Photo: Emma Suominen
Kim Ramstedt
I am a researcher and educator specialized in the movement and mediation of music and the power dynamics this entails. I have lectured and coordinated courses on the topic since 2007 at Åbo Akademi University, University of Turku, University of Helsinki, Dalarna University College in Sweden and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where I worked as an assistant professor in musicology 2022-2024. I have also given talks and organized training on music and racism for organizations in Finland and Sweden.
Currently, I am studying race as a social category in the field of music in the Kone Foundation funded research project Music scholars in society: Advancing social justice through activist music research (University of Helsinki / Suoni 2020-2025). I am investigating how music scholarship and media in Europe is equipped to deal with the systematic and structural injustices of racism. I am also conducting autoethnographic research as a white DJ involved in the African club scene in Finland, where I investigate the challenges involved in addressing racism in a club context. The aim of this research is to find ways of implementing principles of anti-racist activism in the methods and pedagogics of music studies.
In addition to my research and educational work, I have composed, produced and worked as a sound engineer on several releases, organized clubs and events. I have performed as a DJ at some of the biggest festivals in Finland and in several other countries. Between 2009 and 2019 I worked as a DJ and radio host on the semi-national Basso radio station. I have been an active board member in several association and the chairperson for Research Association Suoni between 2022 and 2024.
Reflexivity and disclosure of positionality are essential both in my research and in my teaching. As a white non-disabled cis-male studying systems of oppression, I acknowledge that I have no experiential knowledge on the topic. Rather than analyzing and possibly contributing to the normalization of the damage and distress caused by structures that I benefit from, my work interrogates privilege and how it not only creates injustice, but often works to obstruct any efforts of dismantling it. I identify as an activist scholar and aspire to use my academic position and the resources it provides me for action and work towards social justice.
Links
List of publications and activities on the University of Helsinki database