Eva-Lotta Sjaunja

Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja is a researcher specializing in the organization and governance of natural resource use historically, with a particular interest in how households and user groups organised land-use, labour and social life on the local level. In recent years, she has studied developments in an Indigenous Sami context focusing on the Early Modern period (c. 1550–1800). She defended her PhD-thesis in 2008 on how biological and historical values in the agrarian landscape were addressed within Swedish agricultural policy in the late twentieth century.

Alongside her research, she has many years of experience working in public administration, with a focus on issues related to evaluation, policy analysis and organizational development.

Since January 2025, she has been a researcher in the ERC-funded project TransRein at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The project examines the transition from hunting, fishing, and small-scale reindeer herding to large-scale reindeer pastoralism in northern Sweden, Norway, and Finland during the early modern period (c 1500–1800), with comparisons to other reindeer-herding peoples. The focus is on local actors and everyday strategies in interaction with external drivers, based on sources such as court records, tax registers, and travel accounts.

• Lecturer, Agrarian history summer course, LB0094
• Co-supervisor for PhD-candidates William Renström, SLU and Hanna Bendz, SLU

• Visiting researcher, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University (2025-)

Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja is a researcher in Agrarian History at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), where she has been affiliated from 2016 to 2023 and again from 2025. She has also served as Senior Policy Analyst at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (2018–2023) and as Quality Coordinator at Mid Sweden University (2024). Her previous appointments include a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Economic History at Stockholm University (2011–2015) and positions as Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies and Evaluator at SLU (2009–2011). She holds a PhD in Agrarian History (2009) and an MSc in Agronomy from SLU (2001). Prior to her academic career, she worked as an Administrative Officer at the County Administrative Board in Jönköping, Sweden (2001–2004).

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 p. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-87498-8. I Reviewed in: Pastoralism, 12(25) (2022) (link); Transnational Environmental Law 12(1):225–229 (2023) (link); Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift 85, 92–94 (2023) (link); and, Comparative Legal History 12(2), 242–246 (2024) (link).

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta. 2008. Det agrara landskapet på vinst eller förlust: Biologiska och historiska värden inom lantbrukets nya uppdrag. [Defining and Measuring the New Role of Agriculture in the Agricultural Landscape]. PhD Diss. SLU. Uppsala. 231 p. [link] 

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Larsson, Jesper, and Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja. 2025. 'Self-governance and Adaptation: Rethinking Indigenous Arctic Histories'. International Journal of the Commons, 19 (1): 307–321. DOI: 10.5334/ijc.1550

Larsson, Jesper, and Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja. 2021. 'Hunting by Early Modern Lule Sami Households'. Arctic, 74(3): 323–338. DOI:10.14430/arctic73281 

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

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, p. 137–159. University of Primorska Press, Koper. [link] 

Conference Reports and Book Reviews

Frankelius, Per; Päiviö Sjaunja, Eva-Lotta, and Maths Isacson. 2018. Book review of Traktorernas intåg: Teknik, produktion och marknadsföring i Sverige under introduktionstiden 1905–1930 by Per Thunström. [The Tractors´ Entry: Design, Production, and Marketing During the Introduction Period 1905–30]. Historisk tidskrift, 138(2): 327–333. [link]

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta. 2017. Book review of Den goda viljan: Kvinnliga missionärer och koloniala möten i Tunisien och västra Jämtland by Catarina Lundström. [The Good Will: Female Missionaries and Colonial Meetings in Tunisia and Western Jämtland]. Historisk tidskrift, 137(2): 336–338. [link] 

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta. 2012. 'Generationsöverföring inom samiska renskötselföretag i Sverige från c:a 1930 till nutid: En projektbeskrivning'. [Generational Transfer within Sami Reindeer Herding in Sweden From c. 1930 to the Present: A Project Description]. In: Uppsala mitt i Sápmi - Rapport från ett symposium arrangerat av Föreningen för samisk-relaterad forskning i Uppsala, Upplandsmuseet 4–5 maj 2011. [Uppsala in the Middle of Sápmi - Report from a Symposium Arranged by the Association for Sámi-related Research in Uppsala, Upplandsmuseet 4–5 May 2011]. Eds.: H. Tunón, M. Frändén, C-G. Ojala and M-B. Öhman. p. 47–50. Uppsala: Naptek.

Other Publications

Larsson, Jesper, and Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja. 2024. 'Giron eller Kiruna, ripan och malmen: alla platser har en historia'. [Giron or Kiruna, the Grouse and the Iron Ore: All Places Have a History]. Tidskriften STAD, Movium, SLU, 45:20–24. 

Päiviö, Eva-Lotta; Wissman, Jörgen, and Helena Andersson. 2010. 'Axel 2 – utvärdering av åtgärder för att förbättra miljön och landskapet'. [Axis 2 – Evaluation of Measures to Improve the Environment and Landscape]. In: Halvtidsutvärdering av landsbygdsprogram för Sverige 2007–2013. [Mid-Term Evaluation of the Rural Development Programme for Sweden 2007–2013]. Eds.: Ewa Rabinowicz and Eva Kaspersson. Dnr: Jo 10.013. Stockholm: Ministry of Enterprise. [link]