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PurposeThe overall purpose of this paper is to study gender and equality‐related issues by exploring gender functions in the northernmost borderland of Sweden (the Tornedalen area). The study focuses on women's views of their own lives and how local culture may shape their identity.Design/methodology/approachBy analysing a large number of women's narratives through approaching feminist poststructuralism, the analysis focuses on gender relations and how women have adapted their lives according to the norms of the local society. The study involves a historical perspective from the middle to the late twentieth century. This includes transitions from an almost exclusively rural to a more urbanized life (within the countryside) and from a time when almost all women were full‐time housewives to a time when this has become a rarity.FindingsThe traditional culture in Tornedalen still existed in the late 1990s with pressure coming from the older generations to maintain traditional gender functions. From a feminist poststructuralist perspective, competing discourses affects the identity of the Tornedalen woman. Such competing discourses lead to, for example, women being impressed by masculine men who dominate the family whilst also, seemingly, expressing concern for equality issues. Many common gender identity characteristics also exist, such as (a feeling of) being strong (to be able to live in Tornedalen) and (a feeling of) being very much aware of (and claiming) local gender inequality. Originality/value – The paper provides new knowledge as to how inequality may persist in (a) local area(s) ruled by traditional norms. It also provides insights into women's lives and how identities evolve in (a) small local society(ies).

The municipal election of 1934 gave the Nazi party over 30 per cent of the votes in Tärendö municipality which led to six mandates in the municipal council and the chairmanship for the local Nazi politician. The Nazi party held its position as a municipal political force still until the end of Second World War with a popular vote of over 12 per cent in the election 1944 to the parliament. In comparison to other municipalities in the Swedish Tornio valley this was an exceptional political expression by the citizens. In the article we compare Tärendö toward Pajala from different perspectives of institutional, the mobilization of political movement and political leadership. The article tries to answer: how come that the Nazi party was successful in Tärendö but not in Pajala, despite the short distance and the cultural, social and market similarities between the two municipalities? The results show that institutional structure can only explain in margin the differences in Nazi voting. The main reason behind Nazi voting in Tärendö was the interaction between the mobilization of the political movements and the character of the local political leadership.

The Tornedalians in northern Sweden and the Kvens in northern Norway are two large Finnish speaking national minorities. The Tornedalians was part of the continuous Finnish culture stretching from southern Finland up to the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia. They were integrated in the Swedish kingdom from the 14th century but in 1809, at the time Sweden lost Finland to Russia, they were left on the Swedish side as a small and marginalised minority. In northern Norway a large immigration of Finnish speakers from Sweden and Finland took place in the 18th and 19th century. They were, according to Norwegian tradition, called Kvens and regarded as immigrants who, as time went on, received Norwegian citizenship. The Tornedalians and Kvens share a common Finnish cultural heritage within the transnational area of northernmost Scandinavia called the North Calotte.1 Both minorities were exposed to a harsh assimilation policy from the latter half of the 19th century within each nation state. During most of the 20th century they remained loyal to the majority culture of the state, but in the 1980s a strong political mobilisation and ethnic revitalisation took place, launching new political and cultural organisations. They now emphasized their Finnish cultural heritage and claimed aid from the state for the maintenance of their minority cultures. In the 1990s the political mobilisation was taken even further when part of the Tornedalians in Sweden, and the Kvens in Norway, claimed that they all belonged to a historically ancient Finnish speaking people called Kvens, who was mentioned in historical sources from the Viking Age. This new kind of transnational identity policy was deliberately directed against the Sámi people, who at that time received an official status as indigenous people in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Since the Sámi people claims land rights and political autonomy out of their history from immemorial time, both history and myth has come to be in focus for the Kven movement in their transnational political mobilisation, in order to proof their legitimacy as an ancient indigenous people. The aim of the article is to investigate how the power relation between the Tornedalian minority and the Swedish state changed from the 1930s to the 1990s, and how the expression of ethnic and national identification changed as part of the 1 The North Calotte region was created in the late 1950s, as a specific northern dimension of the Northern Countries [Norden]. It comprised the counties of Norway, Sweden and Finland that were tangent to the Arctic Circle. political mobilisation of the minority. The method for investigating the changed power relations is to analyse the way Tornedalian claims on the state changed and the way new types of political organisation contributed to this. The use of history in the public is an important part of this. Expressions of ethnic and national identification in relation to political mobilisation will be investigated through the reading of some Tornedalian periodicals and journals during the period of investigation. Some comparison is done with the Kven movement in northern Norway. ; Recalling the Past, Silvermuseet

