“Why Finland?”: Exploring Cultural Parallels between North Karelia (FI) & North Central Appalachia (USA)
One of the top questions I field as a Fulbright Finland Grantee is some variation of, “So, why Finland?” Of course, I have a professional answer that I submitted to the Fulbright Foundation, but when friends, family, and strangers ask, they do not want a 1,000(+)-word, Purpose-Statement-style description (or so I discovered). While this blog entry includes more explanation than I would normally give a stranger in a public sauna, I think it covers most of the bases.
I should also open with the options I considered alongside Finland, especially early on in the decision-making process. If I am being fully transparent, I looked into Fulbright grants to:
Finland, Canada, and Australia for the significant academic literature alignment with my research topic;
Sri Lanka due to my weakness for aromatic and rich varieties of teas;
Costa Rica because of the fair weather and stunning natural aesthetic;
New Zealand because it would fulfill my long-time dream to hike the landscape used for the cinematic renditions of Tolkien’s works in a cape.
Alas, I could only apply for one Fulbright grant for the 2021-2022 academic year, so I did have to narrow my options down to one option. Fortunately, I am a responsible and purpose-focused emerging researcher, so I most-heavily considered Canada, Australia, and Finland. This brings me to my professional and personal reasons for choosing Finland as a Fulbright grant focus location.
Professional Response
When a university employee, government employee, or other person in a professional capacity (i.e., at a conference or seminar, at a professional event for regional teachers and educational administrators, on a university campus, etc.) asks me why I applied to conduct this research study in Finland, they are often ready to provide all of the reasons that I should have selected somewhere else—normally they are mostly-joking. These reasons include:
many months of cold, dark weather;
the rural nature of Finland, especially North Karelia;
general local perspective that non-natives would prefer to go anywhere in the world before they come to Finland.
What North Karelian Finns do not realize, though, is that at least two of these reasons are exactly why Finland was a good socio-cultural selection for a study focused on rural educator perspectives that I plan to use as a platform for a book on comparative, international educational research that draws connections between teacher perspectives in rural North Karelia, Finland (FI) and rural Central-Appalachia, United States (US). The fact that locals may think that there are other places in the world I could conduct this research remains true—an exciting prospective for future research goals—AND aligns with how Appalachians in Central Appalachia respond when outsiders spend longer amounts of time in theirregion.
Of course, there are more literature-based research reasons for the sociocultural, historical, political and socioeconomic parallels between these two regions as well, but that gets us back into the weeds of the research-objective essay that I submitted as part of the Fulbright application process. Outside of the research-based data, I can supply some of my own comparative observations about the peoples’ behaviors and value systems, nonverbal cultural cues, landscape and connection to the land, and historical implications, based on my own glocal (i.e., local and global) perspective and anecdotal evidence.
Casual (if Verbose) Response
In my youth, I was a child of the Appalachian region. As an adult, I choose to use my research as a means to give back to the education system in the region—regardless of whether or not I reside within its hilly boarders—and search for connections between this region and the rest of the nation and globe through a local lens (e.g., glocal education research). As a brief overview, the region is contextualized in and near the Appalachian mountain range that travels from the Eastern side of the US up into Eastern Canada. In 1965, President Johnson saw great poverty in this 13-state region and essentially dubbed it the “Appalachian region”, as a nod to the local, connecting geographic feature, and created the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). This destination has since stuck. (Read more about the ARC here.)
With this background information in mind, I ultimately chose Finland over Australia, Canada, or anywhere else in the world for several reasons. These reasons include the following:
It has recently been included in lists that describe the best education systems of the world.
It is a relatively young country.
This country has never had a dictator or monarch at the head of their government—excluding the time where they canceled the subscription after a two-month trial period.
The area is primarily rural.
I was drawn to the back-and-forth history of being controlled by its global neighbors—and the way it earned and kept its independence. (Appalachians know a thing or two about “outsiders” coming in and taking resources without giving much or anything back to the local people—albeit significantly less-so than our Native American ancestors and compatriots today.)
I also feel the need to say that there may very well be regions in Canada or Australia—among other places in the world—that share these traits. It just so happened that I acquired an intrigue about the North Karelia region of Finland before mining into other global histories. (With that said, if you know of a similar region, please feel free to share your insight with me! Thanks to COVID-19, I am much more accessible via virtual coffee-meetings across time zones.)
