[Buccaneer]

If this addressed only to PTG then sorry for the intrusion.

Originally Posted by Gere

Oh yes. The presence of Finns in Sweden as a result of migrations that happened around 1600 or later - in fact most of it happened after the end of world war two - is often seen as 'proof' that Lappids were a part of the original make-up of the Swedish nation. In order to understand the situation we need to take facts of history seriously, and not just stare blindly at the recently made DNA research, since those studies - however correct they may be - are just frozen frames in the bigger movie picture that we call history.

I think that we can agree that Finnishswedishness is a matter of ancestry as well as of heritage. Someone of largely Swedish and wholly Germanic ancestry and heritage, would to me qualify as a Finlandswede, given that among his ancestors are also presumably some of those Swedish settlers of old in Finland. Would that be a sound definition?


I mostly agree with your definition. A substantial amount of ethnic Swedish ancestry and heritage is the main demand for the finlandswedes, but demanding a wholly germanic ancestry(or genes) would exclude propably almost all of them if adhered to too strictly.


Not just for the sake of Stirpes forum, but even more for the greater European cause which is a purpose of Stirpes, and of which I hope and believe that even the "hillbillies" can be a part, you should treat the Finns and all other Europeans with respect. As a Swede - although both my parents are from the countryside - I have a special empathy with the Finnishswedes, and I think that the evolution of contemporary national consciousness in Finnishswedes is as important as is the corresponding evolution for the Swedes in Sweden - in fact I tend to expect it to be an evolution of a shared consciousness that builds on the past to go into the future.

My impression of modern Finland is that it is based on two groups that are different both regarding ancestry and heritage: On the one hand the Finnishswedes with Germanic ancestry and heritage, and on the other the Finns with Fenno-Ugrian heritage. In the era of democracy I suspect that Finnishswedes have lost some of their traditional privileges, and in any case I am interested in hearing what your thoughts are on that particular issue. My guess is that this change can be harmful to the Finlandswedish identity if it is not dealt with thoroughly.

In current age the view two groups is IMHO becoming largely outdated since other ethnic groups are also beginning to grow and may even some day outgrow FinlandSwedes. Yes, the traditional privileges have mostly disappeared. Both groups have a possibility for education in their own languages etc. and there are some minority quotas for finlandswedes. But basically neither group has any privileges. The biggest threat to finlandswedes as a group is IMHO the overall multicultural trend which is attempting downplay all ethnic lines. That leads to many people just choosing their mates without even considering their ethnic background. THey'll just take goodlooking, rich,funny or whatever they happen to dig. Also, the fragmentation of society has created alot more groups for the finnishswedes or people generally to identify more strongly than their swedish speaking heritage. And overall nowadays, especially younger swedish and finnish speaking finns don't find others that different nor hold interdating as odd or a bad thing.



This is not at all off topic, rather it is very much on topic. I thank you for that information and look forward to learning more about Finnishswedes. You must also understand that most Europeans have little knowledge about your ethnic group. You can rest assured that you will not be off-topic just for speaking about Finnishswedes. On the contrary, I think that many at Stirpes will be interested in knowing more.