The Role of Atmosphere in Negotiations of Groupness: A Study of a Meeting Place for Older Russian-speaking Migrants

Abstract

While existing literature on third-sector support for ageing migrants shows that social clubs can be a vital source of social support, what remains unclear is how these positive outcomes are attained on an interactional level. Drawing on fieldwork conducted over the course of one year in a meeting place for older Russian-speaking migrants in the capital region of Finland, this paper adopts a processual approach to examine how a sense of groupness is negotiated in the meeting place. The attendees of the meeting place comprise of different nationalities and backgrounds, who mainly share age and Russian language. This heterogeneity creates a situation where the attendees, together with the organisers, negotiate a sense of groupness with the category of 'Russian-speaking'. I argue that such a sense of groupness is reached by drawing from shared traits of culturality, while excluding aspects that could cause conflicts. The paper further contributes to the literature on groupness by analysing what role atmosphere plays in attaining a sense of groupness, and argues that the notion of atmosphere is important to take into consideration when thinking how different places can support ageing and wellbeing.

A Scoping Review on Ageing Migrants in Finland Through the Lens of Intersectionality and Vulnerability

“…Research showed that Russians are not accepted in Finnish society and regarded as an unwelcomed minority group and sometimes, referred to by derogatory terms like 'Ryssä' even when they appear to be White and can speak Finnish (Heikkinen 2011;Tiaynen-Qadir 2020). Stereotypical discrimination against older Russian migrants for their accents is very prevalent (Asikainen 2021). The discrimination that older migrants face in the Finnish society have made them limit their group activities to only Russianspeaking participants (Asikainen 2021;Tiaynen-Qadir 2020).…”

“…Stereotypical discrimination against older Russian migrants for their accents is very prevalent (Asikainen 2021). The discrimination that older migrants face in the Finnish society have made them limit their group activities to only Russianspeaking participants (Asikainen 2021;Tiaynen-Qadir 2020). Due to discrimination and racism, some older migrants face microaggressions in their everyday lives along with limited opportunities to engage in the Finnish society.…”