Jutta Ahlbeck

Health and illness

History of Psychiatry

Gender and Power

Childhood and Childhood Studies

Intinerant trade, consumption and material cultures

Qualitative methodology

PhD(Sociology), Adjunct Professor (History of Sciences and Ideas)

I am a sociologist and historian, specialized in interdisciplinary approaches to health and illness, mainly mental health issues and diagnostics, particularly in the latenineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but also in contemporary contexts.I have published ontopics such as women’s madness, the history of psychiatry, racial hygiene,childhood and modernity, petty trade and materiality, in addition tomethodological articles. Over the years, I have worked with a multitude ofmethods, such as textual/discursive, archival, and ethnographic methods.

Currently, I am involved in the project “Dealing with Difference”: Peddlers, Consumers and Trading Encounters inFinland, 1840–1940 (fundedby the Academy of Finland and the Kone Foundation). This interdisciplinaryproject traces the history of traders and consumers in Finland from the grandduchy of Russia to the full nation state, ca 1840–1940. By focusing onethnicity, gender, class, and religion, our research explores meanings ofitinerant trade and of marketed commodities, as well as investigates practices,representations and experiences of both traders and consumers.

My part ofthe project looks at encounters between the majority population and Roma peddlers.I am interested in the meanings given to Roma traders and their commodities inpublic texts, ethnographic questionnaires, images and fiction. I am also lookingat self-understandings and experiences of the Roma by analyzing interviews with Finnish Roma, carried out by Roma activists(nonprofessionals).

https://blogs2.abo.fi/kommunicerandekonsumtion/in-english/