Abstract
The Finnish–Russian borderland has transformed in the last three decades from two isolated national territories into a transition zone, where the ‘other’ culture and society is ever more present. This paper analyses what kinds of perceptions Finnish and Russian children have of the border and the borderland today. It also examines children’s territorial identifications in the borderland. The research is based on 263 mental maps collected from 9–15-year-old children in the cities of Lappeenranta (Finland) and Vyborg (Russia) and the village of Pervomayskoe (Russia) between 2013 and 2017. The analysis of the maps illustrates that the children participating in the study perceive the Finnish–Russian border mainly as a place for border crossings, although they continue to use the border as a tool for constructing socio-spatial distinctions. In this way, the children actively participate in processes of bordering and play an important part in the social life of the borderland. The participants’ perceptions of the borderland are connected to the national and local contexts that they live in but vary widely between individuals. The paper argues that the local border-related phenomena and children’s border-crossing experiences are increasingly relevant for their national and local identification processes. Besides providing novel information regarding Finnish and Russian children’s perceptions and identifications in the Finnish–Russian borderland, the paper adjusts the mental mapping method to a borderland context and enhances our understanding of the complexity of the bordering processes taking place in borderlands.
Highlights
This paper studies children1 living in the Finnish–Russian borderland, with the aim to analyse what kinds of perceptions Finnish and Russian children have of the Finnish–Russian border and the borderland
We focus on the mental mapping method and show how we applied it to a borderland context
Existing studies have underlined the role of children as active participants in borderlands and bordering processes (Spyrou & Christou 2014; Venken 2017)
Summary
Spyrou and Christou (2014) argue that border studies have failed to recognise the role of children as active participants in borderlands and bordering processes. Borders and borderlands are an outcome of adult activity and of children. This argument aligns with current childhood research, which considers children active agents in their everyday lives and in the larger social fabric (Qvortrup et al 2016). When borders are approached as bordering processes and social constructs, children are not mere objects of the institutional or mental power that borders have over them; rather, they are active participants in (de)constructing borders (Spyrou & Christou 2014)
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