Part Finnish, part Native American

August 11, 2016 2:19 PM

In the Great Lakes region there are people with roots in Finland and among indigenous North American peoples. It’s impossible to know how exactly many of these so-called ‘Findians’ exist, but their numbers are estimated in the hundreds. Author Katja Kettu, journalist Maria Seppälä and photographer Meeri Koutaniemi documented their lives over the course of three years. Their experiences form the basis for their book, ‘Findian country’.
posted by infini (7 comments total)

Very interesting, though I had to look up what "sisu" meant. Until I did, the cryptic story of Arne's father's suicide made me think it was something like skub.
posted by ejs at 3:01 PM on August 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wonderful photos of the north country even setting aside the unusual ethnicity. I've run across these folks at the foot of Keweenaw Bay in Michigan, in L'Anse and other towns.
posted by texorama at 6:17 PM on August 11, 2016

My family is Finn and Ojibwe (the preferred spelling) from this neck of the woods. I kinda jokingly call myself "Findian" from time to time, but I feel like this article is very accurate in that most of the cultural connection for "Findians" is Ojibwe and that's primarily what I see people identify as...I don't personally hear a lot of people self-identify as "Findian" much, if ever, though it totally checks out as a background a lot of people have. In just my personal experience, the Finn culture tends to remain really, really strong in a lot of small tight-knit 100% Finn communities and is increasingly diluted outside of that context, even though a large number of the non-Native people in this area have ancestry from that part of the world. I also think the first paragraph is definitely underestimating how many Ojibwe people have Finn or Swede heritage. It's not uncommon at all to see people with light hair and blue eyes dancing or drumming at powwows! Some Ojibwe communities are definitely more mixed than others, though.

One thing I wish this article touched on is just how well Finn culture and Ojibwe culture mesh in terms of mentality and very reserved attitudes. I've also always found it fascinating how one side of my family has the sauna as a cultural fixture and the other side has the sweat lodge, and how both these cultures met in a harsh environment they were both so incredibly well adapted to.

It's fun for me to see someone else looking at something so close to home to me from an outside view. Thank you for this post!
posted by giizhik at 7:37 PM on August 11, 2016 [28 favorites]

Wow, crazy. I had no idea that this was an actual thing. My brothers and I jokingly called ourselves Finndians while growing up, but we had no clue that this was something that was real.
posted by NoMich at 8:32 PM on August 11, 2016 [7 favorites]

giizhik, NoMich, thank you both for sharing. Until I saw this, I had no idea that such a community existed. it caught my attention because friends and colleagues have often teased me about being "Finndian" but more from the sense that ethnically I'm Indian yet I feel Finland is home, and many of my innate characteristics fit within the local cultural context.

Let me see if I can dig up more on this from local sources. Also if either of you would like a copy of the book shipped to you (if its not available online anywhere) just please let me know.
posted by infini at 2:17 AM on August 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Several of these folks are on my FB feed, and Lyz says that the translation is a bit truncated in this article, and the stories are much more expansive in the book. Arne Vaino's story in particular comes across much more bluntly in the article, apparently.
posted by RedEmma at 6:36 AM on August 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

The brief mention of Arne Vainio intrigued me and I found this archive of his columns.
posted by BibiRose at 6:36 AM on August 13, 2016 [2 favorites]