"We weren't Swedes, but we were moving in that direction" : First-generation Swedish Finns narrating belonging through time
(2019) MKVM13 20191Media and Communication Studies
- Abstract
- We are currently witnessing an age of migration and globalisation. The growing hybridisation of societies creates continuous discussion and debate concerning who belongs and who does not. The media are traditionally seen to play an important role in this dispute through representational and discursive practices that contribute to our ideas about ‘us’ and ‘them’, simultaneously affecting the construction of our identities. However, the increasingly complex media environment we are living in has also become a space for challenging this hegemony. The media are now part of our everyday lives in a multitude of ways and contribute to how we negotiate belonging from a variety of angles.
This paper explores everyday experiences of... (More) - We are currently witnessing an age of migration and globalisation. The growing hybridisation of societies creates continuous discussion and debate concerning who belongs and who does not. The media are traditionally seen to play an important role in this dispute through representational and discursive practices that contribute to our ideas about ‘us’ and ‘them’, simultaneously affecting the construction of our identities. However, the increasingly complex media environment we are living in has also become a space for challenging this hegemony. The media are now part of our everyday lives in a multitude of ways and contribute to how we negotiate belonging from a variety of angles.
This paper explores everyday experiences of first-generation Swedish Finns, who migrated from Finland to Sweden between 1960 and 1980, and faced certain prejudices in their new home country. More specifically, this study is interested in how first-generation Swedish Finns negotiate their sense of belonging, how it has changed throughout their lives in Sweden, and how the media are involved in this change. In order to do this, in-depth biographical interviews were conducted with 7 first-generation Swedish Finns.
The findings of this study suggest that first-generation Swedish Finns considered themselves representatives of a specific (media) generation, which has formed according to growing up in post-war-era Finland, migrating to Sweden and witnessing the radical changes in the media landscape first-hand. Moreover, this study suggests that this group of first-generation Swedish Finns position themselves ‘in-between’ the two nations of Finland and Sweden. They are members of a hybrid imagined community where sense of belonging can be contradictory, and where the nation(s) is not the only object of attachments. In this community, belonging is created and reinforced through mediated communication as well face-to-face communication. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8993831
- author
- Haavisto, Aino LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MKVM13 20191
- year
- 2019
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- migration, memory, everyday life, media, Swedish Finns, belonging, narrative analysis
- language
- English
- id
- 8993831
- date added to LUP
- 2019-09-09 08:56:46
- date last changed
- 2019-09-09 08:56:46
@misc{8993831,
abstract = {{We are currently witnessing an age of migration and globalisation. The growing hybridisation of societies creates continuous discussion and debate concerning who belongs and who does not. The media are traditionally seen to play an important role in this dispute through representational and discursive practices that contribute to our ideas about ‘us’ and ‘them’, simultaneously affecting the construction of our identities. However, the increasingly complex media environment we are living in has also become a space for challenging this hegemony. The media are now part of our everyday lives in a multitude of ways and contribute to how we negotiate belonging from a variety of angles.
This paper explores everyday experiences of first-generation Swedish Finns, who migrated from Finland to Sweden between 1960 and 1980, and faced certain prejudices in their new home country. More specifically, this study is interested in how first-generation Swedish Finns negotiate their sense of belonging, how it has changed throughout their lives in Sweden, and how the media are involved in this change. In order to do this, in-depth biographical interviews were conducted with 7 first-generation Swedish Finns.
The findings of this study suggest that first-generation Swedish Finns considered themselves representatives of a specific (media) generation, which has formed according to growing up in post-war-era Finland, migrating to Sweden and witnessing the radical changes in the media landscape first-hand. Moreover, this study suggests that this group of first-generation Swedish Finns position themselves ‘in-between’ the two nations of Finland and Sweden. They are members of a hybrid imagined community where sense of belonging can be contradictory, and where the nation(s) is not the only object of attachments. In this community, belonging is created and reinforced through mediated communication as well face-to-face communication.}},
author = {{Haavisto, Aino}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{"We weren't Swedes, but we were moving in that direction" : First-generation Swedish Finns narrating belonging through time}},
year = {{2019}},
}