Finally, when I traveled from Helsinki (the fun and very green capital city) to Joensuu (in the North Karelian region), I felt instantly more at home. Of course it was a calmer place to be; it helped that it was so aesthetically green with a river running through it. The people were either indifferent or pleased to see me there—as opposed to the complex array of reactions that people-watching people in cities might give—and the non-verbals were pretty similar to home as well. For instance, if you make eye-contact with a stranger, you can acknowledge them by a slight dip of the head or just keep moving. In cities I often find that eye-contact with strangers mean they need or aim to get something from you. Of course, I am describing key differences between urban and rural spaces (not necessarily Appalachian).
With the rural areas of these particular regions in mind, the fact that I could immediately begin participating in the local area speaks to some level of cultural awareness that I did not previously realize was innate to certain global regions. In no particular hierarchy or order, some similarities I currently notice include:
Closed-off body language and conversation to outsiders UNLESS you have a connection to the community through a local person (or manage to navigate the nonverbal cues to be seen as respectful and humble—but not weak—enough to garner a sense of solidarity).
Closeness to nature and the land around them
Sometimes stoic demeanors—unless they are in certain places (e.g., sauna, karaoke bar, etc.)
Predominately white and predominantly native-speakers
However, a sizable number of local Finns also speak English in North Karelia, and it seems like many people are also capable in other languages (e.g., Swedish, Russian, etc.) as well.
Divide in public school students’ goals: staying local (generational) or leaving the area
Strong family ties
Travel experiences outside of local area, then return to settle there
Appreciation for handmade/homemade items
Attention to detail items they create and decorate without being flashy
In a country that I was prepared (through cultural de-briefings before arriving) to find closed-off, introverted people, instead I found that strangers—of all ages—would approach me with questions and curiosity. One of the locals that I met said something like, “You see, Americans are like fairies. It’s like they only exist in television or on the Internet; we rarely get to meet anyone from the US in person.” I have been a little taken aback, at times, at how friendly and warm the Finns in North Karelia are. While I attribute some of that to being a cultural curiosity, I take their willingness to step outside of their comfort zones to ask me questions as being akin to some deeper understanding as well. As I begin the second half of my grant, I look forward to furthering my understanding of the nuances of the cultural differences in different regions of Finland, and especially those here in North Karelia.
Would I choose Finland again?
Totally! It really did make the most sense based on the literature available to me concerning my research topic (i.e., rural teacher perspectives on the influence of their own sociocultural background on the glocal curriculum they implement and students’ glocal worldviews). It also helps that, especially during a global pandemic, Finnish cultural norms organically build in extra personal space when in public, so it does not seem too much needed to be adjusted here in terms of staying two meters (roughly six-and-a-half feet) away from others when possible. As an educational researcher focusing on rural regions, especially in Finland, it has been easy for me to stay safe and keep others safe as well. Thankfully, the ongoing, national and regional implementation of COVID-19-related mandates seem to coordinate with generations-old, local norms.
The winter weather is honestly pretty similar to the weather with which I grew up in West Virginia—with an exception to the long, dark days of the winter months. As a fire-side reader, hiker and ever-improving snowboarder, I enjoy being in and around snow. Plus, the Finns are pretty much professional winter-people; they maintain bike paths, roadways, cross-country skiing paths, and outdoor ice rinks for the public’s regular use all throughout the winter months, so getting around has been a smooth process.
Finally, regarding the long, dark days (at it’s darkest in my location, we had about two hours of sunlight—four hours of civil daylight), I have been navigating it by keeping a schedule, scheduling intermittent events and activities to which I can look forward, taking extra vitamin-D, and regular use of the light therapy lamp I purchased specifically for this trip, but will likely continue using in the US afterward, too.
The more I learn about Finnish culture, climate, history, and geography, the more I appreciate the quirky, sassy side of Finnish nature. While the countries I listed as potential choices remain locations I would love to take this research project, or just visit as a tourist, I am happy with my choice to work in Finland for the year and would encourage anyone who is curious about the number-one coffee drinkers in the world, the aurora borealis, the homeland of Santa Claus/ Father Christmas and saunas, or a place that hosts the annual Air Guitar World Championships to book a flight and see what youcan discover here and learn for yourself. (I encourage you to look into all of these Finnish facts and features—they will not disappoint, and you may find even more intriguing traditions, events, and national nuances.) Until you visit for yourself, though, I am happy to provide insight into my time here in Finland via this blog and various social media platforms.
