معرفی
Mandira Halder is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Social Sciences, affiliated with the Diversity in Society and Life (DIVSOL) and Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies (Urbaria) research units. She serves as Principal Investigator for a Svenskaliteratursällskapet-funded project (2024-2025) on Swedish as second language acquisition for non-white migrant pupils in Finland's Swedish-speaking minority context, while teaching core courses on decolonial approaches to family studies and inequality.
Education:
- PhD in Educational Sciences, University of Geneva (awarded February 2024). Dissertation: From self-evaluation to effective practice: Teaching German, a professional development challenge for future generalist primary school teachers.
Research Focus: Her work critically examines intersectional language barriers through frameworks of anti-racism and decolonial pedagogy, specifically investigating how multilingual children navigate monolingual Finnish/Swedish educational systems. She pioneers methodologies for centering Dalit perspectives in Nordic educational research while addressing systemic inequalities in minority language acquisition.
Current Projects: Leading the 'Flersvensk' initiative (2024-2025) while contributing to two major collaborative efforts:
- EU-funded Inclusive Citizenship in a world in Transition (2023-2026) analyzing cross-border inequality patterns
- Academy of Finland's InterEarth RESET (2023-2028) examining social-ecological justice frameworks
Teaching Philosophy: Integrates critical race theory with practical language pedagogy, notably through her course Child and family-related questions in a changing society which challenges Eurocentric educational models. Her guest lectures on 'decolonizing inequality studies' have reshaped curriculum approaches at the Helsinki Inequality Initiative.
Collaborative Network: Maintains active partnerships with Åbo Akademi, University of Vienna, and EU research consortia, with recent presentations at the INEQ Research Seminar on transnational inequality manifestations.
