Privileged or dispossessed? Intersectional marginality in a forgotten working-class neighborhood in Finland

ABSTRACT

Nestled in a quiet part of Oulu, Finland, on an Island called Hietasaari, was a residential area called Vaakunakylä. Hietasaari was, from the 19^th century onward, largely undeveloped with an oceanside beach amidst pines, small, cultivated fields and a modest number of expensive villas. Vaakunakylä was a working-class neighborhood, but city planners committed to developing the Island forced the residents to move in the 1980s. The decision to remove the community was influenced by the Finnish state’s commitment to a seemingly classless society living in harmony with nature, and a difficult World War II history of the site. Finland is a Nordic welfare state and marginality in society is sometimes difficult to recognize. In this paper, archaeology is used to counter the city’s narrative about social problems and residential quality of life in Vaakunakylä.

KEYWORDS:

• Contemporary archaeology
• marginality
• neoliberalism
• World War II
• Finland

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Vesa-Pekka Herva for useful discussions during the development this paper. We also thank Janne Ikäheimo for his help with mapping the Vaakunakylä site, and Jari Heinonen for his help with identifying objects. We also thank Paul. R. Mullins for helpful comments and language corrections.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Archival Resources

National archives in Mikkeli (KAM)

Puolustusministeri, rakennustoimisto Oulu Hb:1, parakkien kauppakirjajäljennökset 1946–1973.

Oulu City Archives (OUKA)

Majoituslautakunta Ha:1, saksalaisten kanssa tehtyjä majoitussopimuksia 1941-1944

Vuokrasopimus ja asemapiirros majoitustarkoituksiin pystytettävästä parakkikylästä Hietasaari, Toppilan salmen rajoittajamana rautatiesillasta etelään.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tuuli Matila

Tuuli Matila is a PhD candidate in archaeology in the University of Oulu. Her research focuses on the representation and commemoration of World War II in Finland, with a special interest in visual representations. Her other research interests include heritages of marginal groups, histories and places.

Marika Hyttinen

Marika Hyttinen is a doctoral student in archaeology at the University of Oulu. She specializes in historical archaeology, focusing on issues of industrialism, materiality, gender and identity.

Timo Ylimaunu

Timo Ylimaunu (PhD) is lecturer and docent in historical archaeology at the University of Oulu, Finland. He studies historical archaeology with a wide scope of interests from the Early Modern townships in north to the heritage of recent conflicts.