Mari Korpela | Tampere University (original) (raw)
Books by Mari Korpela
Papers by Mari Korpela
Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 2024
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2013
Berghahn Books, Jun 1, 2016
Nordic journal of migration research, 2023
Barn, Aug 16, 2023
In policies and research, migrant children tend to be seen as underprivileged and vulnerable. Thi... more In policies and research, migrant children tend to be seen as underprivileged and vulnerable. This discourse ignores the more privileged migrant children, those labelled expatriates or third culture kids. Finland wants to attract skilled professionals from abroad. They are often accompanied by their children. Although the families typically intend to sojourn in the country temporarily, Finnish society tends to see them as 'permanent immigrants' who need to be integrated. This is visible in international schools that follow the national curriculum, including extensive Finnish language studies and exposure to Finnish culture. This article is based on an ethnographic study among expatriate children in an international school in a Finnish town. I ask how the integration aims affect the expatriate children's lives, and how they navigate those aims. Using empirical examples, I elaborate on the contradiction between being a 'privileged' temporary expatriate child and being defined as an 'underprivileged' permanent immigrant.
Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society
The recent Commonwealth Games opening ceremony aimed to showcase the places and people of India t... more The recent Commonwealth Games opening ceremony aimed to showcase the places and people of India to the world. The image it sought to project (of a united yet diverse place, where the past and the present sat comfortably together) was at odds with the image that Western-based media companies had projected in the weeks building up to the games. This latter vision was of India as a chaotic and wild place, where hygiene was questionable and planning imprecise. This is no surprise, for these elements of the modern Indian landscape often attract the Western gaze. This summer a group of academics came together at the annual meeting of European social anthropologists in an attempt to somewhat rectify the selective nature of this gaze through a presentation of different reflections on (and of ) landscapes of contemporary India. The group, which consisted of both Indian and Western academics, gathered together for two panels, connected by the workshop title ‘Indiascapes: reflections of contem...
Global Studies of Childhood
This article investigates temporality in the everyday lives of 9-year-old children of internation... more This article investigates temporality in the everyday lives of 9-year-old children of international professionals in Finland. The children’s transnational mobility causes ruptures and discontinuities in their position within various timescapes. The institutional timescapes of schools in different countries appear to be somewhat incompatible, which can be challenging for these mobile children, especially if their sojourns are temporary. At the same time, the timescapes of the Finnish school system provide children with particular agency beyond the school setting, since school days are relatively short. Children also view differing timescapes differently depending on the length of their stay in the country. The article shows how past, present and future timescapes, and potential ruptures within these, become entangled when mobile professionals’ children negotiate their position and agency within various timescapes.
Berghahn Books, Dec 31, 2022
Ethnography
This article discusses ethnographic fieldwork among nine- and ten-year-old children in an interna... more This article discusses ethnographic fieldwork among nine- and ten-year-old children in an international school in Finland. It elaborates on the myth of going native and on the researcher’s performance and negotiation of various roles, along with the improvisation this requires. Ethnographers cannot escape certain roles that are given to them but they can strategically use these and other roles to establish rapport and gain rich knowledge. When adults study children in an institutional setting, such as a school, they have to take into account the views and expectations of not only the children themselves but also the adults who work there. The article argues that reciprocity is an essential part of a successful ethnographic endeavour and analyses the significance of the researcher’s reciprocal involvement when conducting fieldwork among children in a school.
Nordic journal of migration research, 2015
The relation of Islam and Muslims with the West has been a major issue for furious debates not on... more The relation of Islam and Muslims with the West has been a major issue for furious debates not only in the academic circles, but in the political sphere as well. Especially after terrorist attacks in Western countries such as the last one in Paris (January 2015), the discussion about the presence of Islam in Western societies, about the integration policies of Muslim immigrants, or about the rise of Islamophobia are dominant and sometimes lead to disagreements and even conflicts. However, the rise of Islam has been highlighted already in the 1990s by Giles Kepel (1994/1991), while Samuel Huntington has been discussing the clash of civilisations since 1993. Many studies have been conducted in the meantime regarding the rise of Islamophobia, especially after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington (e.g. Allen 2010). Nevertheless, few studies have tried to answer the critical question: why the west fears Islam? Why the west fears Islam is the title of the book under review. The author, Jocelyne Cesari, is a senior fellow at Georgetown's University Berkley Centre where she directs the Islam in World Politics programme. She is also the director of the Islam in the West programme based at Harvard University and has published extensively on Islam and globalisation, Islam and secularisation, immigration and religious pluralism. The book, which is based on a 5-year research project funded by the European Commission, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation, consists of two parts and seven chapters and includes 13 appendices, extensive notes, bibliography and an index. The first chapter includes a cursory review of public opinion surveys and political discourses in Europe and the United States over the last decade that actually put Islam and Muslims outside the West. This overview chapter is followed by the first part, which is entitled 'In their own voices: What is to be a Muslim and a citizen in the west'. Here the author analyses her research's findings, which are derived from 60 focus groups conducted in five cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Boston,
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2021
The chapter shows that Finland attracts increasing numbers of temporary migrants from Asia who co... more The chapter shows that Finland attracts increasing numbers of temporary migrants from Asia who come to study or work in the country. At the same time, it is increasingly popular for Finns to work, study or travel in Asia. The chapter elaborates on various aspects of temporary migrants’ lives and experiences in Finland, including their motivations to migrate and the significance of money and careers. It becomes evident that money is not the only motivation for temporary migration and policies should not treat migrants as mere labour force. The authors argue that there is a contradiction between Finland wanting to attract skilled labour migrants and the slow and complicated bureaucracies that make foreigners feel they are not welcome. Similarly to in-coming migrants, many Finnish lifestyle migrants and returnees struggle with Finnish bureaucracies and rules relating to permanent residence when their lifestyle entails spending long periods abroad. The chapter also discusses the tempora...
