Linda Bäckman

 Research Fellow +358 40 6857413

PhD

  • Multilingualism
  • Language and identity
  • Narrative research
  • Superdiversity and integration
  • New speakers of minority languages
  • Research and social activism

ORCID

Presentation

My research has to do with multilingualism and more largely with language in contexts of migration. I have studied e.g. language maintenance among adults whose parents were migrants, and ‘new speakers’ of Swedish in Finland. I am interested in questions to do with language and identity, discourses and lived experience around ‘integration’, as well as human rights. Other important topics for me are the development of qualitative research methods, research ethical questions, as well as the interaction of research and social activism. I have worked and volunteered among undocumented people and asylum seekers, and been part of establishing We see you, an association striving towards more humane asylum politics in Finland.

Projects

Mobile Futures: Diversity, Trust and Two-Way Integration (The Strategic Research Council, 2022-2027)

Selvitys ulkomaisen työvoiman käytöstä kasvihuoneteollisuudessa sekä työntekijöiden ja heidän perheidensä maahan asettumisesta (TEM) 2022

Superdiversitet i Svenskfinland? Språk och integration i två småstadsmiljöer (Society for Swedish Literature in Finland 2018-2021)

Relevant publications

Bäckman, Linda & Haapamäki, Saara (forthcoming) Learning Swedish in contexts of migration to Finland. In Pöyhönen, Sari & Simpson, James (eds.) Minority Language Learning for Adult Migrants in Europe. London & New York: Routledge.

Raunio, Mika; Mattila, Markku; Bäckman, Linda; Kosová, Magdalena. (2023). Alueellinen resilienssi ja työperusteinen maahanmuutto: kasvihuoneteollisuuden ulkomainen työvoima Närpiön seudulla. Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriön julkaisuja. https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/164572

Bäckman, Linda. 2021. Nya talare av svenska i Finland – positionering i berättelser om språk och integration. In Heikkola, Leena Maria; Paulsen, Geda; Wojciechowicz, Katarzyna & Rosenberg, Jutta (eds.) Språkets funktion – Festschrift for Urpo Nikanne in honor of his 60th birthday. Turku: Åbo Akademi University Press, 284–305. https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/181090

Bäckman, Linda. 2021. Borde vi sluta tala om ”integration”? Perspektiv för reell social inkludering. In Ahlskog, Jonas (ed.) Människans allsidiga utveckling: essäer om bildningens betydelser i tjugoförsta århundradet. Helsingfors, Svenska Folkskolans Vänner.

Bäckman, Linda & Pöyhönen, Sari. 2020. Superdiversiteetti. In Martikainen, Tuomas & Pitkänen, Pirkko (eds.) Muuttoliikkeiden vuosisata. S. 60–67. https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/178125

Haapamäki, Saara & Bäckman, Linda. 2020. Att ”prata med gurkor”: Nya talare av svenska i Närpes. Svenskan i Finland 18, 26–43.  https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/150838

Bäckman, Linda & Haapamäki, Saara. 2019. Perspektiv på integration i en rural minoritetsspråksmiljö: exemplet Närpes i Finland. Multiethnica 39, p. 39–53. https://www.valentin.uu.se/digitalAssets/686/c_686162-l_3-k_multiethnica392019.pdf

Bäckman, Linda (2017) ‘Second Generation?’ Language and Identity among Adults whose Parents were Migrants. Turku: Åbo Akademi Press. http://bibbild.abo.fi/ediss/2017/backman_linda.pdf

Wiik, Jenny; Skogman, Siv; Bäckman, Linda (eds). 2019. We see you – berättelser och vittnesmål. Helsingfors: Schildts & Söderströms.