Biography
I am a doctoral researcher in social sciences at the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the University of Jyväskylä. My background is in social and cultural anthropology. I am particularly interested in research approaches such as multispecies studies, science and technology studies (STS), and social scientific environmental research, especially environmental anthropology. I specialize in knowledge production and human–nature relations from a multispecies perspective.
In my dissertation, which employs qualitative methods, I investigate the conservation practices of bird habitats in the Vanhankaupunginlahti Nature Reserve in Helsinki through the lens of multispecies cohabitability. Situated at the intersection of environmental social sciences and environmental philosophy, the research explores the production and maintenance of wetland bird landscapes both within and beyond the reserve.
Central themes of my study include the multispecies formation of more-than-human landscapes. The aim is to develop an understanding of how the habitability of different species is constructed and negotiated in practice. The study sheds light on the material requirements involved in producing multispecies habitability. The research site offers a unique opportunity to examine how the area’s environmental values are managed through multispecies relations. The research also explores how different modes of knowledge production affect understandings of landscapes, and how these different ways of knowing interact with the wider political sphere of land-use policies.
This dissertation is part of Assistant Professor Teea Kortetmäki’s ERC-funded interdisciplinary research project at the University of Jyväskylä: COHAB – Environmental Landscape Ethics, A Theory of Cohabitability. Developing a theory of landscape ethics, the project generates new knowledge and theoretical frameworks for better integrating multispecies cohabitation into land-use planning in an era of human-driven biodiversity loss.