Resumen: En los últimos años Emiratos Árabes Unidos se ha consolidado como centro marítimo global... more Resumen: En los últimos años Emiratos Árabes Unidos se ha consolidado como centro marítimo global, siendo Dubai una de las ciudades portuarias más importantes del mundo. La posición estratégica de Emiratos entre Europa, Asia y África, junto con sus capacidades de logística y comerciales hacen que medida que el comercio se globaliza, las empresas transnacionales continúen creciendo, y las conexiones marítimas, terrestres y aéreas proliferen. Por ese motivo, debido al auge y crecimiento imparable del transporte marítimo de mercancías la presente investigación tiene como finalidad realizar un breve análisis sobre el régimen de responsabilidad del porteador marítimo vigente bajo la regulación marítima vigente en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos.
MIGRATION LETTERS, 2018
Increasing numbers of “Western” families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest ... more Increasing numbers of “Western” families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest of the time in the parents’ passport countries or elsewhere. These “lifestyle migrants” are motivated by a search for “a better quality of life”, and the parents often claim that an important reason for their lifestyle choice is that it is better for the children to be in Goa, where they have enriching experiences and enjoy playing freely outdoors, in a natural environment. This article discusses parents’ and children’s views of this lifestyle. It argues that although the lifestyle sometimes causes moral panic among outsider adults who see regular transnational mobility as a sign of instability, a closer look reveals that there are various aspects of stability in the children’s lives. Paying careful attention to the parents’ and children’s own accounts, and the empirical realities of their lives, enables us to reach beyond normative judgements.
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 2016
Increasing numbers of ‘Western’ families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest ... more Increasing numbers of ‘Western’ families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest of the time in the parents’ native countries or elsewhere. These ‘lifestyle migrants’ are motivated by a search for ‘a better quality of life.’ This article asks whether their children can be labeled as Third Culture Kids (TCKs) by elaborating and critically probing this concept. Based on extensive ethnography, the study not only examined what children say in interviews, but also paid attention to what they do. Findings from the study problematize the presumed elitist privilege of TCKs and the assumption that the parents have an unproblematic sense of belonging to their native ‘cultures.’ The article elaborates on what it means for the children to live in the global subcultural center of Goa and on their agency in creating the social and cultural environment in which they live.
Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 2024
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2013
Berghahn Books, Jun 1, 2016
Nordic journal of migration research, 2023
Barn, Aug 16, 2023
In policies and research, migrant children tend to be seen as underprivileged and vulnerable. Thi... more In policies and research, migrant children tend to be seen as underprivileged and vulnerable. This discourse ignores the more privileged migrant children, those labelled expatriates or third culture kids. Finland wants to attract skilled professionals from abroad. They are often accompanied by their children. Although the families typically intend to sojourn in the country temporarily, Finnish society tends to see them as 'permanent immigrants' who need to be integrated. This is visible in international schools that follow the national curriculum, including extensive Finnish language studies and exposure to Finnish culture. This article is based on an ethnographic study among expatriate children in an international school in a Finnish town. I ask how the integration aims affect the expatriate children's lives, and how they navigate those aims. Using empirical examples, I elaborate on the contradiction between being a 'privileged' temporary expatriate child and being defined as an 'underprivileged' permanent immigrant.
Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society
The recent Commonwealth Games opening ceremony aimed to showcase the places and people of India t... more The recent Commonwealth Games opening ceremony aimed to showcase the places and people of India to the world. The image it sought to project (of a united yet diverse place, where the past and the present sat comfortably together) was at odds with the image that Western-based media companies had projected in the weeks building up to the games. This latter vision was of India as a chaotic and wild place, where hygiene was questionable and planning imprecise. This is no surprise, for these elements of the modern Indian landscape often attract the Western gaze. This summer a group of academics came together at the annual meeting of European social anthropologists in an attempt to somewhat rectify the selective nature of this gaze through a presentation of different reflections on (and of ) landscapes of contemporary India. The group, which consisted of both Indian and Western academics, gathered together for two panels, connected by the workshop title ‘Indiascapes: reflections of contem...
Global Studies of Childhood
This article investigates temporality in the everyday lives of 9-year-old children of internation... more This article investigates temporality in the everyday lives of 9-year-old children of international professionals in Finland. The children’s transnational mobility causes ruptures and discontinuities in their position within various timescapes. The institutional timescapes of schools in different countries appear to be somewhat incompatible, which can be challenging for these mobile children, especially if their sojourns are temporary. At the same time, the timescapes of the Finnish school system provide children with particular agency beyond the school setting, since school days are relatively short. Children also view differing timescapes differently depending on the length of their stay in the country. The article shows how past, present and future timescapes, and potential ruptures within these, become entangled when mobile professionals’ children negotiate their position and agency within various timescapes.
Berghahn Books, Dec 31, 2022
Ethnography
This article discusses ethnographic fieldwork among nine- and ten-year-old children in an interna... more This article discusses ethnographic fieldwork among nine- and ten-year-old children in an international school in Finland. It elaborates on the myth of going native and on the researcher’s performance and negotiation of various roles, along with the improvisation this requires. Ethnographers cannot escape certain roles that are given to them but they can strategically use these and other roles to establish rapport and gain rich knowledge. When adults study children in an institutional setting, such as a school, they have to take into account the views and expectations of not only the children themselves but also the adults who work there. The article argues that reciprocity is an essential part of a successful ethnographic endeavour and analyses the significance of the researcher’s reciprocal involvement when conducting fieldwork among children in a school.
Nordic journal of migration research, 2015
The relation of Islam and Muslims with the West has been a major issue for furious debates not on... more The relation of Islam and Muslims with the West has been a major issue for furious debates not only in the academic circles, but in the political sphere as well. Especially after terrorist attacks in Western countries such as the last one in Paris (January 2015), the discussion about the presence of Islam in Western societies, about the integration policies of Muslim immigrants, or about the rise of Islamophobia are dominant and sometimes lead to disagreements and even conflicts. However, the rise of Islam has been highlighted already in the 1990s by Giles Kepel (1994/1991), while Samuel Huntington has been discussing the clash of civilisations since 1993. Many studies have been conducted in the meantime regarding the rise of Islamophobia, especially after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington (e.g. Allen 2010). Nevertheless, few studies have tried to answer the critical question: why the west fears Islam? Why the west fears Islam is the title of the book under review. The author, Jocelyne Cesari, is a senior fellow at Georgetown's University Berkley Centre where she directs the Islam in World Politics programme. She is also the director of the Islam in the West programme based at Harvard University and has published extensively on Islam and globalisation, Islam and secularisation, immigration and religious pluralism. The book, which is based on a 5-year research project funded by the European Commission, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation, consists of two parts and seven chapters and includes 13 appendices, extensive notes, bibliography and an index. The first chapter includes a cursory review of public opinion surveys and political discourses in Europe and the United States over the last decade that actually put Islam and Muslims outside the West. This overview chapter is followed by the first part, which is entitled 'In their own voices: What is to be a Muslim and a citizen in the west'. Here the author analyses her research's findings, which are derived from 60 focus groups conducted in five cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Boston,
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2021
The chapter shows that Finland attracts increasing numbers of temporary migrants from Asia who co... more The chapter shows that Finland attracts increasing numbers of temporary migrants from Asia who come to study or work in the country. At the same time, it is increasingly popular for Finns to work, study or travel in Asia. The chapter elaborates on various aspects of temporary migrants’ lives and experiences in Finland, including their motivations to migrate and the significance of money and careers. It becomes evident that money is not the only motivation for temporary migration and policies should not treat migrants as mere labour force. The authors argue that there is a contradiction between Finland wanting to attract skilled labour migrants and the slow and complicated bureaucracies that make foreigners feel they are not welcome. Similarly to in-coming migrants, many Finnish lifestyle migrants and returnees struggle with Finnish bureaucracies and rules relating to permanent residence when their lifestyle entails spending long periods abroad. The chapter also discusses the tempora...
