Paper short abstract:

An increasing amount of Swedish-speaking young adults are leaving Finland to live in Sweden. These immigrants picture a smooth integration, but in life history interviews they often talk about experienced differences in "culture". These differences sometimes make them more Swedish, sometimes less.

Paper long abstract:

Sweden has been a target for Finnish migration throughout the ages, and during the 2010s, an increasing amount of Swedish-speaking young adults has left Finland to live in Sweden. These immigrants find themselves in a situation where their mother tongue is no longer a minority language and they imagine an easy adaptation to the Swedish society. But still they experience a perceived difference in "culture", which they have a hard time to pinpoint when asked.

This paper is based on fieldwork in Sweden with interviews made with emerging adults from Finland living in Sweden. In many of the life history interviews, the informants use the word culture to describe their own place in the new society. When asked about this culture they try to find words for their experiences of moving to another country and becoming part of that, without really leaving their country of origin behind.

Culture is used both as a means of legitimising the move to another country, but also a way of expressing their identity and positioning themselves as something else than the Swedes, Finns or Finland-Swedes. It is both a case of feeling that your culture is not the right one, but also for some, that they finally have come "home to their own culture". By using the word "culture", the young immigrants find a way to put words to their feelings of belonging or alienation.