This multidisciplinary volume reflects the shifting experiences and framings of Finnishness and its relation to race and coloniality. The authors centre their investigations on whiteness and unravel the cultural myth of a normative Finnish (white) ethnicity. Rather than presenting a unified definition for whiteness, the book gives space to the different understandings and analyses of its authors. This collection of case-studies illuminates how Indigenous and ethnic minorities have participated in defining notions of Finnishness, how historical and recent processes of migration have challenged the traditional conceptualisations of the nation-state and its population, and how imperial relationships have contributed to a complex set of discourses on Finnish compliance and identity. 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.

This multidisciplinary volume reflects the shifting experiences and framings of Finnishness and its relation to race and coloniality. The authors centre their investigations on whiteness and unravel the cultural myth of a normative Finnish (white) ethnicity. Rather than presenting a unified definition for whiteness, the book gives space to the different understandings and analyses of its authors. This collection of case-studies illuminates how Indigenous and ethnic minorities have participated in defining notions of Finnishness, how historical and recent processes of migration have challenged the traditional conceptualisations of the nation-state and its population, and how imperial relationships have contributed to a complex set of discourses on Finnish compliance and identity. 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. Josephine Hoegaerts is Associate Professor of European Studies at the University of Helsinki 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. Tuire Liimatainen is a PhD student in Area and Cultural Studies at the University of Helsinki, with a specialisation in Nordic Studies. Her research interests center broadly on questions of migration, national minorities and ethnicity in the Nordic region, as well as language, culture, and new media. Laura Hekanaho is a postdoctoral researcher in Applied Linguistics at the University of Jyväskylä. Her research focuses on the relationship between language, gender, and identity. 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.

Breaking new ground in the study of European colonialism, this book focuses on a nation historically positioned between the Western and Eastern Empires of Europe – Finland. Although Finland never had overseas colonies, the authors argue that the country was undeniably involved in the colonial world, with Finns adopting ideologies and identities that cannot easily be disentangled from colonialism. This book explores the concepts of ‘colonial complicity’ and ‘colonialism without colonies’ in relation to Finland, a nation that was oppressed, but also itself complicit in colonialism. It offers insights into European colonialism on the margins of the continent and within a nation that has traditionally declared its innocence and exceptionalism. The book shows that Finns were active participants in various colonial contexts, including Southern Africa and Sápmi in the North. Demonstrating that colonialism was a common practice shared by all European nations, with or without formal colonies, this book provides essential reading for anyone interested in European colonial history. Chapters 1, 7 and 8 are available open access under a via link.springer.com.>

Introduction and Chapter 10 available open access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book examines the contemporary social care realities and practices of Finland, a small nation with a history enmeshed in social relations as both coloniser and colonised. Decolonising Social Work in Finland: · Interrogates coloniality, racialisation and diversity in the context of Finnish social work and social care. · Brings together racialised and mainstream White Finnish researchers, activists and community members to challenge relations of epistemic violence on racialised populations in Finland. · Critically unpacks colonial views of care and wellbeing. It will be essential reading for international scholars and students in the fields of Social Work, Sociology, Indigenous Studies, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Education.

"The chapters that make up this book recognize through examples from research, practice and evaluation of quality with lived experiences that diverse contemporary popular musics can provide useful tools not just for entertainment and fun, but for learning, growth and healing/wellness. Hip hop, techno, grime, drill and suchlike are contemporary genres that have been stigmatized through association with the BAME community. At the same time, however, these musics are typically the listening diet of choice today in our inner cities. These contemporary musics of the inner-city and their associated music-related activities (e.g., deejaying, beat making, mixtape making but also dance, visual art and more) are celebrated and embraced as extraordinarily powerful tools for building and maintaining academic, social, and emotional competencies. These musics are loved and they can open up opportunities for creativities among those who often feel seriously marginalized. In turn, these musics (and activities associated with them) can provided opportunities to engage and/or support those at the social and educational margins. In other words, the musics at the heart of this book have faced exclusionary pressures but they can also work for inclusion when utilized in educational/pedagogical or therapeutic practices. As a whole, the book seeks to account for the power and impact of a set of contemporary popular musics in educational, therapeutic and community contexts, and to ask questions as to just where this power comes from, how we can measure its impact and where the future might lead"--

This Handbook is the first comprehensive volume to focus entirely on the notion of interculturality, reflecting on what the addition of the adjective 'critical' means for research and teaching in interdisciplinary studies. The book consists of 35 chapters, including a comprehensive introduction and conclusion. It aims to present current debates on critical interculturality and to help readers make sense of what the label implies and entails in global and local contexts, especially (where possible) beyond dominant scholarship and pedagogical practices. The chapters interrogate the use of terms in different languages to discuss interculturality, drawing on recent literature from as many different parts of the world as possible. Some contributors also problematise their own autobiographical engagement with critical interculturality in their chapters. The book will be of interest to Master's and PhD students in education, communication, and intercultural studies who wish to develop their knowledge of critical interculturality. Established researchers in these fields will also benefit from this invaluable and original source of essential reading.

This book examines the influence of imperialism and colonialism on the formation of national identities in the Nordic countries, exploring the manner in which contemporary discourses in Nordic society are rendered meaningful or obscured by references to past events and tropes related to the practices and ideologies of colonialism. Against the background of Nordic 'exceptionalism', it explores the manner in which the interwoven racial, gendered and nationalistic ideologies associated with the colonial project form part of contemporary Nordic identities. An important challenge to national identities that can become increasingly inward looking, Whiteness and Postcolonialism in the Nordic Region sheds light on the ways in which certain notions and structural inequalities, understood as residue from the colonial period, become recreated or projected onto different groups. Presenting a variety of case studies drawn from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Greenland, Denmark and Iceland, this book will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences and humanities conducting research in the fields of race and ethnicity, identity and belonging, media representations of 'the other' and colonialism and postcolonialism.