Resumen: En los últimos años Emiratos Árabes Unidos se ha consolidado como centro marítimo global... more Resumen: En los últimos años Emiratos Árabes Unidos se ha consolidado como centro marítimo global, siendo Dubai una de las ciudades portuarias más importantes del mundo. La posición estratégica de Emiratos entre Europa, Asia y África, junto con sus capacidades de logística y comerciales hacen que medida que el comercio se globaliza, las empresas transnacionales continúen creciendo, y las conexiones marítimas, terrestres y aéreas proliferen. Por ese motivo, debido al auge y crecimiento imparable del transporte marítimo de mercancías la presente investigación tiene como finalidad realizar un breve análisis sobre el régimen de responsabilidad del porteador marítimo vigente bajo la regulación marítima vigente en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos.
MIGRATION LETTERS, 2018
Increasing numbers of “Western” families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest ... more Increasing numbers of “Western” families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest of the time in the parents’ passport countries or elsewhere. These “lifestyle migrants” are motivated by a search for “a better quality of life”, and the parents often claim that an important reason for their lifestyle choice is that it is better for the children to be in Goa, where they have enriching experiences and enjoy playing freely outdoors, in a natural environment. This article discusses parents’ and children’s views of this lifestyle. It argues that although the lifestyle sometimes causes moral panic among outsider adults who see regular transnational mobility as a sign of instability, a closer look reveals that there are various aspects of stability in the children’s lives. Paying careful attention to the parents’ and children’s own accounts, and the empirical realities of their lives, enables us to reach beyond normative judgements.
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 2016
Increasing numbers of ‘Western’ families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest ... more Increasing numbers of ‘Western’ families spend several months a year in Goa, India, and the rest of the time in the parents’ native countries or elsewhere. These ‘lifestyle migrants’ are motivated by a search for ‘a better quality of life.’ This article asks whether their children can be labeled as Third Culture Kids (TCKs) by elaborating and critically probing this concept. Based on extensive ethnography, the study not only examined what children say in interviews, but also paid attention to what they do. Findings from the study problematize the presumed elitist privilege of TCKs and the assumption that the parents have an unproblematic sense of belonging to their native ‘cultures.’ The article elaborates on what it means for the children to live in the global subcultural center of Goa and on their agency in creating the social and cultural environment in which they live.
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 2016
Research on children and youth affected by migration in Asia is predominantly-and understandably-... more Research on children and youth affected by migration in Asia is predominantly-and understandably-concerned with those moving to improve their livelihoods. This includes studies on young people who move with their families as well as those concerned with the effects on those 'left behind.' Substantial routes and streams include rural-to-urban migration to the burgeoning factory work sector in China in the context of industrialization (Murphy, 2002; Pun, 2005); Filipino women moving to globalizing cities, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, in the domestic work sector (Constable, 1997); Indonesian workers migrating to Malaysia or the Gulf, lured by prospects of higher wages in rubber plantations or on construction sites (Lindquist, 2010); young Chinese moving to Japan to work or study (Coates, 2013); and young people from Myanmar crossing the border into Thailand in search of more stable and promising futures (Ball and Moselle, 2015). In addition, significant numbers of Asians migrate to the US, Canada, Australia, the Gulf countries and Europe. The processes that engender these diverse movements extend beyond Asia, however: the global flows of capital and their consequences also spark the movements of banking staff from other parts of the world to financial hubs such as Singapore (Beaverstock, 2002); transnational corporations move staff into subsidiaries across Asia; and those disaffected by what they perceive as the daily grind of life in high-income countries seek temporary reprieve in the warm climes of beach resorts in Goa and Thailand (Thang et al., 2012). Further, the relatively low-income status of countries, such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, channels an influx of international aid agency staff into these areas. The contention underlying this thematic section is that these different kinds of migrations are not fundamentally distinct phenomena but, rather, that they are generated by, and in turn shaping, the same global processes. We argue
Understanding Lifestyle Migration
The current era is often called the age of individualism: individuality is expected, even demande... more The current era is often called the age of individualism: individuality is expected, even demanded, of us. Within this discourse, lifestyle migrants seem to be ideal subjects. Lifestyle migration is often described as an individual’s search for a better life abroad and lifestyle migrants often present themselves as active agents who have improved their lives by way of their own unmediated choice; they have taken their destiny into their own hands by escaping unsatisfactory circumstances and do not expect others (or societies) to act on their behalf. As the interview extract above suggests, the emphasis is on ‘what I want’. Since the individualised self is a central figure in our times and lifestyle migration a common phenomenon, it is reasonable to look at lifestyle migration in the light of individualisation theories.