Suchergebnisse

The main thesis of this article is that nations still form an essential socio-spatial unit in the worldviews and mind maps of contemporary youth. Borderlands - as loci of various(cultural, economic, etc.) forms of exchange - make an interesting context of study in this respect; this is where the forms of nationalist practices can be encountered in the most concrete occasions. In focus in this article are the youth of the Finnish-Swedish and Finnish-Russian borderlands (Karelia and Tornio River Valley) and their spatial identity frameworks. What is important is that young people are here treated as active agents instead of passive `consumers' of national identity, making identity political statements and choices that sustain and reconstruct nationalities and national identities. The article presents some examples of identity political practices, here categorized analytically as cultural and spatial. It ends with an exploration of some explanations for the persistence of national thinking and behaviour, even in current times of globalization and spatial restructuring.

Norden may be forgotten, but northern spatial politics is `alive and kicking'. The human aspiration to define, represent and master space has not ended in the northern hemisphere. Claims made about `the end of the geography', given the decreasing importance of spatial distance or location, are misleading. Geography still matters, albeit the modes of geographical reasoning are radically changing. An analysis of spatial politics practised by multiple actors within the last seven years in the Nordic journal Nord Revy (later North) suggests an active geopolitical reconstruction of northern space. The new, reconstructed `northernness' points predominantly in two directions: east (Russia) and south (Europe). Northern space as a whole, however, covers a large variety of spatial constructions, or representations (states, interstate regions, trans-border regions, city districts, urban networks, etc.). The new eastwards-oriented and Europeanized `northernness' is more reminiscent of a complex and multilevel spatial network than a clearly delimited, homogeneous territory `between the two blocks'. Given such developments it can be argued that the `North' is beginning to exhibit a number of late-modern features. It is less territorial and has many layers and possible directions for future development. Nevertheless, the new `North' hasn't lost any of its geopolitical appeal, albeit the mode of politics has changed.

We explore how young students perceive a safe school day, what makes them feel insecure, and which factors in daily school life increase their sense of safety. Our data comprise school essays by 7th to 9th graders from one comprehensive school in Tampere, Finland. The study is a qualitative case study with a narrative approach. Applying both data-driven and theory-driven content analysis, we have classified our findings into three main categories: (a) school safety as relations between people, (b) practices that build safety in everyday school life and (c) the safety of the physical environment in the school. The emphasis is on describing and interpreting students' experiences and their life-world phenomena. We explain why there is a need for a holistic view on school safety. We primarily discuss safety as a social phenomenon encompassing participation and relationships, but also as a humanistic and cultural phenomenon encompassing dignity and well-being.

AbstractIn this article, we provide an overview of the ways in which disaster managers in eight European countries use social media to mitigate people's vulnerability to hazards. Our document analysis and 95 expert interviews in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Finland, Norway, and Estonia revealed six distinct institutional social media practices that may reduce disaster vulnerability: sharing educational guidelines, informing and warning the public, identifying citizens' concerns, identifying missing persons, sharing guidelines during disaster, and organizing volunteers. We discuss how these practices could affect people's ability to access, understand, and react adequately to information about risks and hazards. Our findings can be used to improve guidelines for official crisis communication on social media and demonstrate the value of using social media in disaster risk reduction.