Päivi Setälä


Päivi Setälä was a Finnish historian and professor who influenced different areas of Finnish cultural life. She was one of the best advocates of Finnish women's research. In 1991, she became the first female professor of Women's Studies in Finland. She received the State Disclosure Award, Finnish Writers' Association's Warelius Award, and JV Snellman Award.

Biography

Päivi Eeva Marjatta Priha was born January 20, 1943 in Kuopio.
Setälä defended her doctorate in history from the University of Helsinki in 1977. Her thesis Private domini in Roman brick stamps of the empire dealt with brick stamps used in the Roman Empire. Setälä worked at the university as a history assistant between 1970 and 1982, and in the 1980s, held several professor positions. In 1991, she was appointed as an extraordinary professor of women's history at the Kristiina Institute, founded in the same year. After three years of professorship, she served as Director of the Finnish Institute in Rome from 1994 to 1997.
The main part of Setälä's research is biographies of women's history. The work Kuningatar Kristiina – aikansa eurooppalainen , which she co-authored with Matti Klinge, Laura Kolbe, and Maria-Liisa Nevala, received the honorary mention for the Finlandia Prize. She authored the trilogy, Antiikin nainen , Keskiajan nainen and Renessanssin nainen .
Setälä died March 7, 2014 in Helsinki.

Awards