Abstract
The study looks at integration as a cultural process and argues that in the process Finland and its citizens are built as a fantasy. Integration is one of the current challenges of the Finnish and European societies. The brief increase in the number of asylum seekers in 2015 has brought a growing number of people into the scope of the integration services and increased the importance of the way integration is implemented in the society as a whole.
In Finland, integration has traditionally been studied either at the level of integration politics or practises. However, rarely do these two strains of research meet. Therefore, the current study builds a view of integration as a cultural process. That is, in addition to being produced through politics and practises, integration is also constructed through the way it is imagined in discourses and representations. The cultural process includes the ways movement, the nation state and citizenship are understood and, hence, the way integration and being ‘well integrated’ are interpreted. The research question of the current study is: What kind of cultural process of integration is constructed in the information packages for migrants?
The study analyses 11 information packages produced by ministries in Finland in the years 2000–2018 and intended to guide the migrants during their first steps of integration. The packages are only one part of integration, but they are viewed here as an interface between the integration politics and practises. The study uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an overall framework and the tools of CDA, social semiotics and content analysis in the analysis of texts and images. The findings of the analyses are discussed together, utilising the three methods to support and contribute to each other.
In the packages the migrants are invited to integrate into an embellished version of Finland, a fantasy of Finland. They thus reveal the best aspects of both the nation and its citizens while excluding the less favourable ones. The nation is constructed especially through the traditional aspects of the welfare state and nature, whereas citizenship is constructed in particular through working. In the cultural process of integration migrants are hence invited to integrate into specific areas of the society, particularly into the welfare state and the labour market, but not into the society or with its citizens at large.
In Finland, integration has traditionally been studied either at the level of integration politics or practises. However, rarely do these two strains of research meet. Therefore, the current study builds a view of integration as a cultural process. That is, in addition to being produced through politics and practises, integration is also constructed through the way it is imagined in discourses and representations. The cultural process includes the ways movement, the nation state and citizenship are understood and, hence, the way integration and being ‘well integrated’ are interpreted. The research question of the current study is: What kind of cultural process of integration is constructed in the information packages for migrants?
The study analyses 11 information packages produced by ministries in Finland in the years 2000–2018 and intended to guide the migrants during their first steps of integration. The packages are only one part of integration, but they are viewed here as an interface between the integration politics and practises. The study uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an overall framework and the tools of CDA, social semiotics and content analysis in the analysis of texts and images. The findings of the analyses are discussed together, utilising the three methods to support and contribute to each other.
In the packages the migrants are invited to integrate into an embellished version of Finland, a fantasy of Finland. They thus reveal the best aspects of both the nation and its citizens while excluding the less favourable ones. The nation is constructed especially through the traditional aspects of the welfare state and nature, whereas citizenship is constructed in particular through working. In the cultural process of integration migrants are hence invited to integrate into specific areas of the society, particularly into the welfare state and the labour market, but not into the society or with its citizens at large.
| Translated title of the contribution | "Tervetuloa Satumaa-Suomeen!" Kotoutuminen kulttuurisena prosessina ministeriöiden tietopaketeissa vuosina 2000-2018 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisors/Advisors |
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| Award date | 6 Oct 2020 |
| Place of Publication | Helsinki |
| Publisher | |
| Print ISBNs | 978-951-51-6198-7 |
| Electronic ISBNs | 978-951-51-6199-4 |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Sept 2020 |
| MoE publication type | G4 Doctoral dissertation (monograph) |
Fields of Science
- 5171 Political Science
- integration
- migration
- nation state
- citizenship
- ministries
- Finland
- critical discourse analysis
- social semiotics