The mobilities of forced displacement: commemorating Karelian evacuation in Finland |
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Authors: | Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto-Arponen |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Regional Studies , 33014 University of Tampere , Tampere, Finland anna-kaisa.kuusisto@uta.fi |
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Abstract: | In this article I discuss the mobilities of forced displacement. I analyse the politics of mobility by connecting the multiple scales of experienced mobility with the representational and non-representational strategies of sense of place. The aim of this article is twofold: to illustrate the different collective cultural narratives of displacement, and the ontological bodily memories. Three narratives of Karelian displacement are discussed. To capture the bodily memories, I also apply the philosopher Jacques Derrida's (1995) ideas on khora. Khora originates in Plato's Timaeus. Derrida's one interpretation of khora is a half-way-place, which is midway between space and time. I argue that khora as a non-topological concept deepens the understanding of existential place relations and also provides a fresh conceptual basis for the analysis of non-representational aspects of experiential place. Empirically, I focus on the commemoration of Karelian evacuation in Finland. I argue that the festivity called the Trail of the Displaced consists of several culturally representational and embodied non-representational mobilities which explain the complexities of spatial belonging among displaced communities. |
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Keywords: | bodily memory displacement khora mobility practices of commemoration sense of place |
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