Elise Kraatila
About me
Dr. Elise Kraatila is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working in the field of narrative studies. Her research project at Tampere IAS concerns the rhetoric and epistemics of speculative storytelling across contemporary Finnish and Anglophone media environment. Speculative narratives, in fiction as well as nonfictional texts like news media and science communication, are characterized by scenario-building and hypothetical or contrafactual ‘what if’ propositions. In the atmosphere of uncertainty that currently pervades our media discourses (captured by the term ‘permacrisis’, Collins Dictionaries Word of the Year 2022), making the future seem both unpredictable and precarious, such narratives are frequently used to consolidate, communicate and legitimize contingent knowledge about possible futures.
The project asks, what potential do these speculative narratives have to provide epistemic access to such futures – and how do they shape, expand or constrain our collective ability to imagine what those futures might look like?
Latest publications
Narrative Literacy for the Age of ‘Permacrisis’: Speculative Journalism and Challenges of Narrativizing Uncertain Futures
Kraatila, E., 31 May 2025, In: Journal of Narrative Theory. 55, 1, p. 59-80 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Porvariston hillitön pöhinä: Queen of Fucking Everything ja keskiluokkakuvaus
Kraatila, E., Laukkanen, M. & Pirinen, R., 10 Apr 2025, In: Alusta!.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › General public
Roadmaps for saving the world? Construction and use of master and counter-narratives in programmatic climate fiction
Kraatila, E., 18 Jun 2025, In: Frontiers of Narrative Studies. 11, 1, p. 31-50 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Speculative Mimesis in Fantasy Literature: Rethinking Relations Between Fiction and Reality
Kraatila, E., 13 Nov 2025, London: Bloomsbury Academic. 208 p. (Perspectives on Fantasy)Research output: Book/Report › Book › Scientific › peer-review
Suomalaisten Nato-päätös kollektiivisena epifaniana: Kertomus kansallisesta havahtumisesta
Translated title of the contribution :Finland's decision to join NATO as a collective epiphany: A narrative of national awakening Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Mahdottomien mahdollisuuksien maailmat: Metamodernistinen todellisuussuhde ja utooppinen eetos Emmi Itärannan spekulatiivisessa fiktiossa
Translated title of the contribution :Worlds of Impossible Possibilities: Metamodernist Mimesis and Utopian Ethos in Emmi Itäranta’s Speculative Fiction Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
N. K. Jemisinin välineellistyvä ja välineellistävä poetiikka: Spekulatiivisen fiktion käyttömahdollisuudet kuvittelusta kannanottoon
Kraatila, E., 17 Jun 2024, Kirjailijapoetiikat: Poetiikan näkökulmia kirjailijoiden tuotantoon. Isomaa, S., Björninen, S., Hatavara, M. & Jolma, N. (eds.). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, p. 252-273 (Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seuran toimituksia; no. 1492).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
Book Review: Steel as the Answer? Viking Bodies, Power, and Masculinity in Anglophone Fantasy Literature 2006–2016
Kraatila, E., 2023, In: Fafnir. 10, 2, p. 148–149 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › Scientific
Conversation: What, How, Where, and Why is Speculation?
Varis, E., Kraatila, E., Roine, H.-R. & Bro Trasmundi, S., 2023, In: Fafnir. 10, 2, p. 103-123 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific
Lectio Praecursoria: Speculative Mimesis – Beyond Non-Mimetic Models
Kraatila, E., Jun 2022, In: Fafnir - Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research. 9, 1, p. 80-89 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific