Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen: Organizer XV SALSA Conference (2025)

Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen

Organizer

XV SALSA Biennial Conference – Helsinki, 4-6 August 2025

Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen received her doctorate in Latin American studies from the University of Helsinki in 2007. She has carried out fieldwork in southwestern Amazonia, especially with the Arawak-speaking Manchineri and Apurinã in the Purus River region, Brazil. Her work is situated in the fields of environmental anthropology, anthropology of sustainability, medical anthropology, and anthropology of education. For a long time, she has also collaborated with archaeologists and linguists. Her published work addresses, among others, long term human-environment interactions, Amazonian Indigenous leaderships, mobility, youth, and urbanity. Her current research interests include epistemological injustice, synergy of knowledges, and research ethics. In addition to her academic work, Virtanen has co-authored various Indigenous school materials. Currently she is Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Helsinki and is affiliated to the Centre EREA, Université Paris Nanterre. She served as a committee member in the latest iteration of SALSA’s Whitten Research Award competition.

Institutional webpage: https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/pirjo-kristiina-virtanen