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E-book Finnishness, Whiteness and Coloniality

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Penilaian

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“It’s just different here,” is a common way in the Nordic countries for relativizing—that is, eschewing responsibility—for racism. “It’s not our fault we are so white, it’s just the way it is.” These commonly held justifications were presented by the anthropologist Kristín Loftsdóttir during her keynote speech at “The ‘Great White North’? Critical Perspectives on Whiteness in the Nordics and its Neighbours,” a conference held at the University of Helsinki in August 2019. But racism is not relative, Loftsdóttir emphasized, nor is it erased by adopting a stance of innocence. The Nordic countries are in a curious posi-tion when it comes to issues of colonialism and racism. Located in the far-thest reaches of Europe, there is a sense among many Nordic citizens that they have always “been” there—and that, furthermore, the people who have been there have always been “white.” The notion of whiteness is an extremely com-plicated view of reality, one that is contested throughout history. This theme is addressed at length in this book, which does not presuppose a stable definition of whiteness: it grapples with the complexities, fluidities and multiple meanings this concept can acquire and communicate. Rather than positing whiteness as a category, this book explores whiteness in its various guises, and as it is defined in various disciplines. The view that there is an unbroken historical thread of per-manent whiteness in the Nordic countries is what Loftsdóttir calls a “restitching” of the historical threads, willfully overlooking the colonization and longstanding historical mobility of people in and out of the region. While much has been writ-ten and researched on colonialism and race in Europe and the Nordic countries, the topic has been underexamined within the specific context of Finland. In this 12-chapter volume, based on a collection of papers from the conference, a set of themes specific to the Finnish context are treated by a range of scholars repre-senting different fields of study. The key question explored in each of the chapters is: What is the relationship between Finnishness, race and coloniality?

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

320.56 ELM f

Penerbit

Finland : Helsinki University Press., 2022

Deskripsi Fisik

373 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9789523690738

Klasifikasi

320.56

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Racism

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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