ABSTRACT

This chapter contributes to the interpretation of conceptual change in the study of borders by drawing from media representations and shifting cultural understandings of the construction of the Finnish-Russian border. It builds on the analysis of texts published in the Finnish Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (HS) and the weekly journal Suomen Kuvalehti (SK) between 1990 and 2010. The chapter explains the complex and multidimensional construction of borders by exploring alternative border imaginaries and informal place-making practices that have sprung from the collected material. The border is not one but many: multiple alternative trends have emerged and there is still plenty of room for interpretation. While borders have over time become increasingly understood to signify more than simply lines on a map, in the Finnish mediascape the Finnish-Russian border is still often depicted very much as a traditional binational interstate border, on the different sides of which Finnishness and Russianness, respectively, are acted out in the frame of a classical nation-state.