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 Sciences.

Most important posts

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

2023-2026 Project leader "Biocultural heritage and non-linear time", funded by the Kone Foundation.

2021–2024 Project leader "Conceptualizing Biodiversity in Amazonia", funded by the Academy of Finland.

2020-22      Project leader "The Anthropocene in an onto-ethico-linguistic approach in Amazonia", UH Faculty of Arts, Future Fund.

2016–21 Director and researcher in the Academy of Finland project "Large-scale Subclimax in the Amazonian Lowland Forests due to Pre-Colombian Deforestation". The University of Helsinki and University of Turku research consortium. 

2017–2019   Project leader "Indigenous Research Methods in Academia", funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Nordic network of 20 researchers.

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

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

2014–2016   Project leader "Transforming the Future in Brazil: Ritual and Indigenous agencies", the University of Helsinki 3-year projects.

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 Nanterre.

2010–2014 Postdoctoral researcher in the Academy of Finland project "New native leaderships and forms of power in Amazonia".

(2010, 2012 Maternity leave)

2008–2010   Postdoctoral researcher, the Centre EREA (Enseignement et Recherche en Ethnologie Amérindienne), Université de Paris Nanterre, funded by the Academy of Finland and the Kone Foundation.

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

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

2005 Researcher in the Academy of Finlandproject "Man and Nature in Western Amazonian history".

Positions of trust and evaluator roles

• Since 2023, Finnish National IPBES working group
• Since 2020, Board member of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America.
• Since 2023, Advisory board member of CHAM, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.
• Since 2018, Working group member of the Sámi Research Ethical Principles, Finland.
• Since 2022, Editorial Board member of the Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society.
• Since 2020, Board member of the Finnish Ibero-American Foundation.
• Since 2018, Board member of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS).
• Since 2022, Faculty of Arts Research committee member, University of Helsinki.
• Since 2016, Board member of Intercultural Encounter Master program, UH.
• Since 2017, Board member of Finnish language and Fenno-ugrian languages and cultures master program.
• 2017-2/2023 Steering Committee member of the HELSUS–Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science.
• Since 2015, and 2010–13, University of Helsinki Research Fund’s Sylff Steering Committee member.
• 2019-2022 Whitten Research Fund Committee member (and chair since 2020), Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America.
• 2011–2018 Editorial Board member of the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology.
• 2019–2022, Sustainability Self-steering Committee Member, UNA-Europa-EU.
• 2019–2021 Teaching committee member, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki.
• 2007–2013 Chair person of the Sylff Alumni Association, UH.
• Referee for academic journals and publishing houses, e.g. Current Anthropology, American Ethnologist, AlterNative: International Journal of Indigenous peoples, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Anthropological Quarterly, Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Human Ecology, Routledge, etc.
• Evaluator for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, University of Helsinki Research Funds, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica de la Argentina, National Science Centre of Poland.

Most important foreign research visits

•  Université de Paris Nanterre, Centre EREA (Enseignement et Recherche en Ethnologie Amérindienne), Ethnology and Comparative Sociology Research Institute, France in 2008, 2010.
• Universidade de São Paulo, Department of Anthropology, Brazil, visiting scholar in 2007.
• Universidade Federal do Acre, Brazil, several co-operation visits in 2003–2010.
• University of Gdansk, 2019, visiting lecturer.
• Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies, visiting scholar in 2014, 2015, 2016.
• University of Bremen 2015, visiting lecturer.

Awards and grants

2022    Kone Foundation (3 postdocs, 1 doctoral researcher)

2022    Svenska Kulturfonden (1 postdoc, 1 doctoral researcher)

2022    Finnish National Agency for Education (university exchange 2,5 years project)

2021    Academy of Finland, 4-year research project (PI + 4 researchers)

2020    Finnish Cultural Foundation, Lapland Regional Fund

2020    University of Helsinki, Faculty of Humanities, Future Fund, PI

2019    University of Helsinki, seed funding

2017    Finnish Cultural Foundation, scientific collaboration grant (co-PI + 20 scholars)

2013    University of Helsinki, the Research Funds, 3-year project (PI + 3 PhD researchers)

2013    Faculty of Arts, the Future Funds

2009    Academy of Finland, 3-year postdoctoral project

2008    Academy of Finland, research mobility (France) and fieldwork grant (Brazil)

2008    Kone Foundation, postdoctoral research grant

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

2006    Sariola Foundation, doctoral research grant 

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

2004    Finnish Konkordia Fund, doctoral research grant

2003    Finnish National Cultural Foundation, doctoral research grant  

Supervision 

• Supervisor of 19 doctoral dissertations (Indigenous and Sámi studies, Latin American Studies, Anthropology, Development studie, Linguistics, Education, Sustainable business). 6 completed.
• Supervisor of 22 master thesis (Latin American studies, Intercultural Encounters, Environmental change and global sustainability, Comparative Religion, Linguistics, Development studies, Geography).

Thesis and dissertation review tasks

• Reviewer of 9 doctoral dissertations (Federal University of Pará, University of Gothenburg, ISS at Hague, University of Lapland, University of Brasília, Université de Paris Ouest).
• Reviewer of several master theses at the UH, Arctic University of Norway, Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Federal University of Pará.

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 Association (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 Helsinki Association of Women Researchers