Finnish Colonial Encounters

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.>

Develops the concept of 'colonialism without colonies' in relation to Finland Explores the involvement of Finns in European powers' colonial projects and expansion Sheds light on the Finnish colonialism of the Sámi, the only indigenous people within the European Union

Autorentext

Raita Merivirta is an Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of European and World History at the University of Turku, Finland. She is a specialist in postcolonial history, literature and cultural studies, and the author of The Emergency and the Indian English Novel: Memory, Culture and Politics (Routledge, 2019).

Leila Koivunen is a Professor of global history and intercultural interaction ****in the Department of European and World History at the University of Turku, Finland. She is a specialist in the history of cultural encounters and the processes of intercultural knowledge formation, especially between Africa and Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Timo Särkkä is a Docent in Economic History at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and a Visiting Professor in the Global History Division of the Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives (OTRI) at Osaka University in Japan. He specialises in global economic history with an emphasis on economic imperialism.

Inhalt

1. Finns in the Colonial World; Raita Merivirta, Leila Koivunen & Timo Särkkä.- Part I: State, Nation and Colonialism in Finland.- 2. Wisdom of the Oppressed: Finnish Colonial Complicities in the Age of the Russian Empire; Pekka Rantanen, Petri Ruuska & Timo Särkkä.- 3. Finnish Parliamentarians' Conceptions of Imperialism and Colonialism, 1917-1995; Mika Suonpää & Matti Välimäki.- 4. Settler Colonial Eyes: Finnish Travel Writers and the Colonization of Petsamo; Janne Lahti.- 5. Nation-building and Colonialism: The Early Skolt Sami Research of Väinö Tanner; Jukka Nyyssönen.- Part II: Colonial Encounters in Finland.- 6. Queensland Cannibals Encountered in Finland (1886): Locally Rooted Visions of Exhibitions of Colonized People; Leila Koivunen.- 7. Colonialism, Race and White Innocence in Finnish Children's Literature: Anni Swan's 1920s' Serial Uutisasukkaana Austraaliassa; Raita Merivirta.- 8. Encountering Colonial Worldsthrough Missionary Maps in the Late Nineteenth-Century Grand Duchy of Finland; Johanna Skurnik.- Part III: Finns' Colonial Encounters Abroad.- 9. From the Eastern Front to the Western Frontier: The Transimperial Life of a Finnish Worker during the First World War; Aleksi Huhta.- 10. Photography and the Religious Encounter: Finnish Missionaries' Representations of the Owambo, Namibia; Napandulwe Shiweda.- 11. Did you really have a place in the Boer War?: Colonial Conflict and the Contested Production of Finnish Nationality, 1899-1908; Wm. Matthew Kennedy & Chris Holdridge.- 12. The Pioneer Men: Making of Finnish Settler Identity in Southern Africa pre-1914; Timo Särkkä.