Skip to content
1981
Volume 13, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2042-7891
  • E-ISSN: 2042-7905

Abstract

The article sketches an overview of the impersonation of Black and Sámi Others in Finnish cinema and visual culture. How and why have Finnish cultural producers used blackface performance or ‘fake’ Sámi garments in their films? By connecting several historically and aesthetically disparate texts, the article makes evident an underpinning structure of racial Othering. The structure is obscured, however, by commentators who argue such Other performance is innocent and not intended to ridicule or harm. This defence maintains that it is White Finns’s power to define what counts as racism. By combining analysis of disparate examples of racial impersonation in cinema and cultural texts with critiques and defences of it, the article traces how structural racism is maintained. Study of cinema history contributes to understanding the history of structural racism.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jsca_00091_1
2023-11-08
2026-04-14

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Arminen, Elina (2021), ‘Come to Lapland!: Changes and continuities of Lapland imagery in Finnish and international tourism posters’, in M. Lehtimäki, A. Rosenholm and V. Stukov (eds), Visual Representations of the Arctic: Imagining Shimmering Worlds in Culture, Literature, and Politics, London: Routledge, pp. 11738.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bogle, Donald ([1973] 2016), Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Cocq, Coppélie and DuBois, Thomas A. (2020), Sámi Media and Indigenous Agency in the Arctic North (ed. A. Nestingen), New Directions in Scandinavian Studies, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Frilander, Aino (2016) ‘Kiasman twerkkaajat valesaamenpuvuissa kuumentavat tunteita – “teoksessa ei ole kyse saamelaisuudesta”: Kiasman intendentin mukaan kyseessä on väärinkäsitys siitä, mitä teos käsittelee’, Helsingin Sanomat, 10 May, https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000002900460.html. Accessed 5 May 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Grandy, Christine (2020), ‘“The show is not about race”: Custom, screen culture, and the Black and White Minstrel Show’, Journal of British Studies, 59:4, pp. 85784.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Helander, Marja and Pieski, Outi (2016), ‘Saamenpuvun väärinkäyttö koetaan loukkaavana – Kiasmaa tämä ei näytä liikuttavan: Kiasman uuden kokoelmanäyttelyn videoteoksessa saamenpukujäljitelmät lienevät mukana vain eksotiikan vuoksi’, Helsingin Sanomat, 9 May, https://www.hs.fi/mielipide/art-2000002900149.html. Accessed 3 May 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Hübinette, Tobias (2012), ‘“Words that wound”: Swedish Whiteness and its inability to accommodate minority experiences’, in K. Loftsdóttir and L. Jensen (eds), Whiteness and Postcolonialism in the Nordic Region: Exceptionalism, Migrant Others and National Identities, London: Taylor and Francis, pp. 4356.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Kaartinen, Marja (2004), Neekerikammo: Kirjoituksia vieraan pelosta, Turku: University of Turku.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Kallioniemi, Noora and Siivikko, Niina (2020), ‘Anteeksipyyntöjä ja uudelleenkehystämistä: 2010-luvun keskustelu audiovisuaalisen kulttuurin saamelaisrepresentaatioista Suomessa’, Lähikuva, 2010:2, pp. 4260.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. kansallisgalleria.fi (2012), ‘Grind by Jenni Hiltunen’, 13 May, https://www.kansallisgalleria.fi/en/object/412851. Accessed 5 May 2022.
  11. Korte, Paula (2018), ‘Appropriation in the visual arts: Concepts and history with examples from Finnish contemporary art’, unpublished MA thesis, Helsinki: University of Helsinki, https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/289734/Korte_Paula_Pro_gradu_2018.pdf. Accessed 6 May 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Lahtinen, Toni (2020), ‘Arctic wilderness in Zachris Topelius’s fairy tale “Sampo Lappelill”’, in H. Hansen, M. Lindgren and A. Ryall (eds), The Arctic in Literature for Children and Young Adults, London: Routledge, pp. 17888.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Lahtonen, Teemu and Teppo, Anni (2020), ‘Lapin noidat ja pohjoisen taika elokuvassa Valkoinen peura’, Lähikuva, 2, pp. 6169.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Lehtola, Veli-Pekka (1997), Rajamaan identiteetti: Lappilaisuuden rakentuminen 1920- ja 1930-luvun kirjallisuudessa, Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Lott, Eric ([1993] 2013), Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class, Twentieth-Anniversary ed., New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Mansikka, Ossi (2020), ‘Pekka-pelin päähenkilö on pikimusta, punahuulinen karikatyyri afrikkalaisesta: Joukko opiskelijoita vaati selitystä, näin valmistaja vastasi’, Helsingin Sanomat, 2 November, https://www.hs.fi/nyt/art-2000005886890.html. Accessed 15 March 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Mills, Charles W. ([1997] 2022), The Racial Contract, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary ed., Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, https://www-jstor-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/stable/10.7591/j.ctv1xtwq8p. Accessed 16 May 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Mulinari, Diana, Keskinen, Suvi, Irni, Sari and Tuori, Salla (2009), ‘Introduction: Postcolonialism and the Nordic models of gender and welfare’, in S. Keskinen, S. Irni, S. Tuori and D. Mulinari (eds), Complying with Colonialism: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Nordic Region, New York: Routledge, pp. 118.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Nieminen, Jari (2013), ‘Etnisyystiedon merkitys kasvaa maahanmuuton lisääntyessä’, Statistics Finland, 9 December, https://www.stat.fi/artikkelit/2013/art_2013-09-23_003.html. Accessed 5 July 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Paavolainen, Olavi (1929), Nykyaikaa etsimässä: Esseitä ja pakinoita, Helsinki: Otava.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Pennanen, Riikka (2019), ‘“Veera oli tumma jo heimoltaan”: Assi Nortia ja SF-tähteys’, in K. Laine, M. Santakari, J. Seitjärvi and O. Hupaniittu (eds), Unelmatehdas Liisankadulla: Suomen filmiteollisuus Oy:n tarina, Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, pp. 13138.