The nineteenth century in Finland was characterized by significant societal changes. Since 1809 a Grand Duchy of imperial Russia, Finland began to transform from an early modern society of estates to a modern civic society. The end of the nineteenth century was characterized by significant economic growth. Despite this general development, for many people this era signaled impoverishment and downward mobility that affected even the next generations. A fresh look at the economic threats on various societal layers is called for. In this theme issue we are concerned with socially varying dimensions of destitution, its manifestations, and the ways in which it was experienced and repelled. We explore the manifold and fruitful sources available, some of which are as yet little explored, while others afford novel approaches to the history of poverty.
Parallels are drawn between representations of early 20th century Finnish maritime labourers on foreign merchant ships and present-day Estonian blue-collar commuter workers who work in the construction sector in Finland. We ask how the workers at both the times comment the media representations of them and how the possible analogues can be understood. The study focuses on two themes: stereotypes and masculinity ideals related to mobile work. The data comprise seamen's letters, construction workers' interviews, and media sources. By combining anthropological and historical analyses, we show that, rather than being occupation specific or related to time, certain features related to mobility, physical work, and gender tend to reappear in different kinds of circumstances. The features are characterised by the paradox of positive expectations and negative prejudices. We suggest that present-day discussions on cross-border work benefit not only from comparisons between different areas and occupations but also from historical juxtapositions.
After the Napoleonic Wars Finnish ship owners increasingly contributed to
global trade by selling their tonnage capacity internationally. In spite of its
peripheral position as a Grand Duchy within Imperial Russia (since 1809),
Finland played an important part in the traffic of the high seas during
the late age of sail, largely due to the ready availability of labour. In this
chapter, I study how long-distance trade affected sailors’ families in Pori
on Finland’s west coast between 1830 and 1860. I show how boundaries of
biological kinship were crossed in housing arrangements families made to
ensure social and economic security, and how the community supported
and dealt with these families.
Frigren, P. (2018). Finns as mobile maritime labor in coastal ports of the United Kingdom, 1850-1930. In M. Ojala-Fulwood (Ed.), Migration and Multi-ethnic Communities : Mobile People from the Late Middle Ages to the Present (pp. 93-122). Berlin: De Gruyter.
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