Privileged or dispossessed? Intersectional marginality in a forgotten working-class neighborhood in Finland

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nestled in a quiet part of Oulu, Finland, on an Island called Hietasaari, was a residential area called Vaakunakylä. Hietasaari was, from the 19th century onward, largely undeveloped with an oceanside beach amidst pines, small, cultivated fields and a modest number of expensive villas. Vaakunakylä was a working-class neighborhood, but city planners committed to developing the Island forced the residents to move in the 1980s. The decision to remove the community was influenced by the Finnish state’s commitment to a seemingly classless society living in harmony with nature, and a difficult World War II history of the site. Finland is a Nordic welfare state and marginality in society is sometimes difficult to recognize. In this paper, archaeology is used to counter the city’s narrative about social problems and residential quality of life in Vaakunakylä.