Lotta Weckström’s research interest centers on sociolinguistics, social anthropology and the subjective, yet often shared, experience of migration, alternative narratives, digital humanities, ethnographic research, and oral histories. In her work, she combines sociolinguistics, rhetoric and argumentation and the study of migration in interdisciplinary projects. For her dissertation she worked with young people with Finnish background in Sweden focusing on cultural heritage, language use and feelings of national belonging. Her research specialties are linguistic minorities, migrant women in post-war Europe, and migration in all its manifestations.

Weckström is an experienced instructor, she has taught university level courses in her native Finland, in Germany, the Netherlands and in the US. She makes creative use of new classroom technology and aims to design the courses in a manner that involves students actively in the learning process. She is also a language instructor for Finnish as a second language and, in addition, teaches German language courses.

She works currently as a lecturer at Department of Scandinavian teaching courses in Finnish culture and history.

Books

Representations of Finnishness in Sweden. Studia Fennica. Linguistica, Finnish Literature Society, Helsinki. 2011. 173 pages.

Suomalaisuus on kuin vahakangas. Ruotsinsuomalaiset nuoret kertovat suomalaisuudestaan. Tutkimuksia A36. Siirtolaisuusinstituutti & Sverigefinnarnas Arkiv, Stockholm. 2011. 160 pages. (Finnishness is like a washcloth — Young Sweden Finns talk about Finnishness).