Beyond East–West: Marginality and National Dignity in Finnish Identity Construction

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War it has become common for Finnish academics and politicians alike to frame debates about Finnish national identity in terms of locating Finland somewhere along a continuum between East and West. Indeed, for politicians, properly locating oneself (and therefore Finland) along this continuum has often been seen as central to the winning and losing of elections. For example, the 1994 referendum on EU membership was largely interpreted precisely as an opportunity to relocate Finland further to the West. Indeed, the tendency to depict Finnish history in terms of a series of “Westernizing” moves has been notable, but has also betrayed some of the politicized elements of this view. However, this framing of Finnish national identity discourse is not only sometimes politicized but arguably is also too simplified and results in blindness towards other identity narratives that have also been important through Finnish history, and that are also evident (but rarely recognized) today as well. In this article we aim to highlight one of these that we argue has played a key role in locating Finland in the world and in formulating notions of what Finland is about, what historical role and mission it has been understood as destined to play, and what futures for the nation have been conceptualized as possible and as providing a source of subjectivity and national dignity.

Intra-European Migrants and The Question of Integration: <i>Citizenship In The Lives Of Finnish Migrants In Europe</i>

“…The long history of Finland's co-existence with its powerful neighbour Russia/The Soviet Union has generated a need to constantly look towards the West for allies and ideals, while balancing on the margins. In the 1990s, and especially after Finland's EU membership in 1995, the overwhelming mindset was to escape from this marginality and move towards the centre to become one of the core states of the EU (Browning & Lehti 2007; see also Joenniemi 2002). The expatriate Finns of this study are part of a generation that had internalised this idea and was aware of the importance of gaining international experience.…”

Remains of the Soviet Past in Estonia

“…Narvians have a particular sense of connection and disconnection with other spaces; here, daily life involves a density of scales and separations, as well as dynamics of relative positioning. Even if marginality seems to be increasingly detached from conceptions of geopolitics and culture, being narrated more and more in terms of globalisation, and making narva , a centre out there notions of culture, identity and space lose their traditional meaning (Browning and Lehti 2007;Gupta and Ferguson 1997), the world is still full of borders locating people in particular ways. For instance, Estonia's entry into the EU and the Schengen area meant abolishing the simplified border-crossing regime established after Estonia regained its independence.…”

Remains of the Soviet Past in Estonia

“…As in the case of Finland, the claim to centrality or of being a vanguard state has paradoxically been supported by attributes derived precisely from a sense of marginality and smallness (Browning and Lehti 2007). Further, in the emerging post-post-socialist Estonia, there seem to be two (interrelated) clashes of collective narratives.…”

“…Even if marginality seems to be increasingly detached from conceptions of geopolitics and culture, being narrated more and more in terms of globalisation, and making notions of culture, identity and space lose their traditional meaning (Browning and Lehti 2007;Gupta and Ferguson 1997), the world is still full of borders locating people in particular ways. For instance, Estonia's entry into the EU and the Schengen area meant abolishing the simplified border-crossing regime established after Estonia regained its independence.…”

“…As in the case of Finns (Browning and Lehti 2007), Estonia is conceptualised as a nation emerging from the periphery, historically subordinate and lacking power, in search of self-esteem, not simply describing the current position but also prescribing how things ought to be (ibid.). Yet in current day Estonia, the places and populations at the margins are precisely those questioning the postsocialist success story, absorbing the negative effects of the changes, and highlighting multiple inequalities and exclusions (Pfoser 2017).…”