Identity in motion: The process of Finland-Swedish migration to Sweden

Abstract

This article examines how identities among Finland-Swedish migrants change in the process of contemporary migration between Finland and Sweden. An approach of mixed methods is adopted in order to reveal both patterns of settling in Sweden or returning to Finland and mechanisms of the migrants’ identity construction. Through migration, identifications are contested. The findings suggest that in Sweden the Finlandian national identity initially grows stronger, but weakens over time. Finland-Swedish identity is transformed into an important feature on the personal, instead of the ethnic group, level. For the returnees, the Finland-Swedish ethnic identity is often enhanced. The migrants’ different levels of identity are found to be linked to various scales of space, underlining the regionally distinct characteristics of the Finland-Swedish identity.