Migration Institute of Finland Research Seminar
BOOK LAUNCH Writing and Reading European Migrant Belonging in Early-20th-Century North America
Edited by Saijaleena Rantanen, Kirsti Salmi-Niklander and Samira Saramo
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Time: 13:30–15:00
Place: Migration Institute of Finland (Hämeenkatu 13, Turku) and Zoom
Speakers:
Kirsti-Salmi-Niklander, University of Helsinki
Samira Saramo, Migration Institute of Finland
Saijaleena Rantanen, UniArts Helsinki
Maria Kaliambou, Yale University
Aleksi Huhta, Helsinki University
Writing and Reading European Migrant Belonging in Early-20th-Century North America (Migration Institute of Finland 2026) uses Finnish, Swedish, Greek, and Croatian North American case studies to make important new contributions to the fields of migration history and the study of book cultures. Book cultures are understood broadly in the collection, including different ways of producing and disseminating the written word, and the interaction of oral, scribal and printed communication. This collection positions books culture as a tool for building and maintaining transnational belonging on macro to micro scales.
Book culture is analyzed by the collection contributors from three –at times overlapping–vantage points: the intersections of (trans)nationalist projects and book culture; book culture in the construction of migrant communities and identities; and migrant book culture as media of performance. Collectively, the chapters consider how the genres and practices of migrant book culture have carried the language and cultural heritage of the countries of origin, and analyze whether and in which ways migrant book culture promoted integration to the new culture and facilitated interaction between different migrant groups.
Please register by April 12, 2026
