1、Boundaries of Citizenship the Case of the Roma and the Finnish Nation-State, Camilla Nordberg 2008 Swedish School of Social Science University of Helsinki,Emerging policy agenda,Reason to consider the 1990s as the decade in Finland when debates on multiculturalism and the particular needs and rights
2、 of minority ethnic groups clearly escalated on the public agenda: increasing immigration & the internationalisation and judication of Finnish politics Triggered a political debate on the multicultural society,Minority ethnic groups in Finland,Swedish speaking Finns (300 000) The indigenous people,
3、the Smi (4 000 - 7 000) The Roma (approx. 10 000) Small Jewish and Tatar minorities (approx. 1 000) The Russian minority (the old minority, approx. 5 000),In- and out-migration,Large population movements in the 1860s and in 1960-70 During the 1960s and 1970s other Western European countries attracte
4、d labour migrants but the Finns moved to Sweden and North America to search for a better life Only during the last twenty years greater relative numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers (more than 600 per cent increase since 1989),Inflows of foreign nationals as a percentage of the total population, 2
5、004 (OECD),Foreign citizens in Finland, 1980-2006,StatFin 2007. The number of foreign born citizens was approx. 180 000 in 2005.,Foreign citizens in Finland by nationality, 2005,Citizenship and its boundaries,The three gates of citizenship:Territorial access Citizenship status (incl. denizenship) Su
6、bstantial citizenship,The case of the Roma,Long history of oppression Roots in India - left for Europe over a hundred years ago To Finland in the 16th century - harsh policies and systematic assimilation Still in the 1960s the best solution to the social problems of the Romani minority was seen as t
7、he extermination of he culture, e.g. by childrens homes The approx 10 000 Roma (Gypsies) of Finland belong to the Kaale (Klo) group History to be interpreted in the light of social and human transformation Continuous need to define the boundaries of citizenship The Roma - continuous position on the
8、margins - yet not isolated,Each and every grown up Finn, if you ask them to tell you something unpleasant about Roma, they all have a story. Every single one has a story. If you ask all of them, to tell you something nice about the Roma, it might be, that every fifth says, that yes, Hortto Kaalo was
9、 a great band.,The citizenship frame,Exploring the citizenship of Roma in contemporary Finland; citizenship understood broadly as the relation between the Roma and the nation-state Citizenship as an exclusive and excluding category;also citizens with a full citizenship status may experience exclusio
10、n and non-participation (e.g. Lister) Rooted in the regime of the nation-state,Data,Four different studies of claims-making Parliamentary debate (top-down perspective) Interviews with Romani activists (bottom-up perspective) Newspaper stories (top-down and bottom-up perspective). Romani activists an
11、d majority elite claims-makers,Taking position,Citizenship as claims-making collective action which mobilises political demands into the public domain (Statham 2002) Citizens not solely objects but agents Citizenship defined in the interaction between actors, structures, institutions,Questions of th
12、e day,What image of the Finnish nation-state is then constructed by the different actors? In which way has the national culture enabled or constrained certain claims?,Dimensions of citizenship in activist interviews,To be a Finnish citizen To be excluded To be a RomAlso other identities emerged (bei
13、ng a woman, nurse, son etc) Narrative perspective None of our identities is always present they are activated in specific situations,To be a Finnish citizen,The primary group identity on the level of the nation-state is that of being a citizencitizen: member of a political community, state (civic pa
14、rticipation) national: member of a nation-state, people (belonging),National attachment,Well, now immigrants arrive and we who have been here for over 500 years / we are Finnish, we speak Finnish, the Finnish culture and all the rest is ours, were a part of this. Weve got the same religion, which is
15、 very important.,National attachment,I am completely against it a Roma Nation. It confuses the whole agenda of minority politics, because it is a completely different thing to talk about a Romani minority than a Roma nation. / when I consider that the Finnish Roma identify with the Finnish society a
16、nd / if we start to push through such an idea, that we are a nation, then we will soon be building our own territory.,National attachment,I guess when you see a person in need Romani asylum-seekers, you dont just pass her like that; it works on the individual level. But then, when it comes to, say,
17、state politics. Look, as we dont know these people better than the Finns, its not obvious that some people belong to the Romani community. Because in the end, we might not have anything else in common than the awareness of the ethnic identity, but it might be that we dont have much in common at all.
