Junk Feminism and Nuclear Wannabes
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SAARA SÄRMÄ Junk Feminism and Nuclear Wannabes Collaging Parodies of Iran and North Korea ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Board of the School of Management of the University of Tampere, for public discussion in the Auditorium Pinni B 1100 of the University, Kanslerinrinne 1, Tampere, on September 5th, 2014, at 12 o’clock. UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE SAARA SÄRMÄ Junk Feminism and Nuclear Wannabes Collaging Parodies of Iran and North Korea Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1961 Tampere University Press Tampere 2014 ACADEMIC DISSERTATION School of Management Finland Copyright ©2014 Tampere University Press and the author Cover design by Mikko Reinikka Distributor: [email protected] http://granum.uta.fi Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1961 Acta Electronica Universitatis Tamperensis 1446 ISBN 978-951-44-9534-2 (print) ISBN 978-951-44-9535-9 (pdf) ISSN-L 1455-1616 ISSN 1456-954X ISSN 1455-1616 http://tampub.uta.fi Suomen Yliopistopaino Oy – Juvenes Print 441 729 Tampere 2014 Painotuote Acknowledgements The journey that has led to completion of this doctoral dissertation has been a long one. Along the way, many people have helped me, knowingly and unknowingly, to walk unafraid. One of this work’s many points of origins was in the fall of 1998 when I started my undergrad degree in Tampere. At the intro course, Osmo Apunen drew upper case IR and lower case i.r. onto the blackboard and I struggled to understand the difference. Little did I know how significant those two pairs of letters and their relationship would become in my life. I sincerely hope this dissertation does justice to the old Tampere school of IR! From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank the two pre-examiners Christine Sylvester and Julian Reid, who approved this dissertation for publication, and Marysia Zalewski, who agreed to be my opponent at the public defense. It is such an honor and a privilege have three amazing, sharp, and creative thinkers to read my work and comment on it. Christine, you have been a huge inspiration and influence on my studies ever since I took a week off from my summer job at a food factory in 2000 to attend her summer school lectures in the old Attila building. Your pre- examination report not only helped me to improve this manuscript, but also will be ever so useful for the future iterations of this project. Julian, thank you so much for your generosity as a pre-examiner, and in many other occasions as well. Many discussions in seminars and elsewhere, in Minneapolis, Rovaniemi, and Tampere, have been beneficial and always enjoyable. I hope there will be many more to come. Or, we can just sit in silence and enjoy the no-more-than-14-euros-per-bottle wine. This work would never have started, let alone finished, if it wasn’t for my wonderful advisors Mika Aaltola and Elina Penttinen, who have believed in my abilities way before than I did, and a lot more. Both of you are so super, but the anti-hierarchist in me refuses to name you supervisors, you both have been so much more. Mika, if you constantly hadn’t pushed me to be more courageous I would’ve never ever have the nerve to do what I ended up doing. Thank you so much for always having faith in me, thank you for taking me on as an integral part of ‘Team Aaltola’, for taking the team to many places, and for fantastic seminar and post-seminar sessions. Finally, thank you for the many awesome and amazingly metaphorical advisory text messages. There, indeed, is space on the outer spheres of atoms for the electrons to roam freely. Elina, your role in the last stretches of this journey has been enormous, your careful reading and commenting, and your always enthusiastic and positive take on research and life, have meant the world to me. You are a star, which radiates loving-kindness! I owe you both more gratitude than any words can express. My two closest fellow travelers, Riina Yrjölä and Jemima Repo, you’ve been such a big help, an inspiration, and a support system throughout this process that it is impossible to describe how much it has meant to me. You’ve always been there, sharing the joys and the angsts of this process, making the good bits more pleasurable and the nasty bits bearable. Thank you for your friendship and caring, and thank you both for showing me this can be done. Viva forever! Huge thanks for countless hours of seminar and post-seminar discussions go to Team Aaltola+: Juha Käpylä, Harri Mikkola, Noora Kotilainen, Denis Kennedy, Valtteri Vuorisalo, Jarmila Rajas, and Ari-Elmeri Hyvönen. Cheers! I want to thank Tuomas Forsberg for agreeing to be the custos at the defense, and more importantly, for making sure it is