AbstractsSociology

Representing the African diaspora in Finland: The discursive identities of African diaspora in the post-2015 agenda setting

by Nora Olivia Stenius




Institution: University of Helsinki
Department:
Year: 2015
Keywords: Yleinen valtio-oppi: Hallinnon ja organisaatioiden tutkimus
Record ID: 1143595
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/153087


Abstract

The number of African immigrants in Finland is constantly growing. A public debate around migration perceives them often as passive and inactive receivers of support. During the past years there has been a shift away from this in order to emphasize the role of active immigrants. Rather than using the term immigrant, this research uses the term diaspora to further emphasize this active role immigrants have in developing their countries of origin. This research studies how the African diaspora in Finland experienced the consultations for a new set of global development goals, post-2015 agenda in Finland. The post-2015 agenda setting has ambitious goals; it aims to harness the voices of the most marginalized into the decision making. The theoretical framework of this research is built on the concepts of diaspora and deliberation. The theory of deliberative democracy aims to legitimize political decisions by assessing whether they have been an outcome of free, equal and rational agents. This study will focus on one of the new ideas around deliberative democracy; the discursive representation, which further highlights the discursive profiles of citizens participating in deliberation. This research utilized the qualitative research method. The data consisted of eight semi-structured elite-interviews with diaspora representatives and establishing stakeholders. Interviews were conducted during the spring and summer 2014 in Helsinki, Finland. The data was further analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The African diaspora interviewed for this study can be considered as elite, even though they are perceived as marginalized in the agenda setting. This study aimed to enable the respondents to reflect on participation experience and it does not aim to create generalized statistics. The analysis is built around two research questions: 1) What were the African diaspora representatives perceived roles and self-declared motivations, and experienced limitations for participation and how did they push their agendas in the post-2015 agenda setting and 2) How did an understanding of ‘diasporic’-identity influence the deliberative nature of the post-2015 agenda setting in Finland? The findings of this research reveal that only few diaspora members were seen actively engaging with the post-2015 consultations in Finland. These diaspora advocates were seen as representatives of entire African diaspora in Finland and often maintained strong links to the establishing stakeholders. The diaspora interviewed, whom had not been active in the agenda setting, felt excluded and patronized. They felt that there had not been any real efforts to reach the ordinary diaspora members. They argued that they had not been informed enough to be able to participate in the discussions and had not authorized those few representatives to speak on their behalf. Furthermore diasporic-identity was seen problematic. It was difficult for the focus groups to define who belongs to diaspora. The findings revealed a use of two types of discourses ‘immigrant’…