18、,National attachment,The Roma do not constitute their own particular group next to the Finnish peoplebut. .constitute part of Finnish identity,Civic attachment,When I have done my duty and worked for this Finnish society and paid my taxes, I feel that I have met the requirements set by society, I ha
19、ve done my military service and served this state in accordance with public law and so on. So, should I be given the right to be a good Finnish citizen regardless of the fact that I am a Roma, who has a different ethnic background? Or what is the criterion - are you a good Finn?,Civic attachment,The
20、 Roma / take a very active part in NGOs and in the parishes, and just think about the care work they do for their old people and their children. It is the kind of work that is not noticed or valued by the rest of the society, and is at least not measured in any way.,Civic attachment,In Finland a str
21、ong normative understanding of the intrinsic value of paid work. Paid work has not only been a source of income but also a measure of social competence. The weak labour market position of certain groups does not only lead to a weak economic position but also to a low social status (e.g. Forsander, W
22、eber). While the participants are strong supporters of Finnish society, they also try to raise a slightly broader understanding of societal participation Feminist critique: The devaluation of care-work stressed in traditional citizenship The political meaning of motherhood - the education and caring
23、 of the young is part of political life (Lister 2003; Pateman 1989; Siim 2000). Traditional role differentiation within Romani culture,Iris Marion Young,The bourgeois world instituted a moral division of labour between reason and sentiment, identifying masculinity with reason and femininity with sen
24、timent, desire, and the needs of the body. Extolling a public realm of manly virtue and citizenship and independence, generality, and dispassionate reason entailed creating the private sphere of the family as the place to which emotion, sentiment, and bodily needs must be confined. The generality of
25、 the public thus depends on excluding women, who are responsible for attending the private realm, and who lack the dispassionate rationality and independence required of good citizens. (Young 1997: 258),Excluded socioeconomic dimension,We are not really inside this society, / of course, basically we
26、 are, but looking at any field of life and comparing for instance Finns and Roma, then no doubt we are much lower than others. I talk about education, work and all different kinds of problems that emerge in life,Excluded socioeconomic dimension,But in my opinion there is a clear justness and the Rom
27、a can certainly not complain about that, but in a way we are in a sort of social trap; these differences between the rich and poor have grown, and since we live in this kind of consumer society, in a way we can no longer cope with as little as earlier. So in one sense the lives of the young ones, th
28、ose who dont have a job or an education, for example, their lives are limited to a minimal, narrow area/./ So psychologically it can sometimes be quite hard/but I think/from time to time we can also be content with how things are here in Finland; here people at least have roofs over their heads and
29、bread on the table and so on as long as they have done the right thing.,Excluded symbolic/cultural dimension,When I began my studies, I was far in my twenties, I already had children and everything, and it was extremely difficult for me, I thought, oh my God, what is this, when I speak Finnish and t
30、hese people speak Finnish, but I dont, like, get a thing, I somehow dont understand, that everything, like the literature and all this, it was extremely difficult, because I had to do a duplication of work, because I translated it to my own language, not exactly to Romani, but to this my own Finnish
31、 language, because the Finnish that we speak, it is different from the language used by the majority, and it is of big importance.,Excluded emotional dimension,To already as a child be aware of the fact that in a certain way you are wrong/ And even more so if you havent got a solid home, background
32、support, it doesnt have to be only parents, it can also be a teacher, an adult or so who infuses a strong and sound self-esteem into the child. A person easily gets stuck in the mould that is cast for him or her. You start to put into practice these peoples what should I say these people have decide
33、d that you are a certain kind of person, then a great deal of strength and courage is required in order to show them that hey, Im not like that, what you assume me to be.,Excluded emotional dimension discriminated citizenship,I get extremely annoyed. Like when I go shopping or just spend time, like
