Protasova Ekaterina Yu.,
Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Reznik Kirill L.,
MA in Physics, Social Anthropologist, Alfabetica Art Group, Vantaa, Finland, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Functions of the Migrant Home: Russian-Speakers in Finland
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2020-4-17
The necessity to have a shelter is one of the most important human needs. When people go abroad for a long time, they take with them things that will help them master a new space, make it comfortable, while at the same time preserving what is dear in their past life with their presence. While changing themselves, they transform their surroundings, either wishing to integrate or emphasize their identity, or creating varying extensions of their new identity, which may reflect both the former and the dominant culture around them or some third culture. The article is devoted to how Russian-speaking immigrants in Finland adapt their housing to a new stage of life, what memorabilia they bring with them and why, what is behind their choice of interior type, what they consider to be a reflection of Finnishness, and what is Russian in the design of their home. Using the method of individual and group interviews, collecting essays, and discussions in Facebook groups, the authors analyze the attitude of participants in the study to their own space among the representatives of the last wave of the Russian-speaking immigration and compare it with what is available in the homes of the so-called “Old Russians” whose ancestors lived in Finland before the revolution and spoke Russian. It turns out that books, photos, and family heirlooms (such as children’s clothing, tools, and jewelry) that are associated with stories associated with loved ones or special situations are exactly the things that they preserve and which evoke emotions. It is impossible to escape from the surrounding Finnishness, because the living conditions dictate it. Russian objects come and go, and are perceived as such and, if possible, do not perform a decorative, but a pragmatic function.
Publishing: 29/08/2020
How to cite: Protasova E.Yu., Reznik K.L. Functions of the Migrant Home: Russian-Speakers in Finland // Historical Courier, 2020, No. 4 (12), pp. 204–216. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2020/ISTKURIER-2020-4-17.pdf
Links: Issue 4 2020
Keywords: Russian-speaking migration to Finland; the idea of home, symbolic functions of objects; ethnically-marked interior; Russianness; Finnishness, migrants’ home