For decades, Finland has been such a far-flung country that it still does not have any good word for inclusion, never mind any willingness to promote it to newcomers. The same happened to the word “integration,” which became part of the Finnish language in the late-1990s.
Those were the good old days when foreigners and minorities were excluded and how white Finnish society monopolized all social, political, and economic power.
I would go as far as to state that a good Finnish term for inclusion does not exist because outsiders are expected to be indefinite outsiders.
A word like “inclusion” reveals volumes about Finnish society and how we see Others and keep them excluded. If you want people to integrate or be equal members of society, Finland should promote inclusion instead of integration.
But that is a tall order. By promoting inclusion, you are effectively giving real power, whereas, by integration, people accept the status quo.
See also:
- Kotoutuminen #1: A good synonym for kotoutuminen is too many times the reinforcement of structural racism
- Kotoutuminen #2: A tool of white fragility to rule you
- Kotoutuminen #3: To touch or not to touch
- Kotoutuminen #4: Amalgamate, assimilate is the rule, two-way adaption is a pipedream
- Kotoutuminen #5: Perpetuating the Ulysses syndrome, a chronic stress disorder of refugees
- Kotoutuminen #6: The white Finnish teacher and the migrant adult child. Stop infantilizing!
- Kotoutuminen #7: How do we deal with our prejudices and exceptionalism?
- Kotoutuminen #8: Let’s do away with “us” and “them”
- Kotoutuminen #9: Spreading half-truths about integration
- Kotoutuminen #10: Misleading expectations that will keep you (dis)integrated
- Kotoutuminen #11: The teacher asks the student why Muslims kill people
- Kotoutuminen #12: Integration is as easy as 1+ 1 = 2. NOT!
*Kotoutiminen is the Finnish term for integration. It came about in the late-1990s because there was no such term in the Finnish language.