The Tornedalians are a national ethnic and linguistic minority group in northern Sweden who live along the Torne River Valley (Tornedalen) in municipalities that border the neighbouring country of Finland. This minority group has been subjected to marginalisation, racialisation and assimilation politics driven by Swedish colonial and nationalist interests and ambitions since the end of the 19th century. In the so-called 'Swedification' of Tornedalen, the education system has historically been a tool used to oppress and undermine the population's culture and language, Meänkieli. Few studies have scrutinised contemporary conditions concerning the relationship between Tornedalians and the education system. This article examines the challenges and obstacles that young Tornedalians encounter in their quest to learn about and practise their minority group status within the Swedish upper secondary school system. The data consists of interviews with pupils, teachers and principals at upper secondary schools in two municipalities in Tornedalen. Drawing on postcolonial perspectives and theories of nationalism, the analysis suggests that colonial conceptions and processes are still at work in the region through the medium of the educational system. School practice is described as an 'all-Swedish' institution that is saturated with its majority culture; in other words, Tornedalian culture and Meänkieli are repressed due to the power, domination and precedence of Swedish values in school practice. Thus, the effects of Swedification policies are still at play in Tornedalian schools. However, there are promising pedagogical opportunities to enhance and develop the learning practice of Meänkieli and Tornedalian culture due to pupils' interest in minority issues, combined with teachers' knowledge of these matters. A conclusion drawn in the article is that there is a need for teachers to bring these minority issues into ordinary teaching and modify the curriculum so that, to a greater extent, it integrates and enforces elements of local minority language and culture into ordinary school practice.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: ageing in the Arctic -- Part I Position of older people and policies in the Arctic -- 1. How ageism undermines older people's human rights and social inclusion: revisiting advocacy, agency and need in later life -- 2. Tracing gender in political ageing strategies and the press in Finnish Lapland -- 3. Policies of Arctic countries to promote volunteering in old age -- 4. New moving patterns among middle-aged and elderly people in Norway -- Part II Elderly people and climate change -- 5. Climate change in Lapland and its role in the health of the elderly and rural populations -- 6. Gender differences of older people in the changing Arctic -- Part III Wellbeing of elderly people -- 7. What is wellbeing for the elderly? -- 8. Elderly Sami and quality of life: creative strategies applied by the elderly within a Swedish Sami context -- 9. Elderly homecare recipients' experiences of homecare: client centered or not? -- Part IV Local traditions of Arctic communities -- 10. "Wanting Greenlandic food": a story of food, health, and illness in the life of an elderly Greenlandic woman -- 11. 'Our forest': ageing, agency and 'connection with nature' in rural Tornedalen, northern Sweden -- 12. Towards a broader inclusion of heritage language and traditional knowledge in the Vepsian revival movement: cultural, ideological and economic issues -- 13. A room with a view: navigating continuity and rupture within the traditional healing repertoire of Northern Troms -- Conclusion -- Contributors -- Index.

Part I. Changing Politics and Welfare Policies in the North -- Chapter 1. CEDAW and the Capability Approach as a Way to Promote Elderly Women in the North(Eva-Maria Svensson) -- Chapter 2. Gender Equality and Ageing in Arctic Sweden(Lena Wennberg) -- Chapter 3. Elder Care Policy and Service System in Phase of Transition in Finland(Heli Valokivi) -- Chapter 4. New Opportunities Telling the Same Frustrating Story Care Sector Marketization and Innovations in Finland(Petra Merenheimo) -- Part II. Challenges in Meeting Older People's Needs in the Northern Rural Context -- Chapter 5. Approaches to Prevent Social Exclusion of Older Adults in Arctic Russian Remote Area(Anastasia Emelyanova & Elena Golubeva) -- Chapter 6. Social Cultural Construction of Dying Self in the Context of Care(Marjo Outila, Marjaana Seppänen, Heli Valokivi, Eeva Rossi) -- Chapter 7. Exploring Challenges to Elderly in a Rural Settings: A Case Study from Finnish Lapland(Shahnaj Begum) -- Chapter 8. Hit by the Stroke – An Auto-Ehnographic Analysis of Caring Old Parents from Long Distance(Marit Aure) -- Chapter 9. Individually but Together: Old Couple Preparing for Old Age(Olga Asrun Stefansdottir & Eydis Kristin Sveinbjarnardottir) -- Chapter 10. Social Inclusion and Agency of Older Women in Rural Tornedalen, North Sweden(Tarja Tapio) -- Part III. Age, voice and resistance -- Chapter 11. "Are We Really Listening"? Ageism, Voice, and Older People's Diversity in Nordic Societies Undergoing Welfare Change(Joan R. Harbison) -- Chapter 12. From "active ageing" to Local Perspectives on Quality of Life(Mai Camilla Munkejord, &Walter Schönfelder) -- Chapter 13. Elderly people as political actors in Lapland(Päivi Naskali) -- Chapter 14. "We do not eat luxury food" A story about health and food in the everyday life of an elder Sami reindeer herder in Norway(Trine Kvitberg) -- Conclusion