About
Dr Niina Vuolajärvi is an Assistant Professor in International Migration at the European Institute. Her interdisciplinary research is situated in the fields of migration, feminist and socio-legal studies.
Niina received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Rutgers University in 2021 and holds a Master’s degree both in Sociology and Gender Studies. Prior to joining the LSE, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the New School Zolberg Institute of Migration and Mobility, a Global Scholar at the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University and Visiting Student Research Collaborator, Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University.
Niina's projects have investigated migrant sex work, prostitution and migration policies, post-deportation experiences, and race and colonial legacies in Europe. Currently, she is working on her first book "Sex Work, Migration and the ‘Nordic Model’" which examines a feminist-inspired prostitution and anti-trafficking policy approach and its intersections with immigration controls from the perspective of sex workers and people in the sex trade. This work is based on a vast three-country ethnographic research including 210 interviews in the Nordic region (Sweden, Norway, Finland) where the policy approach originates. The policy-relevant findings of this study are published in LSE Centre for Women Peace and Security policy brief series and translated into Spanish, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish. You can also see the release event recording at the LSE here.
From 2015-2017, Niina was the main researcher of the multidisciplinary Deported project funded by the Kone Foundation that brought together artists, journalists, activists and researchers to raise awareness of the effects of border regimes and criminalization of migration. The project won the Visual Journalism of the Year Award in 2017.
Niina's scholarship has been supported by the Mellon / American Council of Learned Societies and the Fulbright Foundation and recognized by the Law and Society Association and the American Sociological Association.
Expertise
- Migration and Border Studies
- Sex Work & Critical Trafficking Research
- Law & Policy
- Feminist Studies
- Ethnography & Qualitative Methods
Research
Vuolajärvi Niina (2022) "Criminalizing the Sex Buyer: Experiences from the Nordic Region," in LSE Women, Peace and Security Policy Brief Series.
* Translated into Spanish, Italian, French, German, Norwegian, Swedishand Finnish.
Vuolajärvi, Niina (2013). The Effects of the Sex Purchase Act in Sweden. A research report commissioned by the Finnish National Association for Women’s Studies, Centre for Gender Equality Information in Finland (in Finnish).
Vuolajärvi, Niina (2011). Thai Massage Parlor Workers’ Access to Public Health Services and Language Training.Pro Centre Finland, (in Finnish).
Monish Bhatia, Matilde Rosina and Niina Vuolajarvi. "Critical Engagements with Gender, Race and Class in Crimmigration Control," in Critical Criminology (forthcoming)
Crowhurst, Isabel, Vuolajärvi, Niina and Hausbeck Korgan, Kate (2019). "Sexual Commerce: Troubling Meanings, Policies, and Practices," in Sexuality Research and Social Policy.
Engagement and impact
"The Experiences of Sex Workers"Interview with Niina Vuolajärvi and Sharmila Parmanand on the effects of criminalization on sex workers
"The idea of criminalising prostitutes’ clients is spreading"
Criminalising the sex buyer: what must policymakers learn from the "Nordic model"?