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Should I Stay or Should I Go? Developing Migrant-led Understandings of Welcoming Rural Communities

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The Rural-Migration Nexus

Part of the book series: Rethinking Rural ((RR))

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Abstract

Tiina Sotkasiira examines Finland’s ‘Welcoming Countryside’ policy. Drawing on qualitative data collected from participant observations and interviews with diverse groups of migrants living and working in rural areas of Finland, this chapter explores what enables and facilitates migrants to stay long term in rural regions. From a Nordic perspective, this chapter produces new empirical and migrant-led insight into the notion of ‘welcoming’ rural communities and the diverse lived experiences of rural migrants in Finland. This chapter also acknowledges the contradictory processes, through which migrants are, on the level of regional politics, constituted as very important members of rural communities, while simultaneously in their everyday lives experience discrimination and face difficulties as they attempt to navigate life locally.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Tiina Sotkasiira

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  1. Tiina Sotkasiira
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Correspondence to Tiina Sotkasiira .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK

    Nathan Kerrigan

  2. Centre for Living Sustainability, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness, UK

    Philomena de Lima

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Sotkasiira, T. (2023). Should I Stay or Should I Go? Developing Migrant-led Understandings of Welcoming Rural Communities. In: Kerrigan, N., de Lima, P. (eds) The Rural-Migration Nexus. Rethinking Rural. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18042-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18042-2_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-18042-2

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