The Emergence of a Nationalistic Vernacular: The Ideal Peasant Man and the Roma People as His Antagonists

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses ethnic folklore as mirroring the ideals of peasant culture in Finland until the first half of the twentieth century. Using folk narratives about the Finnish Roma and proverbs as told by Finnish rural peasants, I investigate how such elements of everyday communication laid bare notions of social hierarchies. Historically, the sense of belonging to a nation has often been “invented” by the majority or by the people in power. Because the collecting of Finnish folklore was conducted primarily with an idealized notion of the peasant majority in mind, minority folklore or urban elements of life appeared inauthentic and thus not worthy of collection. Unlike the sedentary population, the Finnish Roma were itinerant, and they specifically became an object of ethnic folklore. The aim here is to understand the role of narrative culture in creating and maintaining institutionalized social differences.