Transnational Finnish Mobilities: Proceedings of Finnforum XI
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Johanna Leinonen and Auvo Kostiainen (Eds.) Johanna Leinonen and Auvo Kostiainen This volume is based on a selection of papers presented at Johanna Leinonen and Auvo Kostiainen (Eds.) the conference FinnForum XI: Transnational Finnish Mobili- ties, held in Turku, Finland, in 2016. The twelve chapters dis- cuss two key issues of our time, mobility and transnational- ism, from the perspective of Finnish migration. The volume is divided into four sections. Part I, Mobile Pasts, Finland and Beyond, brings forth how Finland’s past – often imagined TRANSNATIONAL as more sedentary than today’s mobile world – was molded by various short and long-distance mobilities that occurred FINNISH MOBILITIES: both voluntarily and involuntarily. In Part II, Transnational Influences across the Atlantic, the focus is on sociocultural PROCEEDINGS OF transnationalism of Finnish migrants in the early 20th cen- tury United States. Taken together, Parts I and II show how FINNFORUM XI mobility and transnationalism are not unique features of our FINNISH MOBILITIES TRANSNATIONAL time, as scholars tend to portray them. Even before modern communication technologies and modes of transportation, migrants moved back and forth and nurtured transnational ties in various ways. Part III, Making of Contemporary Finn- ish America, examines how Finnishness is understood and maintained in North America today, focusing on the con- cepts of symbolic ethnicity and virtual villages. Part IV, Con- temporary Finnish Mobilities, centers on Finns’ present-day emigration patterns, repatriation experiences, and citizen- ship practices, illustrating how, globally speaking, Finns are privileged in their ability to be mobile and exercise transna- tionalism. Not only is the ability to move spread very uneven- ly, so is the capability to upkeep transnational connections, be they sociocultural, economic, political, or purely symbol- ic. Altogether, the volume brings together fresh perspectives on Finnish migration. It is geared toward anyone with a pro- fessional or personal interest in research on migration, mo- bility, and transnationalism. ISBN 978-952-7167-61-8 (nid.) ISBN 978-952-7167-62-5 (pdf) ISSN 2343-3493 (painettu) ISSN 2343-3485 (verkkojulkaisu) 3 RESEARCH 3 www.migrationinstitute.fi Transnational Finnish Mobilities: Proceedings of FinnForum XI Johanna Leinonen and Auvo Kostiainen (Eds.) Turku 2019 Cover image: The mailbox of the National Finnish American Festival Cultural Center, known as Little Finland, on US Highway 2, in Hurley, Wisconsin (USA). Photo credit: Jouni Korkiasaari 2010. Migration Institute of Finland, Research 3 Copyright © Migration Institute of Finland & authors ISBN 978-952-7167-61-8 (nid.) ISBN 978-952-7167-62-5 (pdf) ISSN 2343-3493 (painettu) ISSN 2343-3485 (verkkojulkaisu) Painosalama Oy, Turku 2019 Contents Contributors........................................................................................................................... 7 1. Introduction: On Transnationalism and Mobility....................................................11 –– Johanna Leinonen I MOBILE PASTS, FINLAND AND BEYOND 2. Hard Times and Tough People, but You May Have to Go.....................................25 –– Petri Minkkinen 3. Recalling – Reconstituting – Migration: Sámi Americans and the Immigrant Experience................................................................................................49 –– Thomas A. DuBois 4. Migrant Workers, Refugees, or War Brides? Finnish Women in the Third Reich and Occupied Germany..................................................................................69 –– Anu Heiskanen II TRANSNATIONAL INFLUENCES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC 5. Music and Migration: John Rosendahl as a Musical Entrepreneur in the United States in the 1920s and Early 1930s............................................................85 –– Saijaleena Rantanen 6. A Finnish Narrative of the Manufacturing Industry in the Midwest in the Mid-1930s ..................................................................................................................105 –– Elianne Riska 7. Sports in Constructing Finnish Americanness in Terms of Transnational and Regional Identity in Two Finnish American Literary Texts.......................... 119 –– Roman Kushnir – 3 – III MAKING OF CONTEMPORARY FINNISH AMERICA 8. From a Joke to a Tradition: Celebrating Saint Urho as Finnish American Heritage......................................................................................................................139 –– Tuomas Hovi 9. On the Maintenance and Use of Heritage Finnish among Today’s North American Finnish Migrants: A Survey.....................................................................155 –– Helena Halmari IV CONTEMPORARY FINNISH MOBILITIES 10. Finns’ Contemporary Emigration Abroad, Their Profile and Willingness to Return Migrate: A Special View of Their Human Resources..........................185 –– Elli Heikkilä and Marko Alivuotila 11. Intercultural Experiences of Finnish Expatriate Children...................................201 –– Anu Warinowski 12. From Mother to Emigrant? Perspectives to Dual Citizenship............................221 –– Johanna Peltoniemi Index....................................................................................................................................235 – 4 – Tables 1. Finnish engineers who worked in the U.S. companies that the narrator visited in 1935−1936..........................................................................................................111 2. Distribution of the site visits in the Midwest by state.................................................112 3. Visits of factories and corporations by locality and state.........................................113 4. What is your educational background?........................................................................160 5. Which of the following best describes your current occupation?........................ 161 6. What is your approximate average household income?..........................................162 7. How often do you visit Finland?.....................................................................................163 8. Which language would you name as your strongest language?...........................164 9. How easily can you have conversations in Finnish?.................................................165 10. Estimate how much Finnish you use daily...................................................................168 11. On a regular basis, I... .......................................................................................................169 12. If you are married/have a partner, what is your spouse’s/partner’s native language?............................................................................................................................. 173 13. What language do you speak with your spouse/partner?....................................... 174 14. I need Finnish... .................................................................................................................. 174 15. How do you promote the knowledge of Finnish with your children?.................. 176 16. Finnish emigration by destination country in 2000, 2010, and 2015, top- 10 countries......................................................................................................................... 187 17. Total emigration by county in 2000, 2010, and 2015..............................................188 18. Total international migration by type of municipality in Finland in 2010 and 2015...............................................................................................................................189 19. Primary activity of Finnish migrants in 2015............................................................... 191 20. Educational background of Finnish migrants as compared to the total population in 2015............................................................................................................ 191 21. Employed and unemployed Finnish migrants by age and education (emigrated from Finland in 2015)..................................................................................193 22. Professional groups and education of Finns who emigrated from Finland in 2015..................................................................................................................................195 23. Children’s background information..............................................................................205 24. Main themes and subthemes of the interviews........................................................ 208 25. Children’s own contextual identity assessments.......................................................214 26. Finnish migrants’ probability of having dual citizenship..........................................226 – 5 – Figures 1. The states of the respondents........................................................................................159 2. Spouse’s/partner’s native language.............................................................................. 172 3. Emigration and immigration flows of Finnish and foreign citizens in 1990- 2015 in Finland...................................................................................................................186 4. Gender structure of Finnish migrants in 2015 by top-15 countries and all countries..............................................................................................................................190