We would like to introduce our Fellow ELBOW research members – or FELBOWs – to our blog readers.

In the previous three blog posts, our project leader Soile Ylivuori, our researchers Annika Raapke and Stefan Schröder introduced themselves. We have one more researcher to be introduced, and she is our doctoral researcher, MSS Edna Huotari – who is Edna? Continue reading the interview and you will know!

Who are you?

I am Edna Huotari, a doctoral researcher at ELBOW. I finished a MSS in social and moral philosophy from University of Helsinki in 2022 and started my research at ELBOW in January 2023.

Outside of academic context I am a Eurovision enthusiast and start a new hobby almost every month. I have been into knitting and making pottery for some time know, we’ll see how long that lasts. I am originally from Helsinki and live in Berlin right now.

How did you get interested in history in the first place?

I did a minor in disability studies when doing my bachelor’s studies which led me into being more and more interested in criticism of eugenics. This interest in eugenics and the need to understand its legacy opened the doors for history of medicine, statistics, psychiatry and so on. Ever since, everything connected to histories of illness, health and normality have been big interests of mine.

What is your research topic in this project?

My research topic is medical knowledge construction within the context of medical electricity and history of psychiatry. My research examines the political implications in and factors within in these themes. Political implications in this context means questioning what it meant socially to be treated with medical electricity, who was chosen to be treated or tested upon and how these medical ideas and knowledge where in interaction with social and political hierarchies.

Studying medical knowledge construction also touches upon questions of why the history of medical electricity before the 20^th century has in many instances been forgotten or brushed over.

What is the best part of being a historian / researcher?

For me it is the fact that I get in some sense be curios for a living and learn new things constantly. Another aspect that I love is the opportunity to try to lift up events, voices and outlooks that have not previously gotten the attention they deserve.

What is the weirdest thing you have come up with in an archive?

Haven’t been to an archive yet! If I don’t find something at least a little bit odd, I will be disappointed.

How would you describe ELBOW project in one sentence?

Electrical sea creatures, strange medical experiments and good times.