Marjaana Jauhola

Research focus and expertise

Feminist peace research

Feminist political ecology and economy

Global inequalities and their governance

Entanglements of development, disasters and armed conflicts

Critical disaster studies and climate justice

Indonesia

India

For the past 20 years, my research has focused on issues of environmental disasters, armed conflict and political violence and their links to inequality and equity in humanitarian relief and reconstruction.

I am an ethnographer and documentarian examining the intertwining of multi-faceted inequality and violence and care in post-climate change, disaster and conflict situations. Geographically, I have focused on the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the Aceh armed conflict in Indonesia, and the 2001 Kachchh earthquake and 2023 Cyclone Biparjoy.

I am PI of EnVi(r)oCare: feminist analysis of commodity frontiers and ’living green’ (Research Council of Finland, 2023-27) which explores issues of regenerative labor and equity in the commodification of dates, natural fibers, and digital platforms in the green transition. In the project, I collaborate with KSKV Kachchh University and conduct action research with smallholder farmers in Kachchh on the social, ecological, and economic challenges of date farming, especially in the aftermath of Cyclone Bibarjoy in 2023.

I conduct interdisciplinary research that combines ethnography, biography, and grassroots archives. I promote collaborative research that crosses boundaries of language, education, and communication.

My previous research has focused on the inequalities of urban disaster aftermaths:

The co-authored monograph Emerging Feminist Peace from Below and Disaster Recovery: A Quilted Ethnography, published in 2025 with Shyam Gadhavi, is based on my research as an Academy Fellow (2015-2020), in which we examine issues of gender, disaster politics, political violence and nationalist populism in Gujarat, approaching it through the politics of temporary shelter. Our research method is based on oral tradition-based heritage મેઙ઼ાવો meḍavoo (meaning dialogue in the Kachchh language).

The monograph Scraps of Hope in Banda Aceh: Gendered Urban Politics in the Aceh Peace Mediation Process, published in 2020, is based on urban ethnography I conducted in Banda Aceh, where I examined the struggle against inequality in urban space. In addition to ethnography and biographical material, the research utilized documentary film. The book is a pioneering example of the use of scholarly monographs and embedded media and was awarded an honourable mention in 2022 by the International Studies Association’s International Political Sociology Section.

My PhD from the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University was published in 2013 on Post-Tsunami Reconstruction in Indonesia: Negotiating Norms Through Gender Mainstreaming Initiatives in Aceh. The research focused on the politics and normativity of gender mainstreaming strategies in post-tsunami and armed conflict reconstruction in Aceh, Indonesia.

In addition to my research, I teach feminist peace studies and everyday peace, decolonization of peace, and host a master’s thesis seminar in alternating years. In the academic year 2025-6, I will design and teach a new course on feminist political ecology and peace themes.

Honorary mention in 2022 by International political sociology book award at International Studies Association

Success in research funding mobilisation: Research Council of Finland (2023-27), Finnish Cultural Foundation (2015-6) ja EC Marie Curie Host Fellowship for Early Career Researchers (2006-9).

Member of board of Finnish peace research association (2023-)

Member of board of Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science (YHYS) (2025)

Member of editorial boards of bookseries:

Feminist Studies on Peace, Justice and Violence, Edinburgh University Press (2022-)

Pro et Contra book series, Helsinki University Press (2022-)

Reviewer for academic journals and publishers: Routledge, Gaudeamus, Vastapaino, International Affairs, Third World Quarterly, International Feminist Journal of Politics, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, Critical Military Studies, International Studies Review, Journal of Islamic Studies, Asia Pacific Viewpoint

Feminist peace research

Feminist political ecology and economy

Global inequalities and their governance

Entanglements of development, disasters and armed conflicts

Critical disaster studies and climate justice

Indonesia

India

2022- Senior Research Fellow, Tampere Peace Research Institute, Tampere University

2017-22 University lecturer, Global Development Studies, University of Helsinki

2015-20 Academy of Finland Fellow, University of Helsinki

2011-2015 several researcher positions, University of Helsinki

2011 University lecturer in World Politics, University of Helsinki

2010 Postdoctoral Fellow, Tampere Peace Research Institute, University of Tampere

2005-9 Marie Curie Early Career Research Fellow, University of Aberystwyth

Monografs

Jauhola, Marjaana and Shyam Gadhavi (2025) Emerging Feminist Peace from Below and Post-Disaster Recovery: A Quilted Ethnography. Routledge. OA.

Jauhola, Marjaana (2020) Scraps of Hope in Banda Aceh: Gendered Urban Politics in the Aceh Peace Mediation Process . Helsinki University Press. 

Jauhola, Marjaana (2013/2015) Post-Tsunami Reconstruction in Indonesia: Negotiating Norms Through Gender Mainstreaming Initiatives in Aceh. Routledge.

Peer reviewed articles and chapters in books

Jauhola, Marjaana, Aslihan Oguz, Satu Sundström, Ilona Steiler, and Violeta Gutiérrez Zamora (2025) ”Centring a Feminist Ethic of Care in Socio-Ecological Transformative Movements” in Just Socioecological Transformations: Linking ontological with structural, personal with collective change (ed. Sabaheta Ramcilovic-Suominen).

Jauhola, Marjaana (2024) “Gays mentioned” - Threat or Opportunity? Queer Feminist Analysis of the Value-Based Realism as a Foreign Affairs Doctrine of Finland in Support of Ukraine Recovery and Development Plan, SQS Journal 18(3), 60-66

Jauhola, Marjaana and Jarmo Jantunen (2024) “Queer Crises – From COVID-19 Pandemia to genocide, from gentrification to exiles”, Queer Crises special issue introduction in SQS Journal 18(3), i-vi.

Marjaana Jauhola (2022) ”Visual Methodologies: Theorizing Disasters and IR” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. Oxford University Press.

Jauhola, Marjaana, Niti Mishra, Jacquleen Joseph & Shyam Gadhavi (2021) “Disaster Recovery (after Catastrophes)” in Situating Sustainability: A Handbook of Contexts and Concepts, Parker Krieg and Reetta Toivanen (eds), Helsinki University Press.

Joseph, Jacquleen, Marjaana Jauhola, Lavanya Shanbhogue Arvind, and Shyam Gadhavi (2021). Wounded Attachments of Disaster Recovery: Gendered Structural Violence and Everyday life, Indian Experiences Explored. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 59(1):1-11. 

Meriläinen, Eija, Jacquleen Joseph, Marjaana Jauhola, Juliette Marin, Eila Murphy, Punam Yadav and Shyam Gadhavi (2021). “Examining Relational Social Ontologies of Disaster Resilience: Lived Experiences from Nepal, Indonesia, India and Chile”, Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal 31(3), 273-287.

Vardhani, Vishnu Rajan, Shyam Gadhavi and Marjaana Jauhola (2021) ” Co-Creation Through Quilting: Connected Entanglements and Disruptures with Care” in Seppälä, Tiina, Melanie Sarantou and Satu Miettinen (eds.) Decolonising Participatory Research through Arts-Based Methods? Routledge.