financially possible for me to finish this work. Thank you, Hanna Ojanen, for being a member of my dissertation evaluation committee. I’m also so very thankful to Bud Duvall, who made it possible for me and the rest of Team Aaltola to spend time at the University of Minnesota. I would like to thank the Academy; I’ve received funding from two Academy of Finland funded projects: Ethics, Politics, and Emergencies (128627) and Emotions in Russian Foreign Policy (138728); and Finnish Graduate School in Political Studies (POLITU). The former Department of Political Science and International Relations and the current School of Management at the University of Tampere have also funded my work. One of the most enjoyable parts of academic life are the people I’ve gotten to know over the years. Relations international of IR at its best! Bear hugs to the most awesome Xavier Guillaume and the two other colorific dudes Juha Vuori and Rune Saugmann Andersen. Many thanks to my new academic kindred spirits Kathleen Brennan and Caitlin Hamilton; I really appreciate your willingness to share your work with me and look forward to many memetastic conversations. Special thanks for good times to the Minnesota crew, including Asli Calkivik, Jonneke Koomen, Susan Kang, Ralitsa Donkova, and Isaac Kamola. The FTGS (Feminist Theory and Gender Studies section) of the ISA (International Studies Association) has been such a warm and encouraging space, I’m so grateful for all the much needed support I’ve received in person and online from Laura Shepherd, Swati Parashar, Annick Wibben, Cai Wilkinson, Laura McLeod, Megan MacKenzie, Jenny Lobasz, Katherine Brown, and Catia Cecilia Confortini. Ronni Alexander, your kind words in Toronto this year have been echoing in my mind as I’ve been doing the revisions. Shine Choi, Erzsebet Strausz, and Megan Daigle, I’m excitedly looking forward to further discussions and new collaborations. Another wonderful space have been the PCWP (Popular Culture and World Politics) conferences, workshops and panels. Matt Davies, Kyle Grayson, and Simon Philpott, thank you for everything! Mark Salter, thank you for a wonderful pep talk in Rovaniemi. Many thanks also to Lori Crowe, Chris Hendershot, Derek Maisonville, and Jennifer Skulte. Thank you Thomas Moore for always being ready to share important experiences such as the ABBA museum. I’ve also recived wonderful support and comments on various papers from Colleen Bell, Mika Luoma-aho, Aini Linjakumpu, Laura Junka-Aikio, Antti Aikio, and Geoffrey Whitehall. Thank you all! Tiina Seppälä, thank you for your many encouraging and inspiring comments at various seminars, and especially after reading the whole manuscript. My heartfelt thanks for the professionalism and generosity with which Fred Chernoff, Lene Hansen, and Michael Shapiro have engaged with my work. I’ve only had brief encounters with Carol Cohn and Cynthia Enloe, but they have left a lasting mark in me. Thank you both for your kindness and for the never-ending inspiration your work provides to me, and so many others! I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful people at work throughout this process. Some have been there from before I ever even imagined doing a doctoral dissertation, others I’m just getting to know. I would like to sincerely thank the following people for warm collegiality and many encouraging words: Anni Kangas, Sirke Mäkinen, Maija Mattila, Tapio Juntunen, Tapani Turkka, Elina Kestilä- Kekkonen, and Eero Palmujoki. Very special thanks goes to Tarja Seppä. No words are enough to describe how important you have been, first as a teacher, later as a mentor and colleague. You’re such a caring and considerate soul. I so admire your commitment to the quality of teaching and to the general well-being of all of us. I’m indebted to Helena Rytövuori-Apunen, Jyrki Käkönen, and Vilho Harle. Helena played a significant role in how I became part of the department in the first place. While working together, I gained lot of valuable experience on administrative duties and lot of knowledge on how power works in the academic everyday. Jyrki made it possible for me to take on a dissertation project. Financial matters were of course a significant help, but also your way of gently kicking me forward and many interesting conversations have been a treasure. Ville, your comments and encouragement in and out of seminar rooms, your role as an editor in the Global and Regional Problems book, and your explicit faith in my abilities (even when you didn’t quite get what I was trying to do) have been so very helpful. Warm thanks to you all. Tampere IR grad students who attended Ville’s seminars with me, Anna-Riitta Salomäki, Heikki Sirviö, Jaakko Ailio, Tytti Erästö, Helle Palu, and Jan Hanska, thank you so much for many discussions and immeasurable peer support.