Finnish Settler Colonialism in North America: Rethinking Finnish Experiences in Transnational Spaces

Finnish Settler Colonialism in North America reinterprets Finnish experiences in North America by connecting them to the transnational processes of settler colonial conquest, far-settlement, elimination of natives, and capture of terrestrial spaces. Rather than merely exploring whether the idea of Finns as a different kind of immigrant is a myth, this book challenges it in many ways. It offers an analysis of the ways in which this myth manifests itself, why it has been upheld to this day, and most importantly how it contributes to settler colonialism in North America and beyond.

The authors in this volume apply multidisciplinary perspectives in revealing the various levels of Finnish involvement in settler colonialism. In their chapters, authors seek to understand the experiences and representations of Finns in North American spatial projects, in territorial expansion and integration, and visions of power. They do so by analyzing how Finns reinvented their identities and acted as settlers, participated in the production of settler colonial narratives, as well as benefitted and took advantage of settler colonial structures.

Finnish Settler Colonialism in North America aims to challenge traditional histories of Finnish migration, in which Finns have typically been viewed almost in isolation from the broader American context, not to mention colonialism. The book examines the diversity of roles, experiences, and narrations of and by Finns in the histories of North America by employing the settler colonial analytical framework.

Rani-Henrik Andersson (PhD) is senior university lecturer of North American Studies at the University of Helsinki and the principal investigator of HUMANA-Human Migration and Network Analysis: Developing New Research Methods for the Study of Human Migration and Social Change.

Janne Lahti (PhD) is a historian who works at the University of Helsinki as an Academy of Finland research fellow. His research focuses on global and transnational histories of settler colonialism, borderlands, the American West, and Nordic colonialism. Lahti is also the editor-in-chief of the journal Settler Colonial Studies.