Noora
Kallioniemi
Contact
Areas of expertise
Biography
I am a cultural historian and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku. I received my PhD in Cultural History in 2022. Since completing my doctorate, I have worked in several research projects examining audiovisual culture, media history, and environmental history. My research is united by an interest in how social phenomena and lived experiences are constructed and mediated through media and audiovisual sources.
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the project The Ecological History of Finnish Cinema (funded by the Kone Foundation). Previously, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Fauna et Flora Fennica project and the Pyöriäismuistot project at the University of Turku, and as a project researcher in the Academy of Finland–funded MoMaF consortium. I am also a member of the Laihke research group, which examines the cultural history of embodiment and dieting, and I am conducting my own postdoctoral research project on film exhibition at the Finnish front during the Second World War.
Before entering academia, I worked as a researcher and archival editor at the National Audiovisual Institute of Finland. My work included image editing for the Elonet database, cataloguing, and metadata description.
I serve on the board and the publication committee of the Finnish Society for Cultural History, and I am a member of the committee of the International Society for Cultural History. In addition, I act as a peer reviewer for several national and international academic journals and regularly participate in international conferences.
Teaching
I have taught at the University of Turku since 2016. I have experience with a range of teaching formats, including lectures, seminar teaching, project-based courses, and the design and delivery of online courses. I have taught in both Finnish and English, and course sizes have ranged from small seminar groups to large lecture courses.
My teaching has focused particularly on media history, audiovisual cultural heritage, and digital humanities. I have also participated in the development of teaching materials and online courses, as well as in broader initiatives related to teaching development.
I have completed university pedagogical studies (25 ECTS) and basic studies in education (25 ECTS). I also contribute to student supervision and serve as a second supervisor for a doctoral researcher at the University of Turku
Research
My research focuses primarily on the history of audiovisual culture, including film and television materials, related archival sources, and digitised newspaper archives. I am particularly interested in how social phenomena, lived experiences, and cultural meanings are constructed through media and popular culture.
As part of the research group The Ecological History of Finnish Cinema (led by Docent Kimmo Laine), I examine the material conditions of film production and how physical and social realities shape what appears on screen. My research addresses, for example, how material scarcity, costume design, set design, props, and other production practices influence cinematic imagery. Among other topics, I analyse Finnish popular entertainment films such as the Pekka and Pätkä film series.
I also participate as a postdoctoral researcher in the Laihke project led by Docent Heidi Kurvinen, which examines the cultural history of embodiment and dieting in modern Finland. In this research, I analyse the role of film, television, and other audiovisual media in producing meanings related to the body. My work focuses on materials such as reality television programmes, advertisements, and talk shows, as well as, to some extent, social media content. I investigate how ideas related to the body and weight are produced and negotiated in media, and to what extent audiovisual media can critically engage with these discussions.
In my own postdoctoral project, I study film exhibition in Finland during the Second World War. My research focuses on front-line cinemas and on how film exhibition was organised under wartime conditions. I examine, for example, the role of cinema in the entertainment activities of the Finnish Defence Forces, the logistical and material conditions of film exhibition at the front, and how the war affected film availability and programming. I am also interested in film content and in the meanings attached to cinema-going during times of crisis.
In my earlier research, I have also examined environmental history, particularly the histories of animals and plants. In this work, I primarily utilised digitised newspaper archives.