Time in the politics of language. An analysis of the conceptions of history in the Internet discussion fora in Finnish newspapers

Authors

• Pasi Ihalainen Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Taina Saarinen
• Tarja Nikula Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Sari Pöyhönen

Abstract

This article focuses on the arguments for and against the compulsory study of Swedish in the Finnish school system by analyzing Internet discussion forum debates of three daily newspapers. We particularly focus on arguments utilizing consciousness and conceptions of history and time. The data has been collected from the Internet discussion fora of Helsingin Sanomat, Hufvudstadsbladet and Vasabladet between October 8–14, 2010. The debates have been analyzed both textually and from an historical perspective in relation to the past, present and future time. A prominent characteristic in the debates is a denial of the significance of history as a language political argument. Another significant result is the use of globalization, as opposed to a Nordic orientation, as an argument against compulsory Swedish. A third result is the strong individualistic argumentation, which links with the denial of the significance of history. Our results suggest there is a need for the development of history education at schools, emphasizing the history of ideas and cultural history beside political and economic history, and integrating the teaching of languages and history.