Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja

Eva-Lotta is an agronomist and agrarian historian. Since January 2025, she has been a Senior Researcher in Agrarian History at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

Eva-Lotta's research focuses on the history of the Sami and other indigenous reindeer-herding peoples, examining their use of natural resources, land organization, institutions, and social dynamics . She is particularly interested in exploring indigenous governance and local decision-making processes, and their connections to ecological factors in the early modern period (c. 1550-1800).

Her work nuances historical frameworks that have traditionally been state-centric and marginalized indigenous perspectives. By highlighting the governance systems, practices, and adaptability of Sami and other reindeer-herding communities across space and time, she contributes to narratives that highlights the roles of indigenous agency and dynamics in historical change.

Starting in January 2025, she will participate in the five-year research project TransRein, funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project focuses on changes in land use among the Sami and other indigenous reindeer-herding peoples in northern Eurasia during the early modern period. During this time, many households in the vast area between the Norwegian Sea and the Bering Strait transitioned from subsistence based on hunting and fishing to large-scale reindeer herding. The project highlights one of the transformative changes in human history: the shift from foraging to food production.

Eva-Lotta is a visiting researcher at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Mid Sweden University.

Visiting address: Kunskapens Väg 1, Building P, Östersund.

Office: P2615

Eva-Lotta holds a Master of Science in Agronomy and a PhD in Agrarian History from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), where she earned her doctorate in 2009. She then completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Stockholm University.

Since then, she has worked as a researcher and lecturer in agrarian history at SLU (2016–2023), a senior policy analyst at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (2018–2023),and a senior quality officer at the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at Mid Sweden University (2024). In January 2025, she returned to SLU full-time as a senior researcher.

Books

Larsson, Jesper and Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja. 2022. Self-Governance and Sami Communities. Transitions in Early Modern Natural Resource Management. Palgrave Macmillan. xvi + 248 pages. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87498-8 (See reviews of the book in the journals: Pastoralism, Comparative Legal History och Transnational Environmental Law)

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta. 2008. Det agrara landskapet på vinst eller förlust - Biologiska och historiska värden inom lantbrukets nya uppdrag. PhD Diss. Acta Universitatis agriculturae Sueciae 2008:95. SLU. Uppsala.

Articles (in journals and books)

Larsson, Jesper and Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja. 2021. 'Hunting by Early Modern Lule Sami Households'. Arctic, 74(3): 323–338. https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/73281

Larsson, Jesper and Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja. 2020. 'Freshwater Fishing Strategies in Early Modern Sami Households'. Arctic Anthropology, 57(2): 197–211. DOI: 10.3368/aa.57.2.197

Larsson, Jesper and Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja. 2020. 'Early Modern Reindeer Husbandry, Sami Economy, and Grazing Rights'. International Journal of the Commons, 14(1): 91–107. DOI: 10.5334/ijc.965

Frankelius, Per; Päiviö Sjaunja, Eva-Lotta and Maths Isacson. 2018. Dissertation review essay. ‘Så introducerades traktorn i det svenska lantbruket: Per Thunström, Traktorernas intåg: Teknik, produktion och marknadsföring i Sverige under introduktionstiden 1905–1930’. Historisk tidskrift, 138(2): 327-333. https://www.historisktidskrift.se/index.php/june20/article/view/452

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta. 2017. 'Livelihood diversification in Early Modern Sami Households in Northern Sweden'. In: Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective, Alps Scandinavia and Beyond, Eds.: A. Panjek, J. Larsson and L. Mocarelli, pp. 137-159. University of Primorska Press, Koper. https://www.hippocampus.si/ISBN/978-961-7023-03-9/mobile/index.html#p=138

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta. 2017. Short book review. 'Catarina Lundström, Den goda viljan: Kvinnliga missionärer och koloniala möten i Tunisien och västra Jämtland'. Historisk tidskrift, 137(2): 336-338. https://historisktidskrift.se/index.php/june20/article/view/613

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta. 2012. 'Generationsöverföring inom samiska renskötselföretag i Sverige från c:a 1930 till nutid: En projektbeskrivning.' In: Uppsala mitt i Sápmi - Rapport från ett symposium arrangerat av Föreningen för samisk-relaterad forskning i Uppsala, Upplandsmuseet 4–5 maj 2011. Eds.: H. Tunón, M. Frändén, C-G. Ojala and M-B. Öhman. pp. 47-50. Uppsala: Naptek.

Reports 

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta; Wissman, Jörgen and Helena Andersson. 2010. Axel 2 – utvärdering av åtgärder för att förbättra miljön och landskapet. Halvtidsutvärdering av landsbygdsprogram för Sverige 2007-2013. Regeringen. Jo 10.013.