Varpu Alasuutari

I started working as a postdoc at Tampere University in fall 2021.

I mainly do research but have some teaching responsibilities as well. In spring 2022, I coordinate the online course "Perhe ja läheissuhteet sateenkaaren alla" (in Finnish). Starting from autumn 2022, I will grade the essays on Sexuality and Intimate Relations. I also supervise PhD and master students with topics that align with my research interests and expertise.

I am interested in the diversity of sexuality, gender, and relationships, as well as their history. In my current research, I explore the history of Christian queer activism in Finland from the perspective of affect theory. Previously I have studied LGBTQ+ people's experiences of grief, death, and friendship in difficult life situations. I have participated in founding the international Queer Death Studies Network and co-edited a special issue (in Finnish) on trans studies and intersex studies (Sukupuolentutkimus-Genusforskning 1/2017).

I work in the project Affective Activism: Sites of Queer and Trans World-Making, funded by the Academy of Finland.

In this project, I study the early decades of Christian queer activism in Finland (1969-2002), the affective tensions between the church institution and homosexuality, and the feelings and hopes of people involved in the activism.

Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Trans Studies

Juvonen, Tuula; Alasuutari, Varpu; Kähkönen, Lotta & Tainio, Luca (2022). Syrjäytettyjen tunteet aktivismissa. Politiikasta.fi. Published 8.2.2022. https://politiikasta.fi/syrjaytettyjen-tunteet-aktivismissa/ 

Alasuutari, Varpu & Heinonen, Anna (2021). Diverse Intimacies: On Friendship, Communal Living, and Non-Monogamy. The Research Network of Singlehood Studies Blog. Published 3.12.2021. https://singlehoodstudies.net/2021/12/03/diverse-intimacies-on-friendship-communal-living-and-non-monogamy/  

Alasuutari, Varpu (2021). Tied Together by Death: Post-Mortem Forms of Affective Intimacy in LGBTQ People’s Stories of Partner Loss. NORA: Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 29:3, 203-215. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2021.1903554  

Alasuutari, Varpu; Whitestone, Stephenson Brooks; Goret, Laura Hansen; Jaworski, Katrina; Doletskaya, Olga & Zubillaga-Pow, Jun (2021). What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Queer Death? / 2 LGBTQ+ Necropolitics. Whatever. A Transdisciplinary Journal of Queer Theories and Studies, 4, 599–630. https://whatever.cirque.unipi.it/index.php/journal/article/view/148  

Alasuutari, Varpu (2020). Death at the End of the Rainbow: Rethinking Queer Kinship, Rituals of Remembrance and the Finnish Culture of Death. Annales Universitatis Turkuensis B 513. Turku: University of Turku. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-8074-1 

Alasuutari, Varpu (2020). Queer-ystävyys perheenä ja tukiverkostona. In Lahti, Annukka; Aarnio, Kia; Moring, Anna & Kerppola-Pesu, Jenni (eds.) Perhe- ja läheissuhteet sateenkaaren alla. Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 167–181.

Alasuutari, Varpu (2018). Queerit perheet ja läheisen kuolema. In Eerola, Petteri & Pirskanen, Henna (eds.), Perhe ja tunteet. Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 185–201.

Alasuutari, Varpu; Kondelin, Sade; Tainio, Luca; Toriseva, Roosa & Vähäpassi, Valo (eds.) (2017). Special Issue: Transtutkimus ja intersukupuolisuuden tutkimus. Sukupuolentutkimus-Genusforskning 30(1).