Blog Post 1
What does it mean to be Finnish/Who are the Finns Unlike ethnic identity, which addresses an individual’s sense of belonging to an ethnic group, national identity pertains to the entire nation. As stated by Oxford dictionary, national identity is a nation’s cohesive sense of their identity as it relates to their distinctive traditions, language, and culture of the whole nation. It defines who belongs to the national community and who does not. As Triandafyllidou (1998) emphasizes, national identity is reliant on distinction from “significant Others,” whether external or internal, against whom the nation defines itself. These Others help establish symbolic boundaries that reinforce cohesion and continuity within the national group. We will see how Finland’s national identity provides a clear example of this otherness in terms of its own identity— which has been shaped by foreign rule, cultural revival, military conflict, and internal diversity. Finnish identi...