There are many things that one can do to retard or facilitate adaption of newcomers to Finland. One of the worst is constant suspicion by politicians who have no qualifications or understanding of migration. Good examples are National Coalition Party MP Pia Kauma who does not have the faintest idea about migrants but is still
Read on »Posts Tagged: Otherness
Dana’s Alppikulma diary: 10 homeless people and others
MAY 19: Yesterday, in front of the Alppikulma gate, more than 10 homeless people were waiting at 5 o’clock to enter the building. A foreigner from an African country who shaves his head is under so much pressure that he does strange things. But I will only describe his work yesterday. He has to carry
Read on »Migrant Tales Literary: Canary of light
By Dana رقناری آی قناریها برایم آواز بخوانید چون من اسیر دست فنلاندم، گرفتارم در یک قفس در بندماین قفس جنس آتشی دارد، بی نور و پنجره، نگهبان و پلیس های زشت وحشی و پا پتی دارد. فنلاند کشور سیاهچاله هاست، کشور شکنجه و قحطی و درد و مرگ و بلاست.من در این کشور بدام افتادم، بالهایم را شکستند و پاهایم
Read on »QUOTE OF THE DAY: Racism in Finland? You ain’t seen nothing yet!
When I came to live permanently in Finland over 40 years ago, people like me were seen as an ethnic anomaly. Sometimes having a different skin color or looking “foreign” meant receiving microaggressions like people shoving your child with a lighted cigarette that burns them, or hearing a perfect stranger saying something racist to you
Read on »Migrant Tales Podcast: Shirlene Green Newball chats with writers Shashank Mane and Hope Nwosu
Leaving one’s first home country, one acquaints herself and himself to new worlds and ways of thinking. For a writer and artist, this source can be used to give new perspectives and meaning. Both Shashank Mane and Hope Nwosu write about their experiences and the challenges that migrants face when they move to a new
Read on »Part I: Racism causes trauma and mental suffering
Maailman Kuvalehti, a periodical which often takes up issues of xenophobia and racism in Finland more bravely than the mainstream media, cited the article Häpeää, itsesyytöksiä, masennusta – toistuvan rasismin vaikutukset mielenterveyteen voivat olla vakavat (Shame, self-blame, and depression – continuous racism encounter impact on mental wellbeing can be severe). Dated April 24th to a study by Robert T. Carter (University of Columbia), it stated that day-to-day exclusion encounters cause mental depression and symptoms similar to war trauma. Read the article here.
Read on »Migrant Literary: Suva – Artist interview on “Public Anatomy”
Otherness and other layers… By Hami Bahadori
Read on »Camilla Edström Ödemark (March 29, 2015): Exposing White Voids
Camilla Edström Ödemark is an artist from Åland who moved from her native Mariehamn to Sweden after she graduated from high school. Her artwork hits a sensitive spot especially if you’re in that sometimes challenging situation of adapting to a new country. Ödemark says that her work focuses on what or who is “abnormal” or
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