28 January

Daria Tarkhova

University of Helsinki

Bordered kinship, feminist geopolitics and Russian speakers in Finland 

The ongoing Russian occupational war in Ukraine and the hardening authoritarian regime in Russia are causing a variety of anxieties, fears and obstacles for Russian speakers. Living in Finland includes navigating transnational and national dynamics, where geopolitics are continuously seeping into the everyday. When ‘the geopolitical’ impacts intimate relationships and homes, various tactics are developed to ‘do’ family within and across borders. These tactics construct and sustain kinship networks and spaces of comfort, which constitute the geopoliticized everydayness.

25 February

Kanerva Kuokkanen & Emilia Palonen

University of Helsinki

Identity and Co-governance with the people – case Maunula House  in artistic place-making

The authors study the planning process and current activities of Maunula House, a multi-functional public building opened in 2017 in the mixed Maunula neighbourhood in North Helsinki. Maunula House, which houses a library, a youth centre, an adult education unit, cultural events, a non-profit café, and working spaces, is a central public space for the surrounding neighbourhoods, providing a non-commercial meeting place for citizens from different backgrounds and generations. Demanded by the citizens since the 1980s, the space was actualised in the 2010s through a participatory planning process, which involved citizens as a recognised partner alongside the units of municipal administration. The authors investigate how the participatory and inclusive ethos of the planning phase is reflected in the current governance and activities of Maunula House, highlighting the co-existence and various demands of the user groups and the need for the space to constantly reinvent itself.

18 March

Eurídice Hernandez

University of Helsinki

Conviviality through art: Migrant-led festivals and the transformation of public cultural spaces

How artistic events can work as key sites for conviviality of different groups in a city? This presentation will debate this topic reflecting on the case of Kolibri Festivaali, an annual festival initiated in 2015 by Latin Americans in Helsinki, which has evolved into a multicultural platform encompassing participants from over twenty national backgrounds. The study engages with theories of conviviality and superdiversity, framing the festival as a site where migrant-led initiatives utilize institutional infrastructures to reconfigure public cultural spaces. The paper draws on ethnographic methods, combining semi-structured interviews with organizers, volunteers, and participants, alongside participant observation across three festival editions. This approach enables a detailed examination of how grassroots networks mediate access to cultural institutions, such as libraries and community centers, and how these sites are transformed into spaces of social inclusion for multicultural families and internationally mobile professionals. The analysis highlights the strategic agency of migrants in navigating institutional funding structures, formal collaborations, and informal community networks, illustrating how artistic and cultural practices operate as mechanisms for both visibility and belonging in the urban public sphere. By conceptualizing festivals as ‘superdiverse container places’ my goal is to demonstrate how cultural events can simultaneously accommodate heterogeneous practices and foster shared experiences, challenging conventional notions of public cultural consumption. The study contributes to debates on grassroots cultural activism, the role of art in public space, and the dynamics of conviviality in superdiverse urban contexts. It underscores how migrant-led cultural initiatives not only articulate minority cultural identities but also actively reshape urban social infrastructures, offering insights for inclusive cultural planning and community-driven urban cultural interventions.

29 April

Paula Paajanen & Reetta Riikonen

University of Eastern Finland

Close but apart: Everyday encounters and intergroup relations among mothers of young children in culturally diverse neighbourhoods 

27 May

Anastasia Diatlova

University of Helsinki

Home-working: conceptualization of home among Russian-speaking sex workers in Finland