Sanna Mustasaari

Associate Professor Mustasaari directs the research group Beyond Borders, Norms and Boxes (BBNB) and supervises the following PhD candidates: Rahma Hersi (How do Finnish Muslim Women Engage with Islamic Normativity in Their Professional Lives, UEF); Noora Kivioja (Studying the dynamics of transnational child welfare in Finland. The case of child returnees from conflict areas, University of Helsinki); Jarrah Kaisa Kollei (Who has the right to a good divorce? Rainbow people’s experiences of accessing rights, UEF); Kati Saurula (Coordination of services for children with neuropsychiatric symptoms and their families, UEF); and Fairuz Muthana (A multilayered theoretical anti-racist approach to honor based violence in Finland, University of Oulu).

Mustasaari’s recently completed research projects focus on transnational childhoods and children’s rights: Children Abroad: A Relational Analysis of Finnish Child Protection and Welfare in Transnational Contexts [CARELA], Research Council of Finland 2020-2024) adopted an interdisciplinary approach to study children’s rights to protection in various transnational settings. She was the PI of the NOS-HS exploratory workshop series Transnational Childhoods, Transnational Rights (https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/group/nos-hs-workshop-series-transnational-childhoods-transnational-rights-nordic-responses-to-global-challenges-in-the-field-of-child-protection/ ) and led a subproject in a Consortium that focuses on cross-border child protection (SUOJATIE, 2022-2024). Mustasaari’s PhD “Rethinking recognition: Transnational families and belonging in law” (2017) studied the diverse forms of the legality and recognition of family relationships in different normative systems.