The Four Turning Points of the Province
The Concept of the ‘Province’ as Part of the Regionalization and Politicization of Finnish Society in the Nineteenth Century
Abstract
The article examines the use of the Finnish word ‘province’ in nineteenth century discourses and identifies turning points where certain meanings of the word have become stronger and others have fallen into the background. The starting point is the conceptual history's idea of social change in the background of linguistic changes – concepts reflect how people of the past understood the reality and thus explained their actions and thinking. Province can be considered a kind of key concept in the Finnish language, which is on the one hand self-evident, and on the other hand ambiguous and difficult to define. It has been flexible and shaped when needed and provided political and discursive power at certain historical turning points. However, the written use and meanings of the word ‘province’ in nineteenth century language have not been systematically examined in previous research. National substructures have also received relatively little attention in conceptual historical research. As the conclusion of the article, the four turning points can be shown in the use of the word ‘province’. They point to the wide discourse related to Finland's political status, from the rise of the importance of the people, to the top of the political rhetoric of the Fennomans, the utilization of provincialism in Finnish nationalism, and the strengthening of the provinces as spaces for political, social and economic activity with exact boundaries. The word ‘province’ is part of the field as interrelated political, social and regional key concepts that took shape in the nineteenth century.
Keywords: province; political space; conceptual history
