Paper short abstract:

Is there a bond between administrative borders and the feelings of locality? If the bond exists, how can it be performed and expressed? My paper concentrates on the region of municipality and its meanings as a place which people feel they belong to and as means to construct local identity.

Paper long abstract:

How does a region, based on administrative structures, become a place for its residents to which they locate and identify themselves? There has recently been a virile attempt in Finland to form large local administrative regions, especially large municipalities. More than 70 municipalities have been consolidated in the past three years and the number of municipalities has reduced from 415 to 342. Expressions of identity and sense of community in municipalities have been one of the current topics in Finnish media. In my paper I concentrate on the region of municipality and its meanings as a place where people feel they belong to and as means to construct local identity. My paper concentrates on one case: a small municipality 'disappeared' and was merged with a larger city. What happens to senses of locality and how residents of merged municipality continue to exist in the face of changing municipal boundaries? Is there a bond between administrative borders and the feelings of locality? Where can it be seen, and how can ethnologists study it? In my paper I articulate 'municipal heritage' and the idea of the municipality as an imagined and emotional place, which idea is emphasized in the process of the consolidation of municipalities. People commit themselves to a place by engaging with it, talking about it and even fighting for it. They also want to reminisce about former independent municipality.