”Much more than a passport” Markers of Finnish national identity in Australia

Abstrakti

A person’s national identity is not generally seen as being dependent upon outward markers of nationality such as citizenship or language; rather it is considered to be a more abstract sense of belonging to an ancestral home (Anderson, 1983, 14-16). Indeed, a Finnish person living in Finland might not consider markers of ethnicity to have a central role in constructing his or her identity. However, in a migrant context, such markers can become tools with which people choose to emphasise their sense of Finnishness. This essay will examine the role certain markers – namely citizenship, religion and language – have in maintaining and creating a sense of Finnish identity in an Australian expatriate context