Territorial Dynamics, Cross-border Work and Everyday Life in the Finnish–Swedish Border Area

Abstract

Borders have become increasingly complex and multifaceted in the contemporary world. In spite of accelerating globalisation, flows of refugees, efforts at lowering the internal borders within the EU and general statements on the disappearance of borders, the state-centric system of territories and their borders still channels, through inclusion and exclusion, the ways in which most human beings recognise national practices and in which their daily lives are patterned at both the individual and the institutional levels. This paper aims at contributing to the on-going debates on European regional dynamics and the shaping of territories and will look critically at the current roles of borders as objects of research. It analyses the history of the Finnish–Swedish border and the co-operation taking place there at present as a contextual example in order to look at whether national practices and meanings still structure the way in which this border is shaped in its new EU context. It will first scrutinise the historical roles of this border, which has been one of the EU internal borders since 1995, and will then look at how local people have led their daily lives in this context. The empirical observations show that, in spite of increasing interaction and co-operation, this national border still structures a certain regionalisation of everyday life and identities and provides a socio-spatial framework for organising and performing daily routines in a national context.

This study is based on projects financed by the Academy of Finland (No. 1210442/No. 121992). Thanks are due to Chris Rumford, Ronan Paddison and two anonymous referees for their comments.

Notes

1. It is interesting that the opening of an Ikea store in the Swedish border city of Haparanda in 2006 created new images of cross-border collaboration. One reason for choosing Haparanda as the site was its location next to the border and the inherent transnational image to be gained from this. Several other new stores have been opened in Haparanda besides Ikea and there are powerful expectations that this will put a stop to out-migration and unemployment in the region. On the other hand, many actors do not consider Ikea to be an advantage. Although it is difficult to evaluate its influence within such a short space of time, some small firms in Tornio on the Finnish side have closed down during its first year and many Finnish entrepreneurs think that most of the benefits are accruing on the Swedish side (Valtavaara, 2007). For them, the national border means that the expected benefits for the Swedish entrepreneurs are achieved at the expense of their counterparts in Finland.

2. The (open-ended) interviews (n = 36) were conducted by Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola with the Finnish and Swedish people involved in this cooperation during fieldwork in 2005 and 2006. The idea was that with the help of a few key questions formulated by the researcher, the participants could speak freely about their experiences of cooperation. In addition to the interviews, the fieldwork included participant observations made at local festivals, meetings and seminars where local circumstances, the means of cross-border cooperation and the difficulties encountered were discussed intensively. An examination of people's narratives of their personal experiences provides us with an understanding of wider socio-spatial processes and shows their meaning in everyday life (Wiles et al., 2005, p. 90). The aim of our analysis is to distinguish different border themes that are then structured and analysed using our theoretical framework and concepts (see Polkinghorne, 1995). Hence this analysis aims to reveal spatial representations, social norms and identifications in the actors' narratives of activities in the border region.