Samira Saramo

Introduction

At the Migration Institute of Finland, I lead our research profile on Finns Abroad and the development of the Migration institute of Finland Archives.

I am a transdisciplinary historian of migration, place, environment, community, everyday life, and settler colonialism. I examine transnational identities, encounters, and narratives. Most often, my research focuses on the history of Finns in North America and Soviet Karelia.

I am particularly interested in transdisciplinary methodologies. I often utilize archival sources, as well as place-based ethnography, visual methods, soundscapes, and mapping, and I increasingly incorporate artistic practices into my scholarly work.

My work aims to be community engaged and collaborative. I seek to advance decolonial approaches in cultural heritage and archival work.

www.samirasaramo.com  

Projects

Deep Mapping the “Uncharted Territories” of Finnish Immigrant History (Koneen Säätiö, 2020–2025)

Migrant Experiences, Past and Present: A New Finland-U.S. Research & Archival Partnership (Embassy of the USA in Finland, 2023–2025)

Death and Mourning in “Finnish North America” (Research Council of Finland, 2017–2020)

Essential publications

Rantanen, Saijaleena, Kirsti Salmi-Niklander, and Samira Saramo, editors (2026). Writing and Reading European Migrant Belonging in Early-20th-Century North America. Turku: Migration Institute of Finland. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-7399-50-7

Liimatainen, Tuire, Samira Saramo, and Pihla Maria Siim (2025). ”Laajentuva Siirtolaisuusarkisto – Ensimmäisiä askeleita kohti Suomeen suuntautuneen siirtolaisuuden tallentamista,” Elore 32, 1: 93–108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.159719

Saramo, Samira (2025). “The Children’s Section of the Finnish North American Socialist Women’s Newspaper Toveritar” in Miniatures: A Reader in the History of Everyday Life, eds. Kate Ferris & Huw Halstead, 264–276. University of Exter Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47788/XNQO7504

Saramo, Samira (2024). “Vahinko! Finnish Canadian Socialists Making Sense of Accidental Fire” in The Accidental History of Canada, eds. Megan Davies & Geoffrey Hudson, 33–60. McGill-Queens University Press.

Samira Saramo & Ulla Savolainen (2023). “Moving Memories of Soviet Repression and Displacement” in The Legacies of Stalin-Era Repression: The Multiple and Mobile Lives of Memories,” eds. Samira Saramo & Ulla Savolainen, 1–18. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003305569-1

Saramo, Samira (2022). Building that Bright Future: Soviet Karelia in the Life Writing of Finnish North Americans. University of Toronto Press.

Saramo, Samira (2022). “Life Writing as a Settler Colonial Tool: Finnish Migrant-Settlers Claiming Place and Belonging” in Finnish Settler Colonialism in North America: Rethinking Finnish Experiences in Transimperial Spaces, eds. Rani-Henrik Andersson & Janne Lahti, 211–233. Helsinki: University of Helsinki Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/AHEAD-2-9

Saramo, Samira (2022). “Capitalism as Death: Loss of Life and the Finnish Migrant Left in the Early Twentieth Century.” Journal of Social History, 55, 3 (Spring): 668–694. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jsh/shab039

Saramo, Samira (2021). “Archives of Place, Feeling, and Time: Immersive Historical Field Research in the (Finnish) U.S. Midwest.” Qualitative Research, 23,2: 399-416. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941211033086

Teaching and supervision

I currently supervise PhD dissertations on themes of Finnish migration and colonialism at University of Helsinki, University of Tampere, and University of Turku.