952-68776-2-4. (2020)
- Historiallinen Aikakauskirja
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Uses of local ethnic television: Finland Calling (1962–2015) and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (2020)
- International Journal of Cultural Studies
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - A forgotten spirit of commercial television? Co-productions between Finnish commercial television company Mainos-TV and socialist television (2019)
- Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Gay Porn, Politics and Lifestyle in 1980s Finland: The Short Life of Mosse Magazine (2019)
- NORA Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - 'Pictures from Beyond the Eastern Border': Socialist Television in Finland, 1963 to 1988 (2018)
- Television and New Media
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - East, West, Home is Best: Cold War Animation from East Central Europe (2017)
- Walker Reader
(E1 Popularised article) - Feeling the past: Television archive material as an affective element in the series Uutishuone (2017)
- Journal of Popular Film and Television
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



