Finnishness, Whiteness and Coloniality
About this eBook
With an aim to question and problematise what may seem self-evident aspects of Finnish life and Finnishness, expert voices join together to offer (counter) perspectives on how Finnishness is constructed and perceived. Scholars from cultural studies, history, sociology, linguistics, genetics, among others, address four main topics: 1) Imaginations of Finnishness, including perceived physical characteristics of Finnish people; 2) Constructions of whiteness, entailing studies of those who do and do not pass as white; 3) Representations of belonging and exclusion, making up of accounts of perceptions of what it means to be ‘Finnish’; and 4) Imperialism and colonisation, including what might be considered uncomfortable or even surprising accounts of inclusion and exclusion in the Finnish context.
This volume takes a first step in opening up a complex set of realities that define Finland’s changing role in the world and as a home to diverse populations.
About the author
Josephine Hoegaerts (University of Helsinki) is Associate Professor of European Studies and principal investigator of CALLIOPE: Vocal Articulations of Parliamentary Identity and Empire. Her research has focused on modern histories of nation-building, masculinity, and vocal practices of power and politics.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
Tuire Liimatainen is a postdoctoral researcher in Area and Cultural Studies at the University of Helsinki, with a specialization in Nordic Studies. Her doctoral research examined the construction and representation of ethnicity in Sweden-Finnish social media campaigns and online activism. Liimatainen’s research interests center broadly on questions of migration, national minorities and ethnicity in the Nordic region, as well as language, culture and new media.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-
Laura Hekanaho (University of Jyväskylä) is a postdoctoral researcher in Applied Linguistics. Her research focuses on the relationship between language, gender and identity. In her doctoral dissertation she examined language attitudes and ideologies related to generic and nonbinary pronouns in English.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
Elizabeth Peterson is University Lecturer in the Department of Languages at the University of Helsinki. She conducts research on language contact and language attitudes, including attitudes and ideologies about English. She is currently co-editing/authoring a book on the role of English in the Nordic countries, under contract with Routledge.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
