DR. INKA RANTAKALLIO

Inka Rantakallio (PhD) is a music researcher and Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher (2021–24). She specializes in popular music and rap, and her research interests include gender, feminism, race, and worldviews. Rantakallio received her doctorate in Musicology from the University of Turku in 2019. In her dissertation New Spirituality, Atheism, and Authenticity in Finnish Underground Rap (2019), she analyzed Finnish underground rappers' perceptions of authenticity, new spirituality, and atheism. She has co-edited the anthologies Hiphop Suomessa: Puheenvuoroja tutkijoilta ja tekijöiltä (Hip-hop in Finland: Researchers’ and practitioners’ perspectives, 2019), Kuka kuuluu? Kirjoituksia hiphopista ja feminismistä (Who belongs? Writings on hip-hop and feminism, 2021), and Musiikki ja merkityksenanto: Juhlakirja Susanna Välimäelle (Music and meaning making: A book in honour of Susanna Välimäki, 2020). She is the editor-in-chief of Suoni's Toiminta Soi online publication.

Additionally, Rantakallio has worked as a radio journalist (Bassoradio), podcaster (YleX), music critic (e.g. Rumba) and DJ. As a DJ, she performs with the feminist rap duo SOFA and as part of the FWU collective. Rantakallio is especially known for expressing feminist viewpoints on hip-hop in the media, and she also discussed hip-hop feminism in her TEDx speech in 2018.