Constructing Familiarity in Finnish–Russian Karelia: Shifting Uses of History and the Re-Interpretation of Regions

Abstract

This paper will present evidence of regionalization processes taking shape in “Finnish–Russian” Karelia based on the construction of “familiarity”. This region-building strategy harks back to the well-known Euroregion model developed within the context of European integration. However, if Euroregions can be seen as largely public sector projects of “place-making” the construction of familiarity is a much more socially grounded process. The major shift under consideration is that of transcending the national appropriations of Karelia that have characterized Finnish, Russian and Soviet policies in the past. The focus will be on two aspects: (1) notions of a common regional space in order to promote cross-border co-operation and (2) the re-framing of history and the influence of tourism in developed multifaceted (partly post-national) regional ideas of Karelia. Rather than understand Karelia within the framework of nationalizing historiographies, these contemporary interpretations depict Karelia as a borderland—as a space of cultural and historical ambiguity marked but not dominated by alternating phases of Russification, Finnishization and Sovietization.

Notes

Major support for this analysis of Finnish–Russian ‘familiarity’ has been provided by the Academy of Finland and European Science Foundation within the scope of the EuroCORECODE programme and the project network ‘Unfamiliarity as signs of European times: Scrutinising historical representations of otherness and contemporary daily practices in border regions (Unfamiliarity)’ (see http://www.unfamiliarity.eu/). Reference to Finnish–Russian stereotypes is based here on research carried out within the scope of the international projects EUDIMENSIONS (contract: CIT-CT-2005-028804), financed by the European Union's Sixth Framework Programme for Research (see www.eudimensions.eu) and EXLINEA (contract HPSE-CT-2002-00141), funded through the Community Research Fifth Framework Programme of the (see exlinea.ctc.ee).

Word in italics inserted by the author.

See, for example, Eskelinen et al. (1999), Laine and Demidov (2013), Liikanen (2004) and Shliamin (2002).

The term ‘Russian Karelia’ refers to the Republic of Karelia or Karelian Republic, a constituent part (or ‘subject’) of the Russian Federation. These terms are used interchangeably.

To be found on the following websites: http://www.nwrussia.com/region/karelia/museums; http://www.ticrk.ru/en/gallery_7962.html

Source: http://www.sortavala.ru/w_valaam/found_eng.html (accessed 1 June 2011).

See: http://www.sortavala.ru/w_valaam/found_eng.html (accessed 1 June 2011).

The German–Polish example is instructive here: territorial shifts and expulsions after World War II, as well as the ideological climate of state socialism limited contact between Poles and Germans and relegated local histories to a peripheral, existence. The re-discovery and re-assessment of these histories reflected a need for understanding place and dialogue without censorship and ideological predispositions.

Our research also corrroborated Jerman's (2004) findings: the Finnish media, and above all the sensationalist press, tend to focus on Russians when they are associated with negative issues such as, crime, drugs, human trafficking, prostitution and other elements of a ‘dark economy’. This goes hand in hand with Finnish images of life in Russia as an endless struggle against poverty, the mafia, oligarchs and a corrupt state apparatus.