Sini Hassinen is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University Centre for the arts in Society. She has a background is in anthropology and African studies. Her research combines cultural analysis, decolonial and queer approaches, and participatory research methods.

More information about Sini Hassinen

Fields of interest

• Digital culture
• Queer theory
• Social movements
• Creative political expressions
• Democratic innovations
• Decolonial approaches
• Empirically grounded theory
• Ethnographic research methods
• Queer African Studies
• Care, joy, and hope in marginalized communities

Research

My research focuses on the creative social, cultural and political practices that marginalized communities employ to formulate alternatives to oppressive structures. I draw from disciplines across the arts, humanities and social sciences, and combine elements of affect theory, queer theory, decolonial approaches, anthropology, and cultural studies.

As part of the research project #DemocracyInAction, my current research focuses on virtual nightlife activism, with special emphasis on online night spaces’ potential for political expression, belonging, and bridging social divides. I explore the political potential of social media sharing practices and moments of joy on the dancefloor, with the aim of broadening the understanding of what counts as political action.

My PhD thesis was an interdisciplinary and ethnographic exploration of queer political imagination in Nairobi, Kenya; its materializations in physical and virtual spaces; and queer Kenyan subjects’ conceptualizations of its transformative potential. The study focused on the experiences of queer Kenyan women, trans and non-binary people, and the strategies that they collectively employ to create alternatives to their marginal position the society.

I have a special interest in creative and participatory knowledge production processes, informed by decolonial, queer and feminist approaches. Methodologically I combine online and offline ethnography, qualitative interviews and critical archival studies to gain insight on emerging forms of civic participation. My research is guided by the idea that research participants are experts of their own lives and experiences. I therefore critically inspect the boundary between data and theory and seek to highlight how different ways of knowing shape our conceptual, theoretical, and methodological approaches in studying cultural phenomena.  

Grants and awards

Individual grants:
October 2018- September 2023   Personal research grant. Global Challenges Scholarship Programme. University of Birmingham.

July 2023    Turing Scheme travel grant. University of Birmingham.

Collaborative Projects:
February 2025 - Present
Member of the research project #DemocracyInAction
Title – #DemocracyInAction: grassroots culture, arts and cultural spaces for political participation and expression online and offline in a resilient Europe
Principal Investigator – Dr.  Sara Brandellero
Co-coordinator: Dr. Kamila Krakowska Rodrigues
Host Institution – LUCAS, Leiden University
Funding – Horizon Europe Work Programme on Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society
https:⁠/⁠/www⁠.democracyinaction.eu/

February 2024 - August 2024
Member of the research project POLIMA
Title – Political Imagination and Everyday Utopias 
Principal Investigator – Prof. Suvi Salmenniemi
Host Institution – Department of Social Research, University of Turku
Funding – Research Council of Finland
https:⁠/⁠/polima.fi/
 

Curriculum Vitae

2025- Present
Postdoctoral researcher at LUCAS, Leiden University

2025
PhD in Anthropology and African Studies, University of Birmingham. United Kingdom

2024
Project researcher and lecturer in ethnography. Department of Social Research, University of Turku, Finland

2018
Master of Science in Social Sciences: International Development Studies and Cultural Encounters.
Roskilde University, Denmark

2014
Bachelor of Science in Social Sciences
Roskilde University, Denmark

Selected publications

Hassinen, S. (2024) “Here we believe that freedom is a collective dream.” Joyous defiance, shared spaces, and queer visions in Nairobi, Kenya. Doctoral thesis. University of Birmingham.

Hassinen, S. (2020) "Queer Activism in Kenya". In The Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics, 
edited by Nic Cheeseman, Karuti Kanyinga, and Gabrielle Lynch. Oxford: Oxford University 
Press, 2020. 

Hassinen, S. (2017) Songs of Change, Stories of the Nation – Narratives of Sexual Minorities in Negotiating “Kenyanness”. Masters’ dissertation. Roskilde University.