Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen

Education

2013     Docent (habilitation), Latin American studies.

2007     PhD, Latin American Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland. 

2000   Master of Arts. University of Turku. Major in Comparative Religion and Philosophy. Minor in Development Studies, History, and Educational Studies.

Most important posts:

2016    Professor (tenure track) in Indigenous Studies, University of Helsinki.

2016    Researcher in the project "Mind and the Other – An Interdisciplinary Study on the Interactions of Multiple Realities", funded by the Academy of Finland.

2015    Researcher in the project "United in Diversity: Monumental Landscapes, Regionality and Cultural Dynamism in Pre-Columbian Western Amazonia", funded by the Academy of Finland.

2014–2016   Project leader "Transforming the Future in Brazil: Ritual and Indigenous agencies". The project funded by the Research Funds of the University of Helsinki.

2013–2016   Member of the project Fabriq’Am (La fabrique des “patrimoines”: Mémoires, savoirs et politique en Amérique indienne aujourd’hui), funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche. Université Paris Oueste, Nanterre La Défense.

2015    Visiting scholar in the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana.

2010–2014 Postdoctoral research project "New native leaderships and forms of power in Amazonia". University of Helsinki and the Centre EREA of LESC, Université de Paris Ouest – Nanterre la Défense. The project funded by the Academy of Finland.

2013  Project leader of "Creative Indigenous Actors: Integration of Indigenous Studies at the University of Helsinki", funded by the Faculty of Art’s Future Fund. Department of World Cultures, University of Helsinki, Finland.

(2012   Maternity leave)

2012–2013   Principal partner investigator in the bilateral research project "Movement and Spatial Construction" with the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

(2011 Maternity leave)

2008–2010   Postdoctoral researcher, the Centre EREA (Enseignement et Recherche en Ethnologie Amérindienne) of Ethnology and Comparative Sociology Research Institute, Université de Paris Ouest – Nanterre la Défense, Paris. Personal post doctoral project "Multidimensional Tradition, Embodied Alterity and indigenous youth in Amazonia" funded by the Academy of Finland and the Kone Foundation.

2009 Teamleader in "Oral Tradition at Indigenous Schools in Amazonia" project with the Manchineri community and Pro-Indian Commission (Comissão Pró-Índio do Acre), Brazil. Joint Social Action funded by the Tokyo Foundation.

2005, 2008   Researcher in the project "Man and Nature in Western Amazonian history", funded by the Academy of Finland.

2007-2008   Researcher in the project "Cultural Systems, Folk Religion and Modernization in the Amazon", funded by the Academy of Finland.

2007  Project member in "Bridging the distance" –project among Oneida youth, Canada. Joint Social Action funded by the Tokyo Foundation.

Membership in editorial boards and evaluator roles:

• Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, member of the editorial board, 2011->
• Referee for Current Anthropology, American Ethnologist, Anthropological Quarterly, Revue Brésil(s): Sciences humaines et sociales (EHESS), Alternative: International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Etudes Andines (IFEA), Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, International Review of Education–Journal of Lifelong Learning, Journal of the Finnish Anthropologial Society, Kosmopolis, Amazônica: Revista de Antropologia (UFPA), Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Comisión del Área de Ciencias Sociales de la Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) de la Argentina, National Science Centre of Poland, and Anthropological and Spatial Studies ZRC-SAZU (Slovenia).

Most important foreign research visits:

• Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, visiting scholar in 2014, 2015, 2016.
• University of Bremen 2015, visiting lecturer.
• Centre EREA (Enseignement et Recherche en Ethnologie Amérindienne), Ethnology and Comparative Sociology Research Institute/ Université de Paris Ouest – Nanterre la Défense, France, visiting scholar in 2008 and 2009.
• Universidade de São Paulo, Department of Anthropology, Brazil, visiting scholar in 2007.
• Universidade Federal do Acre, Brazil, several co-operation visits in 2003–2010.

Personal awards and grants:

2017    Finnish National Cultural Foundation, scientific workshops grant

2013    University of Helsinki, the Research Funds, 3-years project

2013    Faculty of Arts, the Future Funds, pilot project

2009    Academy of Finland, three years’ postdoctoral project

2008    Academy of Finland, research visit and fieldwork grant

2008    Kone Foundation, research grant

2007    Bourse Legs Lelong, CNRS/France, research visit grant

2006    Sariola Foundation, research grant 

2005    Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Foundation (Sylff), University of Helsinki, research grant 

2004    Finnish Konkordia Fund, research grant

2003    Finnish National Cultural Foundation, research grant 

Memberships in science associations:

• Member of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA)
• Member of the American Anthropological Association (AAA)
• Member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA)
• Member of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (SALSA)
• Member of the Latin American Studies Associatin (LASA)
• Member of the Finnish Society for Science and Technology Studies (STT)
• Member of the Nordic Network for Gender Studies in Latin America (HAINA)
• Member of the Finnish Anthropological Society
• Member of the Société des Américanistes
• Member of the Finnish Society for the Study of Religion
• Member of the Helsinki Association of Researcher Women