Assimilated, silenced, and forgotten — Decolonized perspectives on the Finnish-Karelian past and present: Researching the impacts of Finnish politics of forgetting on young Karelians

• Main Author: Laitinen, Essi
• Other Authors: Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: epistemic violence; structural violence; episteeminen väkivalta; rakenteellinen väkivalta; alkuperäiskansatutkimus; indigenous research; taakat; burdens; Master's Programme in Global Society; karjalaisuus; kansallinen identiteetti; traumat; muistin politiikka; unohtaminen; karjalaiset; kolonialismi; kollektiivinen muisti; Karelians; collective memory; forgetting; colonialism; karelia*; karelian; karelians; Karjalaiset
• Online Access: https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/147610

Karelia has long had a passive role in Finnish public discourse. Research in Finnish history and memory politics has characterized the Finnish national narrative as patriotic and nationalistic, in which the role of Karelia has been reduced to a lost and utopian Finnish region, and the role of Karelians either as evacuees or as a Finnish tribe. As such, Finland can be seen to have forgotten Karelia in its collective remembering. The Finnish nationalistic perceptions of Karelia, Karelians, and Karelianness have also pierced the field of Karelia research until recent years, and especially post-colonial research, and research on the collective memory, experiences, and realities of young Karelians are still in its infancy. In this master's thesis, I examine how Finnish politics of forgetting has affected young Karelians. More precisely, I study the collective memory of the members of Karjalazet Nuoret Suomes (KNŠ) (a Karelian youth association), the process of its construction and the collective burdens created by Finnish politics of forgetting. The topic is also personal, as I am a young Karelian and a member of the KNŠ. Considering the marginalized position of Karelians in the Finnish national narrative, research, and society, my research is collaborative in nature, and uses indigenous methodology even though Karelians are not considered indigenous in Finland. I interviewed seven young Karelians for the research. The effects of Finnish politics of forgetting have colonial tendencies, and are violent in an epistemic manner, as young Karelians had internalized a Finnish perception of Karelianness until their teenage years and even adulthood. In the childhood of the interviewees, Karelianness was hidden in plain sight, and was only visible at school and in the surrounding society as either Finnishness or Russianness. The real meaning of one's Karelianness had been realized only when young Karelians found others like them on social media. With the realization came also the need to understand why Karelianness has been ...