Intersectionality in Finnish adult education research: insights from the Journal Aikuiskasvatus 2010–2016

The purpose of this article is to study intersectionality in Finnish research on adult education. The data we have chosen to this end consist of the articles published in the Finnish adult education journal Aikuiskasvatus between 2010 and 2016, a period that has seen an increase in multiculturalism and social division as well as in gendered and sexual diversity in Finnish society and in research. We ask how intersectionality is performed in the research and what kind of epistemology the discussion of differences adheres to. We understand intersectional differences and categories as processes, not stable essences. Our study indicates that only few articles analysed intersectional differences, most of these ones written in the context of feminist theorisation. Categories such as ethnicity and race were found to be lacking in the data, but age, gender, social class, education, occupation and learning difficulties were discussed.