Otto Latva
PhD, Adjunct Professor
onilat@utu.fi +358 29 450 3450 +358 50 328 9846 Arcanuminkuja 1 Turku Office: A213 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3265-3076 |
History; Biodiversity; Human-Animal Studies; Human-Plant Studies; Sea; Ocean; Baltic Sea; 20th Century; 19th Century; 18th Century; 16th Century; Environmental History; Cultural History; Posthumanism; More-than-human history; Oral History; History of Science; History of Zoology; History of Knowledge; Maritime History; Biodiversity loss; Climate Change; Digital Humanities; Big Data; Giant Squid; Mollusks; Insects; Sea monsters; History of Animal Farming; Maritime Literature; Seafarers; History of Whaling;
Leading projects such as HumBio (Academy of Finland) and FaFFe (Kordelin). Director of the Wave Riders – Center for Environmental Humanities. Researcher in BIODIFORM consortium.
I am a historian focusing on human-animal and human-plant studies as well as environmental history. I have the title of docent in the field of more-than-human history. I have studied widely the early modern as well as the nineteenth-century and twentieth-century societies and cultures. In my previous studies, I have investigated the shared history of humans and animals, the long-term understanding of the marine environment, and the history of seafaring culture. I am also interested in many other matters concerning the relationship between humans and non-human nature. In addition to this, I am interested in the methods of digital humanities.
I lead a research project Disappeared, Endangered and Newly Arrived Species: The Human Relationship with the Changing Biodiversity of the Baltic Sea (HumBio). The webpage of the project is https://sites.utu.fi/humbio/en/. The project is funded by the Academy of Finland 2021-2025.
I also lead the Memories of Porpoises: The shared past of humans and porpoises in the Finnish sea area project. The project is funded by the Weisell Foundation 2022-2023 and the webpage of the project is https://sites.utu.fi/pyoriaismuistot/en/
In addition to these, I lead Fauna and Flora Fennica (FaFFe) project, funded by the Alred Kordelin Foundation's Major Cultural Projects programme 2023-2025 . The webpage of the project is https://sites.utu.fi/faffe/en/
From 2022 to 2024, I will be a University Lecturer in Cultural Heritage Studies. I will be responsible for the Graduate Seminar on the subject and will also teach several courses. I am also responsible for teaching and coordinating museology on the Pori campus.
Altogether, I have taught several lectures from the perspective of more-than-human history, mainly on Human-Animal Studies. I have also organized several popular courses mainly with the above-mentioned theme. For instance, I organized and coordinated a lecture course with multiple lecturers on Animal and Plant Studies within Humanities with my colleague Heta Lähdesmäki in 2015. In 2020, I organized and taught an international lecture course "Sea, Nature and Finnish Culture", which was especially popular among exchange students. In addition to sole lectures and courses, I have led thematic seminar courses for the MA students of Cultural History from 2013 to 2018. During the first years, I led the seminar on Oral History. Since 2015, I have led the "Memory and Narrative" seminar with my colleague Maarit Leskelä-Kärki and later with Karoliina Sjö. In 2021, I taught a seminar on Environmental and Maritime history.
- Apolloperhonen (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Lähdesmäki, Heta; Latva, Johanna
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Harmaahaikara (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Jämsä, Aino; Latva, Otto
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Hirvi (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Rantala, Heli
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Johdanto (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Lähdesmäki, Heta; Kallioniemi, Noora; Uusitalo, Harri; Kyyrö, Jere
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Jokihelmisimpukka (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Merimetso (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Naali (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Kallioniemi, Noora; Latva, Otto; Latva, Johanna
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Puutiainen (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Pyöriäinen (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Kallioniemi, Nora; Jämsä, Aino; Laine, Silja; Latva, Otto Latva; Rantala, Heli
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Rakkolevä (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Kirsi Sonck-Rautio
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Sinilevä (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Sonck-Rautio, Kirsi; Jämsä, Aino
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto (2025) Latva, Otto; Lähdesmäki, Heta; Uusitalo, Harri; Kallioniemi, Noora
(D6 Editorial work for a non-refereed scientific compilation book) - Susi (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Lähdesmäki, Heta; Latva, Otto; Kallioniemi, Noora; Uusitalo, Harri; Laine, Silja; Sundell, Nina; Tiilikainen, Tiina; Latva, Johanna; Haanpää, Jenna; Laine, Verna; Lahdenniemi, Elina; Lindberg, Pelle; Nissinen, Tiina; Rantala, Henna; Selin, Lotta; Tiempo, Nina; Vaskivuori, Sonja; Vilkkula, Petra
(B2 Non-refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Alien Plants between Practices and Representations : The Cases of European Spruce and Beach Rose in Finland (2024)
- Plant perspectives
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Animal Industries: Nordic Perspectives on the Exploitation of Animals since 1860 (2024) Syrjämaa Taina, Jalava Marja, Kaarlenkaski Taija, Latva Otto, Nikkilä Eeva, Räsänen Tuomas
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Arrivals and Departures: The Human Relationship with Changing Biodiversity (2024) Latva, Otto; Lähdesmäki, Heta; Sonck-Rautio, Kirsi; Uusitalo, Harri
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Coming to terms with fish farming and fish consciousness (2024) Animal Industries: Nordic Perspectives on the Exploitation of Animals since 1860 Latva Otto
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - From Harmless Nuisance to Frightening Enemy: the Perceptions of Ticks in Finland before the Beginning of the Tick Hysteria in the 1990s (2024) Human–Bug Encounters in Multispecies Networks Latva, Otto
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Human–Bug Encounters in Multispecies Networks (2024) Hollsten, Laura; Latva, Otto; Lillbroända-Annala, Sanna; Rytty, Suvi; Räsänen, Tuomas
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Introduction (2024) Human–Bug Encounters in Multispecies Networks Hollsten, Laura; Rytty, Suvi; Latva, Otto; Lillbroända-Annala, Sanna; Räsänen, Tuomas
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book)