Narrative claims on regions: prospecting for spatial identities among social movements in Finland

Abstract

Regions have been regarded as processes, artefacts and discourses, and recently as ‘brands’ that various stakeholders use in marketing. Discourses on institutional regions are typically promoted by media, governmental bodies and planning organizations that draw on reputed collective regional identities—the expressions of past and current social discourses and cultural practices. However, such institutional regional discourses are often incongruous to spatial imaginaries of everyday life. This article scrutinizes the meanings of spatial attachment to citizens and explores to what extent regional identities are meaningful in everyday life. To avoid biased assumptions, focus-group interviews were carried out within four Finnish provinces among the members of four social movements. The results show that provincial spaces are not actively thought-and-practiced. Spatial identities are rather structured around personal experiences that typically accumulate in several locales, since personal histories are increasingly characterized by mobility. This article also recognizes that the everyday meanings of a socially constructed region are often generationally read and combine different historical narratives.

On a considéré historiquement les régions de multiples façons comme des processus, des objets fabriqués, des discours, et dernièrement comme des «marques» utilisées par les partis prenants variés pour le marketing. Cette dernière conception de la région implique la présence des discours utilisés par les médias, le gouvernement, et des organismes de gestion et d'urbanisme représentant une région comme un espace cohérent à partir d'une série d'identités régionales soi-disant «collectives». De tels discours institutionnalisés ne concordent pourtant que très peu avec les imaginaires spatiales de la vie quotidienne. Cet article examine de très près donc les significations d'attachement spatial pour les citoyens et interroge jusqu'à quel point les identités régionales ont de la signification pour la vie quotidienne. Afin d'éviter des suppositions partiales dans la recherche des focus groups ont été entrepris dans quatre provinces finlandaises parmi les membres de quatre mouvements populaires. Les résultats démontrent que les personnes interrogées ne tiennent pas en compte les espaces provinciaux dans leur pensées et pratiques quotidiennes. Les identités spatiales se construisent plutôt autour des expériences personnelles qui accumulent très souvent dans de nombreux lieux en vue de la croissance de la mobilité personnelle qui joue un rôle de plus en plus important dans la vie quotidienne. L'article reconnaît aussi que les significations quotidiennes d'une région construite socialement diffèrent souvent en fonction de l'âge de la personne qui l'interprète et que ces significations mélangent de différents narratifs historiques.

Regiones han sido considerados como procesos, artefactos y discursos y recientemente como ‘marcas’ que varias accionistas utilizan en mercadotécnica. Discursos de regiones institucionales están típicamente promocionados por la prensa, cuerpos gubernamentales y organizaciones planeadores que llevan de identidades regionales colectivos reputados—las expresiones de discursos sociales del presente y pasado y practicas culturales. No obstante, dichos discursos institucionales regionales frecuentemente están incongruentes a imaginarias espaciales de la vida cotidiana. Este articulo se examina los significados de apego espacial para ciudadanos y se explora hasta que punto las identidades regionales tienen significado en la vida cotidiana. Para evitar suposiciones parciales, entrevistas en grupos focales fueron hechos en cuatro provincias finlandesas entre los miembros de cuatro movimientos sociales. Los resultados muestran que espacios provinciales no están activamente pensados ni practicados. Más bien los identidades espaciales están estructurados sobre experiencias personales que típicamente acumulan en varios locales, desde que historias personales están cada vez más caracterizado por movilidad. El articulo también reconoce que los significados cotidianos de una región socialmente construida están frecuentemente entendido generacionalmente y se combinan narrativas históricas diferentes.

Keywords:

• regional identity
• region
• spatial attachment
• social movements
• voluntary associations
• focus groups

Keywords:

• identité régionale
• région
• attachement spatiale
• mouvement populaire
• associations à but non lucratif
• focus groups

Keywords:

• identidad regional
• región
• apego espacial
• movimientos sociales
• asociaciones voluntarios
• grupos focales

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Anssi Paasi, Kaj Zimmerbauer and Martin Jones for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this paper. I am also grateful for the constructive comments of the editor and three anonymous referees. This article was made possible by the generous financial support of the Academy of Finland (Project number 121992).

Notes

1. The word ‘province’ for maakunta is rather established in the academic literature (Häkli 1998; Paasi 1996), and this article uses it as an analytical concept. Nevertheless, when the Regional Councils were commissioned, the translation of maakunta as ‘region’ became the guideline for the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland and it appears as such in Finnish legislation. This terminological confusion exemplifies their formalization as regional developing agencies in 1994.

2. The groups under consideration could also be labelled as voluntary associations. I prefer to use social movements as they have all used contentious agendas demanding social change on behalf of ordinary people (Miller 2000). Youth Societies, for example, were active in the regional/national awakening amidst Russian oppression politics in the early twentieth century and Local Heritage Associations were established to resist the disappearance of local cultures amidst modernization. Because of their institutionalized nature, however, they may not be compared with more radical and informal social movements.

3. The interviews were held in places that the members of the associations were accustomed to or where they normally held meetings: club houses, heritage houses, community centres, association offices, lecture rooms, bars or homes. The interviews lasted from one hour and fifteen minutes to three and a half hours.

4. A survey gathered at the end of the interviews indicates that the more educated people are, the less they are attached to their neighbourhood and the more they are attached to the nation.

5. The three-stage coding for the interviews states: (1) the gender and the number for the participant in the group; (2) the decade in which the participant was born; and (3) the location and the type of group (LHA, Local Heritage Association; YS, Youth Society; AI, Amnesty International; FotE, Friends of the Earth; NCS, Nature Conservation Society; VS, Varsinais-Suomi; PH, Päijät-Häme; NK, North Karelia; NO, North Ostrobothnia). The interviews were held in Finnish. The excerpts are translated by the author.

6. See http://www.paijat-hame.fi/en. The coat of arms of Päijät-Häme is a redesign of one of the original propositions from 1905 for the coat of arms for the city of Lahti. It is currently the only feminine coat of arms in Finland and depicts the lady of the waters, Vellamo, a mythical figure from the national epic Kalevala, and a cuckoo as a reminder of the post-war Karelian resettlement in the region.