Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
I am Professor in the department of English Language and Literature at Åbo Akademi University. My thirteen authored or co-edited books and special issues include 'Mediating and Representing the Slum' (Journal of Urban History, 2023), Deep Locational Criticism (Benjamins, 2016), Literatures of Urban Possibility (Palgrave, co-edited, 2021) and The Materiality of Literary Narratives in Urban History (Routledge, co-edited 2020). My current research concentrates on two main areas: the literary urban history of London as mediated through representations of housing and mobilities; and the secondary city in literary urban studies, with a focus on St. Louis, Missouri and the Midwestern USA.
I have been on the editorial board of the Nordic Journal of English Studies since 2021, and in 2023 became one of the three editors of Nordic Irish Studies. I am on the board of the Finnish Society for the Study of English (FINSSE) and the European Society for the Study of English (ESSE).
Visiting research positions internationally have included extended periods at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK (2013), and the School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, UK (2014), as part of my postdoc, and as an Honorary Visiting Fellow in the Center for the Humanities connected with the Divided City Initiative at Washington University St. Louis, USA (2022 and 2024). I have also been a visiting researcher at the Centre for Mobility Humanities (MoHu) at the University of Padua, Italy, for spells in 2020 and 2022.
Biography
A Londoner originally, I took my BA at the University of Birmingham (1991) and my MPhil at the University of Oxford (1994). In the 1990s and 2000s I worked on the revision of the Oxford English Dictionary, as a London advertising executive and then as a lecturer at the Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University, Estonia. I came to Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU) in 2005 and defended my PhD thesis here in 2011. From 2012-15 I held an Academy of Finland postdoctoral research position. In 2016 I gained the title of Docent in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Turku and then in 2016 I became a tenure-track Assistant Professor at ÅAU, rising to Associate Professor in 2019, and full Professor in 2023.
Teaching
Since 2006 I have taught courses in every aspect of English literary studies in the department of English Language and Literature at Åbo Akademi University, at levels ranging from first year to master's. I have supervised over 30 BA and MA theses and eleven PhD theses, five as main supervisor. I also have university teaching experience in Estonia (Tallinn University) and the UK (Brasenose College, Oxford).
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
PhD, PhD, English Language and Literature – Åbo Akademi University – Thesis title: 'E.M. Forster and English Place: A Literary Topography'. Supervisor, Roger D. Sell (ÅAU). Pre-examiners: Patrick Parrinder (University of Reading), Philip Gardner (Memorial University of Newfoundland). Faculty opponent: Philip Gardner (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Åbo Akademi University
1 Aug 2005 → 15 Apr 2011
Award Date: 15 Jun 2011
Master, MPhil, English Studies. Thesis title: 'Richard Hakluyt and the English Nation'. Supervisors John Carey (Merton College, Oxford) and Robert J.C. Young (Wadham College, Oxford), University of Oxford
1 Oct 1992 → 1 Jul 1994
Award Date: 1 Nov 1994
Bachelor, BA, English Language and Literature, University of Birmingham
1 Oct 1988 → 1 Jul 1991
Award Date: 15 Jul 1991
External positions
Adjunct Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, University of Turku
1 Jan 2016 → …
Keywords
- PR English literature
- city
- London
- urban studies
- housing
- transport
- public space
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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RAILIMAGE: Twentieth-Century Railway Imaginations: Building the Mobility and Infrastructural Humanities
Finch, J. (Principal Investigator), Joshi, N. (Co-Investigator) & Henriques Correia, Z. C. (Co-Investigator)
01/08/24 → 31/07/27
Project: Foundation
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Fragile Cities, Transatlantic and Post-Industrial: A Study in Urban Humanities
Finch, J. (Principal Investigator)
01/08/20 → 31/03/22
Project: Foundation
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PUTSPACE: Public Transport as Public Space in European Cities: Narrating, Experiencing, Contesting
Finch, J. (Principal Investigator) & Laine, S. (Co-Investigator)
01/05/19 → 28/02/23
Project: EU
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The Discursive Construction of the 'London Slum' 1820-1960: A Literary History
Finch, J. (Principal Investigator)
01/08/12 → 31/07/15
Project: Research Council of Finland/Other Research Councils
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Deep Locational Criticism. Imaginative Place in Literary Research and Teaching
Finch, J., 2016, John Benjamins.Research output: Book/Journal/Report › Book › Scientific › peer-review
File372 Downloads (Pure) -
Essex and the Metropolitan Periphery in To London Town, Cunning Murrell, and "A Wizard of Yesterday"
Finch, J., 26 Jul 2022, Critical Essays on Arthur Morrison and the East End. Maltz, D. (ed.). New York: Routledge, p. 220-242 22 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Open AccessFile21 Downloads (Pure) -
Literary Urban Studies and How to Practice It
Finch, J., 23 Nov 2021, Routledge. 272 p.Research output: Book/Journal/Report › Book › Professional
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Disinterring Slum-Clearance London: Expertise and User Perspectives in the 1930s Maritime East End
Finch, J. & Kelly, J., 30 Jun 2021, In: Literary Geographies. 7, 1, p. 127-145 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Open AccessFile166 Downloads (Pure) -
Public Transport as Public Space in European Cities
Tuvikene, T., Kębłowski, W., Weicker, T., Finch, J., Sgibnev, W., Sträuli, L., Laine, S., Dobruszkes, F. & Ianchenko, A., 16 Apr 2021, Leipzig: Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, 29 p. (forum ifl; no. 39).Research output: Working paper › Scientific
Open Access
Prizes
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2021 Excellence Award for Collaborative Research
Finch, J. (Recipient), Ameel, L. (Recipient) & Salmela, M. (Recipient), 30 Nov 2021
Prize: Other distinction
Activities
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Ports across Genres and Continents: Two Provincial Capitals in Nineteenth-Century Narrative
Finch, J. (Speaker)
19 Nov 2024Activity: Talk or presentation › Conference presentation
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Journal of Urban Cultural Studies (Journal)
Finch, J. (Reviewer)
1 Nov 2024Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work › Publication Peer-review
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Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions 2024
Finch, J. (Examiner)
15 Oct 2024 → 10 Dec 2024Activity: Evaluation, assessment or examination › Evaluation of funding applications
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NWO Talent Programme -- Vici scheme
Finch, J. (Examiner)
11 Oct 2024Activity: Evaluation, assessment or examination › Evaluation of funding applications
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Urban Place: A Literary Approach
Finch, J. (Speaker)
27 Sept 2024Activity: Talk or presentation › Public or invited talk
Press/Media
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Han läser staden - från gatans asfalt till det som finns i våra tankar
01/11/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media