Reflections on the Interconnectedness of Identities in a Finnish College Setting
The text explores the intricacies of identities and belonging in a Finnish college, touching on themes of cultural diversity, social dynamics, and personal introspection. Through the interactions between characters like Ashraf and the students, the narrative delves into the complexities of self-perception and societal expectations. It paints a vivid picture of how individuals navigate their cultural identities and the notion of 'Finnishness' within a diverse educational environment.
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The Education of an Asylum-seeker a Methodological Note on Writing Social Science Juha Suoranta
Hidden in Plain Sight - The book is available in ResearchGatehttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 272506252_Hidden_in_Plain_Sight - An overview of the book can be found from English Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_in_Plain_ Sight - A longer version of my presentation is in ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310425368_T he_Education_of_an_Asylum-seeker_- _a_Methodological_Note
Idea Any new language, of course, will be the language of a new sensibility, a new reflexivity. (...) This new language, poststructural to the core, will be personal, emotional, biographically specific, and minimalist in its use of theoretical terms. (Denzin, 1997, p. 26.)
Passage from Hidden in Plain Sight The morning mist rises from the lake. I rev up the outboard motor in a 5.0 m/s tailwind. It s beautiful out here, says Ashraf in Finnish. I agree. We wait about 90 minutes for the interview. To kill time I strike up a conversation with the older students who are there to help the new applicants. I ask them trivial questions about the college. They are obviously enthusiastic about their school. They have had foreign students before, too, from as far as Japan.
Passage from Hidden in Plain Sight ... On the wall of the dining hall hangs a certificate honouring V in Voionmaa (1869 1947) on the occasion of his 75thbirthday: For an outstanding contribution to the cause of the Finnish working class, other disadvantaged groups, the national education system, temperance work and in various spheres of politics and society. I pin my hopes on other disadvantaged groups . ...
Passage from Hidden in Plain Sight ... I can t help thinking how all things are strangely connected in some way. Here we are at a college dedicated to the life s work of the great V in Voionmaa, me bearing all the outward social and cultural semblance of Finnishness , yet inwardly a stranger to myself, whilst Ashraf is a stranger to the notion of Finnishness , yet outwardly he fulfills all the characteristics of a disadvantaged group . ...
Passage from Hidden in Plain Sight ... Ashraf goes into the interview alone. Moments later I am called in. Apparently it is unclear who will be funding Ashraf s studies. I ll pay, I reply. You ll pay? Yes, I ll pay. The interview goes well, everyone seems excited. The photography instructor tells us we have come to the right place. He would be happy to take on Ashraf as a student, but the principal cuts in to say that the matter cannot be decided right away. Successful applicants will be announced officially on Monday. The instructor tells us that we can be hopeful. Outside I ask Ashraf, how he feels about it all. He says the photography teacher seems like a nice man. I agree.
Passage from Hidden in Plain Sight ... On the way back, we take a detour past the dockyards and stop to float in the middle of the lake. The southwest wind has blown the clouds away and the sun is shining through. We re not in a hurry to get anywhere. I point out the fishing nets floating in the lake. Ashraf takes pictures. Right now I don t want to think about his residence permit. May each day bring its own joys and sorrows.
Lesson Perhaps a merit of this kind of writing is to bring up the multiple perspectives that correspond to the multiplicity of coexisting, and sometimes directly competing, points of view the complexity and ambiguity of human experience (Bourdieu 1999, p. 3), the singular, difficult, shadowed, brilliant human experience (Robinson 2008).
References Denzin, Norman (1997). Interpretive Ethnography. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Suoranta, Juha (2011). Hidden in Plain Sight. How I Sheltered a Refugee. Helsinki: Into Publishing.
