DR, Research Fellow Ella Viitaniemi
In my research, I have always combined social and administrative history. Demographics and social changes as well as distortions in class society are a key element in the rural society of the 18th century. In this project, my special research area is the social, economic and political disparity of the population during the 18th century.
In my doctoral thesis Yksimielisyydestä yhteiseen sopimiseen. Paikallisyhteisön poliittinen kulttuuri ja Kokemäen kivikirkon rakennusprosessi (Tampere, 2018), I looked at the local community and examined population growth and social segregation and how they influenced e.g. the seating order at the church and particularly the decision-making of the town. At the same time, I examined the movement and traffic as well as the formation and transformation of population centres in the pre-modern community.
Post doc project (No. 1) Reunamailla. Tilattomat Länsi-Suomen maaseudulla 1600–1800 (together with DR Riikka Miettinen, 2015-2017). The central question of the project was what kind of significance and position did the landless population have in rural Western Finland from the 17th to the 19th century. The landless population was approached from both an actor- and activity-centred and a social-historical point of view. In addition, landlessness was considered as a process. The main result of the project was an article collection titled Reunamailla. Tilattomat Länsi-Suomen maaseudulla 1600–1800 (SKS, 2018), which deals with the whole spectrum of landlessness as well as all landless groups. The book focuses on four main themes: 1) the status of landless persons and their position as a labour force, 2) the landless population and their relationship with owning, using and farming the land, 3) the categorisation of the landless population, 4) social mobility and the birth of landlessness, as well as landlessness as a phase of life. Through these perspectives, the work features a functional and structural research approach into landless people and landlessness, defines and conceptualises landlessness and participates in current international discussion.
Post doc research The making of rural citizens / Kansalaisuus ja julkinen tila Länsi-Suomen maaseutuyhteisöissä 1700-luvulla (Koneen säätiö, 2018-2020). Citizenship is one of the key concepts of the latter half of the 18th century. I study how public space was formed in the rural community of Sweden and how peasants became rural citizens during the 18th century.
I study how public space, which is generally regarded as an urban phenomenon, was formed in pre-industrial rural towns. I study how rural churches acted as local information centres and places where the political and social life of the community was centred. I also examine how public alerts were used to create public space at the local level. I will look at this development in Western Finland, especially in the deanery of Ala-Satakunta, which consisted of old, wealthy and populous parishes.