Nordic Girlhoods

This edited collection is an interdisciplinary and dialogical endeavor focused on the field of Nordic Girlhood Studies. It investigates young femininity as well as the key themes and concepts of Girlhood Studies, including girl power, feminisms, femininity, gender equality, postfeminism and sexualities in the specific cultural, historical and political context of the Nordic region. The chapters of the book consist of thematic case studies, including memories of girl power in the Finnish context, gendered harassment experienced and explained by Finnish girls, troublesome girlhood within the Swedish context and girls’ subjectification projects in Nordic welfare state. Further, the case studies are accompanied by dialogical Outlook-essays, where researchers either outside Nordic region or from adjacent research fields reflect on Nordic Girlhood Studies through comparisons and reflections form their vantage point. The book will be of scholarly interest to researchers and students working especially on the fields of Girlhood Studies, Youth Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology and Cultural Studies both within the Nordic region and outside.

• girls
• girlhood
• Nordic region
• representations of girls
• girls in literature
• girls in film
• girls’ violence
• feminist pro-girl empowerment books
• beauty pageants
• Finnish voluntary defense movement
• exceptionalism
• secularism
• contemporary sexuality education
• girl power phenomenon
• third wave feminism
• girl blogging
• the Nordic model
• gender equality
• construction of girlhood
• feminist anthropology

• Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS), Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

  Bodil Formark

• Finnish Youth Research Network, Helsinki, Finland

  Heta Mulari

• Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

  Myry Voipio

Dr. Bodil Formark, History, has throughout her academic career published both edited collections and articles within the field of Girlhood Studies. She is co-founder and co-ordinator of FlickForsk! Nordic Network for Girlhood Studies at Umeå Centre for Gender Studies, Umeå University.

Dr. Heta Mulari, Cultural History, is a researcher at the Finnish Youth Research Network in Helsinki. Mulari has co-edited anthologies about film history, girlhood studies and media studies, written several book chapters and journal articles. 

Dr. Myry Voipio, Literature, is a children’s and youth literature researcher and author. Besides writing academic research and children’s fiction, Voipio works as a children’s and youth literature expert and educator. 

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