Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen has a doctoral degree and habilitation in Latin American studies at the University of Helsinki, the Department of World Cultures. Her research has dealt with Amazonian indigenous ontologies, epistemologies, mobility, shamanism, adolescence, indigenous politics, as well as ethno-history. Her research material produced in collaboration with several indigenous communities in Brazil offers crucial opportunities for larger comparisons in the project. Virtanen has also been a visiting scholar at the University of São Paulo and the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and is affiliated to the Centre EREA, Université Paris Ouest, Nanterre La Défense. Her publications several journal articles, edited books, as well as the monograph Indigenous Youth in Brazilian Amazonia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Virtanen is also leading a project Transforming the Future in Brazil: Ritual and Indigenous Agencies at the University of Helsinki.