Migrants and Literature in Finland and Sweden
Guest lecture by Satu Gröndahl
EVSL/Finno-Ugristik, Campus Hof 7.2, 26th June 2018, 17:00–19:00
Associate Professor Satu Gröndahl presents the anthology Migrants and Literature in Finland and Sweden, to be published in autumn 2018 by Finnish Literature Society. The volume explores the ways in which transcultural connections have affected the national self-understanding in the Swedish and Finnish context. It also presents comparative aspects on the reception of literary works and explores the intersectional perspectives of identities including class, gender, ethnicity, ‘race’ and disability. Further, it demonstrates the complexity of grouping literatures according to nation and ethnicity. The case-studies are divided into three chapters: II ‘Generational Shifts’, III ‘Reception and Multicultural Perspectives’ and IV ‘Writing Migrant Identities’. The anthology includes articles written by ten scholars in Finland and Sweden.
Satu Gröndahl will also discuss her own article in the anthology, ‘Sweden-Finnish Literature: Generational and Cultural Changes’. The article presents a general, historical survey of selected works by different generations of Sweden-Finnish authors. Gröndahl’s conclusion suggests that a gradual shift has occurred away from narratives of language loss and conflicts with the Swedish society among Finnish migrant workers. This involves a move from an emphasis on Finnish ethnicity towards a hybridized understanding of Sweden-Finnishness, which in turn reflects a gradual integration into Swedish society. Furthermore, the article discusses a growing focus upon social class in later works by Sweden-Finnish authors, as opposed to questions of ethnicity, which predominated previously.
Associate Professor Satu Gröndahl is presently working at the Department of Modern Languages and The Hugo Valentin Centre (previously Centre for Multiethnic Studies) of Uppsala University.
