Browsing by Subject "yhdistystoiminta"

Finland has multiple associations formed and operated by people with immigrant background. These associations arrange diverse activities. Usually these activities are affiliated with the lifestyle as a minority, for example: maintaining cultural traditions, advancing integration of the members of the minority to the Finnish society, and improving the position of the minority. I studied and collected research from the Afghan associations in Finland. The aim of my study was to clarify, how the minority position reflects in the discourse of the agents of the associations' and in the work of the associations. The theoretical framework of the study consists on discussion on citizenship, the construction of citizens' community, and the nation, politics of belonging, and the position and the possibilities of actions as minorities. To carry out the study, I interviewed six active agents of Afghan associations. The interviewees represented distinct associations from different parts of Finland. I analyzed the interviews using narrative analysis method pursuing to examine, how the small stories told by the Afghan agents reflect their socio-cultural reality. All the interviews have an outline relating to the experiences these individuals and their associations have as a minority, how they view Finnish society today, and their hopes and dreams for the future. The experiences of not belonging in the Finnish community cause the people with Afghan background challenges in defining their own national and cultural identity. The associations arrange activities that enable the maintaining of Afghan culture, and activities that advance the integration of Afghan people in Finland, without the force of integrating with all the cultural presumptions of the Finnish majority. In addition, negotiation on how and how much Afghan people can adopt Finnish culture and values, is carried out in and between Afghan associations. The negotiation causes tension inside Afghan community. The politics of belonging of the Finnish nation and the processes of exclusion define the Afghan peoples' possibilities to act and influence in the society. Through their actions, Afghan associations pursue to improve the position Afghan people in Finland, and thus increasing the recognition of their work, as Afghan's in the Finnish society.