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 and practices of marriage 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 was granted the title of docent in 2023 from 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 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.

I have especially been interested in questions related to religious norms and the examination of social changes and continuities in the post-Reformation era, especially through micro-historical case studies. I am particularly interested in how religious, communal and social norms influenced the everyday life of families and communities, and how they were adopted, modified, and rejected.