Otto Latva
PhD, Adjunct Professor
onilat@utu.fi +358 29 450 3450 +358 50 328 9846 Arcanuminkuja 1 Turku : A213 |
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
- Harmaahaikara (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Jämsä, Aino; Latva, Otto
- Hirvi (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Rantala, Heli
- Johdanto (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Lähdesmäki, Heta; Kallioniemi, Noora; Uusitalo, Harri; Kyyrö, Jere
- Jokihelmisimpukka (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto
- Merimetso (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto
- Naali (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Kallioniemi, Noora; Latva, Otto; Latva, Johanna
- Puutiainen (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto
- Pyöriäinen (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Kallioniemi, Nora; Jämsä, Aino; Laine, Silja; Latva, Otto Latva; Rantala, Heli
- Rakkolevä (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Kirsi Sonck-Rautio
- Sinilevä (2025) Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto Latva, Otto; Sonck-Rautio, Kirsi; Jämsä, Aino
- Suomalaisten lajien historiallinen kartasto (2025) Latva, Otto; Lähdesmäki, Heta; Uusitalo, Harri; Kallioniemi, Noora
- 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
- Alien Plants between Practices and Representations : The Cases of European Spruce and Beach Rose in Finland (2024)
- Plant perspectives
- Animal Industries: Nordic Perspectives on the Exploitation of Animals since 1860 (2024) Syrjämaa Taina, Jalava Marja, Kaarlenkaski Taija, Latva Otto, Nikkilä Eeva, Räsänen Tuomas
- Arrivals and Departures: The Human Relationship with Changing Biodiversity (2024) Latva, Otto; Lähdesmäki, Heta; Sonck-Rautio, Kirsi; Uusitalo, Harri
- Coming to terms with fish farming and fish consciousness (2024) Animal Industries: Nordic Perspectives on the Exploitation of Animals since 1860 Latva Otto
- 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
- Human–Bug Encounters in Multispecies Networks (2024) Hollsten, Laura; Latva, Otto; Lillbroända-Annala, Sanna; Rytty, Suvi; Räsänen, Tuomas
- Introduction (2024) Human–Bug Encounters in Multispecies Networks Hollsten, Laura; Rytty, Suvi; Latva, Otto; Lillbroända-Annala, Sanna; Räsänen, Tuomas