34、most people sometimes do. So, immediately I have a swarm of guards behind me. I am walking there like some criminal. At that point one really thinks that this is so hard, and it is really wrong, and that it really violates my fundamental rights. But, to us, it is somehow built-in. Perhaps we too oft
35、en accept that, that we dont really / although we might say that this is wrong, that you cant act like that and that this violates my rights, but then we dont really, so strongly, believe that this actually is the case.,Yet,In the beginning of February, we got this new and unique Act on Equal Treatm
36、ent. When we also find some good models for implementation I do think that we will be able to eliminate such injustice in society. And personally I really think it will open many doors. So, when it comes to legistlation I am quite satisfied.,To be a rom - community,You know that in your own culture,
37、 among those people, there you know all the norms and ways to act and be, so then after all it is quite hard then when you are in a completely different cultural environment, when youre not familiar with the norms and those things, then it is exhausting in another way. When you are among your own pe
38、ople you feel comfortable.,To be a rom - community,Well, the status or position of a Rom is rather based on how you get on in life, how you care for your home and for your family, all those things. Those are the first things in life, and then - of course wisdom is valued - but this kind of theoretic
39、al wisdom, it is like this man has studied himself insane,To be a rom - community,.that families now live their own lives, one family here and one family there, and that children no longer have this close connection, for instance to other Romani children / There is a risk that if this strong support
40、 and security provided at home no longer exists, / we fall through the safety net and end up in no-mans-land, if these our own roots are not there.,To be a Rom community,When the societal culture is exclusionary, Romani culture provides an important sense of belonging and security, particularly comp
41、ared to many other marginalised individuals. Next to the communitarian identity, the dilemmas and challenges of a more political minority identity emerges from the material Are group rights beneficial?,To be a Rom minority,I dont accept the idea that some group is strongly supported just because it
42、represents a particular ethnic group, regardless of its history,To be a Rom minority,And now, there was this new directive from the Ministry of Labour concerning the improvement of employment for only Romani people, whatever that will bring about. But I think this is quite bad somehow, that if every
43、thing must be regulated by law, it will also take people to an unequal position, wouldnt it? Thus, when my rights are granted through special regulations, although both of us are Finnish / It is good that there is a period of transition / but of principle I dont necessarily find it that good,To be a
44、 Rom minority,.like those sewing courses, certainly, someone might even get a profession because those costume makers are needed / but considering this development, well, it is perhaps not the best way to promote change, which inevitably is coming and happening, yet I still see those courses directe
45、d to Roma as good, since the threshold is so huge for many, even if they want to study, they dont really dare to go to those majority because they feel this inferiority.,To be a Rom minority,Also majority children have the right to learn about the minorities. I dont understand why information about
46、Finnish minorities is not yet included in teaching materials / It is very tough to circulate in every single Finnish school and talk about basic things.,To conclude,The benign category of the welfare state The good state The history of oppression a constraining element for citizenship claims-making?
47、 Consequence: claims for group specific rights and socioeconomic justice quite rare,Challenges to welfare state legitimacy,How far can the particular needs of minority ethnic groups be neglected without creating too wide social gaps? One of the basic principles of the Nordic welfare states has been
48、to prevent too big differences between different citizens.How far can group rights be developed without threatening the traditional universalism of the welfare state and without the majority experiencing a decreasing sense of community/solidarity with an increasingly heterogeneous population? It may
49、 then become reluctant to finance the redistribution of resources? (Brochmann & Hagelund 2005),Challenges to welfare state legitimacy,Bhikhu Parekh makes the following statement about social justice:The argument being that the welfare state is only possible if we all have a sense of solidarity. Well historically there is very little evidence for this. Welfare state arises for a variety of reasons. We share certain common interests. We dont have to share common values beyond a certain point Its a collective insurance (Parekh 2003, 5).,
