Venla Oikkonen

I'm a science and technology studies (STS) and gender studies scholar. I'm the PI of the project Gendered Chronic Disease, Embodied Differences and Biomedical Knowledge (GenDis), funded by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation. My Academy Research Fellow's project (2018-2023) explored cultural debates about vaccines and changing ideas of immunity and risk.

vaccine debates, vaccines in culture

chronic pain, gendered chronic illness

population genetics, ancient DNA, genetic ancestry tests

evolutionary theories in culture and society

intersectionality, affect, narrative

Science and Technology Studies

Gender Studies

Cultural Studies

Associate Professor, TaSTI, Tampere University (2022-)

Academy Research Fellow, Tampere University (2018-2023)

Core Fellow, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (2016-2018)

Docent in Gender Studies, University of Helsinki (since 2015)

Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher (2012-2016)

University Lecturer, Gender Studies, University of Helsinki (2011-2012)

Kone Foundation Postdoctoral Researcher (2011)

PhD, Gender Studies, University of Helsinki (2010)

Books

Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction in Evolutionary Narratives (Routledge 2013)

Population Genetics and Belonging: A Cultural Analysis of Genetic Ancestry (Palgrave Macmillan 2018)

Recent open access articles

Conceptualizing histories of multispecies entanglements: Ancient pathogen genomics and the case of Borrelia recurrentis (Journal of Social Archaeology, 2021) 

Embodied Material Encou​nters and the Ambiguous Promise of Biomedical Futures: The Case of Biologically Derived Medicines (with Mianna Meskus; New Genetics and Society, 2020) 

The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic, Vaccine-Associated Narcolepsy and the Politics of Risk and Harm (Health, 2020) 

Entanglements of Time, Temperature, Technology, and Place in Ancient DNA Research: The Case of the Denisovan Hominin (Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2019)