Sakari Mesimäki (2020)

In contemporary Finland, entrepreneurship is seen as an increasingly well regarded and well-resourced way for individuals and groups to have an impact on the world—not only in the sphere of business and commerce, but in solving all manner of social and environmental problems. My PhD research project investigates the experience of entrepreneurial forms of agency and the tensions that emerge as these take an ever greater role in Finnish society.

I explore questions such as: How does entrepreneurial agency accommodate ethical and commercial goals? How is such agency experienced by individuals seeking to effect meaningful change in the world? How do the meanings of entrepreneurship evolve as the notion is applied in different contexts for different purposes? How does entrepreneurship encounter other forms of making a difference in the world, such as politics?

Political anthropology, linguistic anthropology, Japanese and East-Asian studies, neoliberalism, work, media, brands, corporate cultures, gender, sexuality