ABSTRACT
International migration to Finland from adjacent Russian areas is changing the population structure of Finnish rural border areas. Most of these migrants are Russian speakers who have moved to Finland in the post-Soviet period as persons of Finnish origin, spouses of Finnish citizens, or to study. This chapter addresses the practices of constructing and maintaining everyday transnational familyhood in families in which at least one parent originates from Russia. Transnational familyhood is analysed in the intergenerational care practice of Russian-born migrants, and some aspects of parenthood related to language choice and cross-border travel are discussed. The vicinity of the border and the proximity of the places where members of extended transnational families live make transnational care an essential part of transnational families’ everyday lives. However, everyday life on the Finnish-Russian border has been sensitive to geopolitical change. This has become more obvious in the post-Crimean era. Methodologically, this study continues the tradition of everyday ethnography in the context of rural and border areas.
