Browsing by Author "Laapotti, Saaga"

In this thesis, I examine the sense of security experienced by students who started their studies in Finland in 2022 in relation to the prevailing world situation, where a military conflict is ongoing in the Eastern part of Europe. The thesis aims to outline the influence of geographical location, media and change on the subjective feeling of security. With the research, I aim to show that the war has affected the subjective sense of security of students arriving in Finland from other parts of Europe, even though there has not been immediate military threat to Finland. There are two research questions. The first question analyzes how the geographical location of Finland, and the Ukrainian war affect the subjective experience of security of European students who came to Finland. With this question, I aim to find out the effects of the geographical location on the feelings of security. The second research question is what kind of changes in the students' subjective security can be observed when comparing the time before coming to Finland and after coming to Finland. With the help of the question, I aim to find out both the temporal connection of the feeling of security with the events of the surrounding world and the effect of the experiencer's physical location on the experience of subjective security. I base the theoretical framework of the research on the concept of subjective security, which I use to emphasize phenomena based on the experience of individuals. In addition, I apply the theory of popular geopolitics. Semi-structured interviews serve as empirical data, the goal of which is to learn about the personal experiences of each interviewee. I examine the results of the empirical material from the perspective of security with the help of a thematic analysis and the understanding gained from the research literature.