Finnish Immigrants in America: Photographs and Empathy as a Bridgeway to the Present

Authors

• Tuuli Matila Oulun yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37449/ennenjanyt.120997

Keywords:

Siirtolaisuus, museot, proteesinen muisti, Suomi, Pohjois-Amerikka

Abstract

This paper examines the lives of Finnish immigrants in the Michigan Copper Country region in America through local historical photographs and oral histories. The focus is on the question of how the Finns expressed their identity in a new country. The theory used, prosthetic memory, reflects on how photography as technology helped the immigrants to imagine themselves as part of the new culture. The photographs also reveal how the immigrant might have viewed their new surroundings. There are certain universal tendencies about immigration and integration and this paper argues that the images of Finnish immigrants’ lives can elicit empathy for their experiences that could be harnessed in Finnish museums to make links to current migration and increase discussion on this politically relevant topic.