Hi there! I'm Saara (she/they), I'm studying gender studies in Helsinki open university. The course folders are packed with source material, so I thought it would be fruitful to return to some of them in a blog.  I'm hoping that through this, my learning process continues and deepens! So in this blog I'm going to be sharing academic articles, study related assignments and maybe some occasional "everyday observations". I also write about the books that I read.

The field and science of gender studies is located in the interface of social sciences and cultural sciences. The study is critical, multidiciplinary and aims to question the norms. One of the main questions is: How do social differences like age, sex & gender, sexuality, class, race or disabilities affect individuals life or different societal, cultural and historical phenomena?

Gender studies also deals with topics related to equality and social justice. When writing about the forms of oppression I don't have firsthand experience, like for example racism or ableism,  I will make a lot of mistakes. I'm grateful for any feedback or corrections. You can contact me either with e-mail, or via the anonymous contact form in the "yhteys" -page. 

Sometimes people might say: "I became a feminist, when..." In my experience, though, feminism and antiracism are something, that we return to, rather than "go to" or "become". They are something, that actually should be, to begin with. So maybe this blog is a description of the moment, where the returning begins. Journey towards a place and time, where the normative assumptions of this society had not occupied everything, every nook and corner. In me, my body and mind. Or in us.
 

Wonderful quotes:

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. 
 - Audre Lorde

Who were you, before the world told you who to be?
- Glennon Doyle
 
Stumble bravely.
- Leesa Reneé Hall

About the name of the blog: the word kääntö is the nominative case of the word kääntää, which means "to turn over, translate, twist, reflex, bend. Raide translates as "trail". Put together kääntöraide means the swing board, the rail transport section of track used to turn a train around. 

My educational background:
2010 Master of Arts, literature, finnish language, communication, pedagogics (Jyväskylä University)
2019 Bachelor of Social sciences (Jyväskylä University of applied sciences)
4/2022 - ongoing: Additional studies required for psychotherapist training (Helsinki University/open uni)
8/2022 - ongoing: Gender studies (Helsinki University/open uni)