Research Team

Principal Investigator

Dr. Benita Heiskanen

Heiskanen’s focus is on the spatialization and visualization of Campus Carry, as well as the everyday experiences of university community members and activists. She is particularly interested in the ways in which the newly reconceptualized public campus space impacts the visual landscape and how zoning affects the campus community’s perception of mobility, safety, equality, and belonging. Her main tasks in the project include supervising the fieldwork periods and ensuring the project will be compliant with national and international ethics standards.

Researchers

Dr. Albion Butters

Butters examines practical and epistemological aspects of Campus Carry in Texas, particularly vis-à-vis identity construction and the larger culture wars in the U.S. He also brings to the project a background in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis from his time as a Senior Research Analyst in Silicon Valley.

Dr. Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen

Kestilä-Kekkonen’s expertise is in political participation and political trust as well as quantitative methodology and survey research. She contributes to the project’s survey design and analysis. She directs the quantitative component of the project.

Ph.D. Cand. Pekka M. Kolehmainen

Kolehmainen will join the project team in 2020 and conduct analysis of Campus Carry debates through both social and regular media. He will also be in charge of developing an interactive online exhibit based on the research materials gathered over the course of the project.

Dr. Lotta Kähkönen

Kähkönen is interested in the multiple effects of “Campus Carry” in everyday life and differently situated embodied experiences. Her role in the research team is to collaborate on the development of the methodological approach and qualitative methods, as well as analysis of the research data.

Dr. Sampo Ruoppila

Ruoppila is a specialist in urban policy and planning issues. His focus in the project is on spatial aspects of experiencing security and insecurity, including the planning and urban policy context of campus development.

Dr. Juha Vuori

Vuori’s research interests include critical studies on security, speech act theory, semiotics, the politics of popular culture, and nuclear weapons. He brings to the project his expertise on securitization theory and global security discourse, including visual aspects of security.