Miia Kuha

I work at the School of Theology in the research project “Lutheran Masculinities 1517-1937”. My research focuses on Finland and the wider context of the Swedish realm in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the project, I examine norms and ideals of masculinity in early modern clerical families. In my previous research project, I have examined the roles and agency of clergymen’s wives and widows within their families and communities, and in the current project I’m turning my attention to parish pastors in the roles of husband and father.

I hold the title of docent at the University of Jyväskylä. In 2016, I defended my dissertation on the celebration of holy days in 17th-century Eastern Finnish parish communities. In the context of the early modern period, I have also studied clerical careers and the relationship between clergy and local communities, Eastern Finnish extended families, lived religion among the peasantry and the agency of clergymen’s widows. I have also studied the history of Finnish and Swedish history writing focusing on the early modern period in the 19th and 20th centuries. The sources I use for my research are mainly funeral sermons, lower court records, parish visitation records and petition letters as well as other official correspondence.

In my research project “Marriage, gender and emotions in women’s funeral sermons in early modern Finland (1615-1735)”, funded by Svenska Litteratursällskapet i Finland (SLS), I analyse representations of marital relationships and the construction of gender in printed funeral biographies in 17th- and early 18th-century Finland.