Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness
Abstract In 1920, Finland obtained a corridor to the Arctic Ocean, a land area that, until then, had been part of Russia. Petsamo, as the corridor was named in Finnish, was part of Finland from 1920 to 1944. As a new territorial acquisition, Petsamo raised expectations and was projected as a potenti...
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University of Illinois Press
2021
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crunivillinoispr:10.5406/28315081.24.1.2.07 2024-01-14T10:04:46+01:00 Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness Stadius, Peter 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/28315081.24.1.2.07 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jfs/article-pdf/24/1-2/112/1609723/112stadius.pdf en eng University of Illinois Press Journal of Finnish Studies volume 24, issue 1-2, page 112-135 ISSN 1206-6516 2831-5081 journal-article 2021 crunivillinoispr https://doi.org/10.5406/28315081.24.1.2.07 2023-12-17T14:54:34Z Abstract In 1920, Finland obtained a corridor to the Arctic Ocean, a land area that, until then, had been part of Russia. Petsamo, as the corridor was named in Finnish, was part of Finland from 1920 to 1944. As a new territorial acquisition, Petsamo raised expectations and was projected as a potential space for national expansionist policy. To answer the question of how Petsamo was to be put in use for building a strong and vital Finland, and not to become a burden and failure of Finnish state agency, many experts published views regarding how Petsamo should be developed. A dominating feature in this body of texts is a colonial mindset and rhetoric, promoting a comprehensive Finnish majority culture policy. These plans, including concrete actions, paved the way for a change in the region's environment and ethnic balance. The dominating discourse was that of ethnic Finnish settlement, and local features contradicting this were articulated as problems. From a Finnish majority perspective, Petsamo was often conceptualized as almost empty space waiting for a civilized and modern nation to take it into its possession and to develop it. The local Skolt Sami population became subject to much incomprehension and were viewed as a group doomed to perish under the pressure of a modern Finnish state. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean sami sami UI Press - University of Illinois Press (via Crossref) Arctic Arctic Ocean The Corridor ENVELOPE(78.139,78.139,-68.582,-68.582) Journal of Finnish Studies 24 1-2 112 135 |
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Open Polar |
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UI Press - University of Illinois Press (via Crossref) |
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crunivillinoispr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract In 1920, Finland obtained a corridor to the Arctic Ocean, a land area that, until then, had been part of Russia. Petsamo, as the corridor was named in Finnish, was part of Finland from 1920 to 1944. As a new territorial acquisition, Petsamo raised expectations and was projected as a potential space for national expansionist policy. To answer the question of how Petsamo was to be put in use for building a strong and vital Finland, and not to become a burden and failure of Finnish state agency, many experts published views regarding how Petsamo should be developed. A dominating feature in this body of texts is a colonial mindset and rhetoric, promoting a comprehensive Finnish majority culture policy. These plans, including concrete actions, paved the way for a change in the region's environment and ethnic balance. The dominating discourse was that of ethnic Finnish settlement, and local features contradicting this were articulated as problems. From a Finnish majority perspective, Petsamo was often conceptualized as almost empty space waiting for a civilized and modern nation to take it into its possession and to develop it. The local Skolt Sami population became subject to much incomprehension and were viewed as a group doomed to perish under the pressure of a modern Finnish state. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stadius, Peter |
spellingShingle |
Stadius, Peter Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness |
author_facet |
Stadius, Peter |
author_sort |
Stadius, Peter |
title |
Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness |
title_short |
Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness |
title_full |
Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness |
title_fullStr |
Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness |
title_full_unstemmed |
Petsamo 1920–1940: Rhetoric of Colonialism and Finnishness |
title_sort |
petsamo 1920–1940: rhetoric of colonialism and finnishness |
publisher |
University of Illinois Press |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.5406/28315081.24.1.2.07 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/jfs/article-pdf/24/1-2/112/1609723/112stadius.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(78.139,78.139,-68.582,-68.582) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean The Corridor |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean The Corridor |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean sami sami |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean sami sami |
op_source |
Journal of Finnish Studies volume 24, issue 1-2, page 112-135 ISSN 1206-6516 2831-5081 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5406/28315081.24.1.2.07 |
container_title |
Journal of Finnish Studies |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
1-2 |
container_start_page |
112 |
op_container_end_page |
135 |
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1788059230526242816 |