Areas of expertise
Research field: religious studies
- Orthodox Karelia
- lived religion
- nationalism
- oral history research
- archive materials
I am a PhD researcher in religious studies at the University of Eastern Finland.
My research deals with lived religion in Border Karelia in the interwar period (1917-1939). I look at how lived religion practices were affected by the societal changes following Finnish independence and the Finnicization of the Orthodox Church. My research is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Selected publications:
Silfvast, Sofia (2026). ”Ennen myö ei Venäjän rajaa tiietty mitään” – Salmin pitäjän rajakylien muisteltu ylirajaisuus (“Before, we knew nothing about the Russian border” – Transnational remembrances of the border villages of Salmi municipality). Historiallinen Aikakauskirja 1/2026.
