Claudia Nierste studied Finnish and Scandinavian Studies at the Universities of Greifswald and Tampere (Finland), where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree. She subsequently completed a Master’s degree in Language Diversity “Linguistics of Finnish and Slavic Cultures” at the same universities. Since February 2026, she has been a doctoral researcher within the International Research Training Group “Baltic Peripeties. Narratives of Reformations, Revolutions and Catastrophes” at the University of Greifswald. Alongside her academic work, she has held positions as a teaching assistant at the University of Helsinki, as an instructor of Finnish in adult education, and as a freelance translator for the language pairs Finnish–German and English–German. Her research interests encompass Finnish foreign policy and national identity, discourse linguistics, and the semantics of political key concepts in public discourse.
Claudia Nierste
University of Greifswald
Department of Finnish and Scandinavian Studies
Ernst-Lohmeyer-Platz 3
17489 Greifswald
Germany
claudia.nierste[at]uni-greifswald.de
Personal site at the Department of Finnish and Scandinavian Studies
The concept of neutrality in Finnish foreign policy has taken different shapes since the declaration of the country’s independence in 1917, including such disparate stances as passive conflict avoidance in times of war and freedom from alliances in times of peace on the one hand and an active mediating role in international conflicts on the other. My project analyses how meanings and narratives around neutrality as a foreign policy have been constructed in the Finnish public discourse, how these narratives have conceptualized Finland’s place within the Nordic and Baltic Sea regions and how they integrate into the overarching narratives of Finnish national identity.
Nierste, Claudia 2025: References to the Primary World in Finnish Climate Fiction. – Jyrki Korpua, Aino- Kaisa Koistinen, Hanna-Riikka Roine & Marta Mboka Tveit (Hrsgg.): Nordic Speculative Fiction: Research, Theory, and Practise S. 129–146. Oxon u.a.: Routledge.
Mitherausgeberin des Jahrbuchs für finnisch-deutsche Literaturbeziehungen seit 2023, zuletzt erschienen:
Satu Grünthal, Marja Järventausta, Kukku Melkas, Stefan Moster, Maximilian Murmann, Claudia Nierste & Gabriele Schrey-Vasara (Hrsgg.): Jahrbuch für finnisch-deutsche Literaturbeziehungen 56. Deutsche Bibliothek: Helsinki, 2024.
als Mitherausgeberin:
Saskia Geisler, Claudia Nierste & Benjamin Schweitzer (Hrsgg.): Kultur – Archiv der Zukunft. Essays zu Werten und Gleichstellung. Veröffentlichungen der Aue-Stiftung 50. Grevenbroich: Heiner Labonde, 2023.
University studies and degrees
- since 02/2026
- PhD Researcher at the International Research Training Group “Baltic Peripeties. Narratives of Reformations, Revolutions and Catastrophes” at the University of Greifswald
- 4/2017 – 04/2021
- M.A. in Language Diversity – Linguistics of Finnish and Slavic Cultures at the Universities of Greifswald und Tampere, Finland
- 10/2013 – 09/2016
- B.A. in Finnish and Scandinavian Studies at the Universities of Greifswald und Tampere, Finland
Professional Background
Professional background
- 08/2021 – 06/2022
- Teaching assistant at the University of Helsinki, Finland
- 08/2021 – 05/2022
- Publishing Assistant at the imprint “Finnland bei Scoventa” of the publisher Scoventa
- 04/2021 – 08/2024
- Teacher of Finnish in adult education
- since 04/2021
- Freelance translator for Finnish-German and English-German
- 07/2017 – 03/2018
- Student assistant at the Department of Finnish and Scandinavian studies, University of Greifswald
Teaching
- Autumn term 2021
- Seminar on oral and written communication as part of the undergraduate course Saksankielinen kommunikaatio(“Communication in German”), University of Helsinki, Finland