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Puronen, Vesa (2012), ‘KKO kovensi Halla-ahon tuomiota’, YLE News, 8 June, https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-6171365. Accessed 7 July 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Puukka, Päivi (2017), ‘“Hoo, jos minä olen musta!”: Tiernapoikien murjaani on osa alentavaa blackface-perinnettä’, YLE News, 17 December, https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9981348. Accessed 1 March 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Rastas, Anna (2012), ‘Reading history through Finnish exceptionalism’, in K. Loftsdóttir and L. Jensen (eds), Whiteness and Postcolonialism in the Nordic Region: Exceptionalism, Migrant Others and National Identities, London: Taylor and Francis, pp. 89104.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Rislakki, Jukka and Sandell, Rainer (2005), Varsinainen Puupää! Ola Fogelbergin ja hänen Pekkansa tarina, Helsinki: Tammi.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Rossi, Leena-Maija (2009), ‘Licorice boys and female coffee beans: Representations of colonial complicity in Finnish visual culture’, in S. Keskinen, S. Tuori, S. Irni and D. Molinari (eds), Complying with Colonialism: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Nordic Region, London: Routledge, pp. 34676.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Särmä, Saara (2017), ‘Kulttuurinen omiminen ei ole tunnekysymys’, Kansan uutiset, 14 October, https://www.kansanuutiset.fi/artikkeli/3791973-saara-sarma-kulttuurinen-omiminen-ei-ole-tunnekysymys. Accessed 8 July 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Seppälä, Jaakko (2012), ‘Hollywood tulee Suomeen: Yhdysvaltalaisten elokuvien maahantuonti ja vastaanotto kaksikymmentäluvun Suomessa’, Ph.D. dissertation, Helsinki: University of Helsinki.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Skinner, Ryan Thomas (2022), Afro-Sweden: Becoming Black in a Color-Blind Country, Minneapolis, MN and London: University of Minnesota Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Sudenkaarne, Tiia and Blell, Mwenza (2022), ‘Reproductive justice for the haunted Nordic welfare state: Race, racism, and queer bioethics in Finland’, Bioethics, 36:3, pp. 32835, https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12973.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. samediggi.fi (2022a), ‘The Sámi in Finland’, Sámi Parliament of Finland, https://www.samediggi.fi/sami-info/?lang=en. Accessed 5 May 2022.
  32. samediggi.fi (2022b), ‘Discover responsible visitor’s guidance to Sámi culture and Sámi homeland in Finland’, https://www.samediggi.fi/2022/05/16/discover-responsible-visitors-guidance-to-sami-culture-and-sami-homeland-in-finland/?lang=en. Accessed 5 May 2022.
  33. Thompson, Ayanna (2021), Blackface, Bloomsbury Academic Object Lessons, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. tiernakaupunki.fi (2021), ‘Tiernasäätiön kannanotto Murjaanien kuninkaasta’, 23 September, https://www.tiernakaupunki.fi. Accessed 20 May 2022.
  35. Törngren, Sayana Osanami (2020), ‘Challenging the “Swedish” and “immigrant” dichotomy: How do multiracial and multi-ethnic Swedes identify themselves?’, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 41:4, pp. 45773, https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2020.1778654.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Vainio, Juha (2017), ‘Stockmann hyllytti tiernapojat: tummaksi maalattu naama videolla oli osalle liikaa’, Ilta-Sanomat, 28 December, https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005504630.html. Accessed 28 February 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Vilkuna, Jussi (2002), ‘Hullunkuriset ydinperheet: Pekka-korttipeli on kurkistusluuku 1950-luvun Suomen yhteiskuntaan’, Helsingin Sanomat, Nyt-liite, 1 March, p. 47, https://interactive.sanoma.fi/arkku/files/25686129NYT2002030147.pdf. Accessed 15 March 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Virtanen, Leea and DuBois, Thomas Andrew (2000), Finnish Folklore, Helsinki and Seattle, WA: Finnish Literature Society and University of Washington Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Vuorela, Ulla (2009), ‘Colonial complicity: The “postcolonial” in a Nordic context’, in S. Keskinen, S. Tuori, S. Irni and D. Mulinari (eds), Complying with Colonialism: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Nordic Region, London: Routledge, pp. 1934.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Wekker, Gloria (2016), White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Wolfe, Patrick (2016), Traces of History: Elementary Structures of Race, London: Verso.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Black and White Minstrel Show (1958–78), UK: BBC.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Capra, Frank (1934), It Happened One Night, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Blomberg, Erik (1952), Valkoinen peura, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Elstelä, Ossi (1948), Kalle Aaltosen morsian, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Fleming, Victor (1939), Gone with the Wind, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Griffith, D. W. (1915), The Birth of a Nation, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Hawks, Howard (1934), Twentieth Century, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Hiltunen, Jenni (2011), Grind, Finland, https://player.vimeo.com/video/44392653. Accessed 15 May 2022.
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Hymyhuulet (1987–89), Finland: Yleisradio.
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Kaurismäki, Aki (2017), Toivon tuolla puolen, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Saarikivi, Orvo (1941), Totinen torvensoittaja, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Stiller, Ben (2004), Zoolander, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Tarkas, Aarne (1960), Pekka ja Pätkä neekereinä, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Unho, Ilmari (1949), Kalle-Kustaa Korkin seikkailut, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Vaala, Valentin (1931), Laveata tietä, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Vanne, Ilkka (2003), Vieraalla maalla, Finland.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jsca_00091_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/jsca_00091_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test