North Karelian region belong(ed) to the Barents
Euro-Arctic Council until all cooperation with Russia was suspended in spring 2022.
The articles of the volume focus on the border as known and experienced by the
majority and minority populations, as represented in media, and from the perspective
of areas situated close to the border.

In the special issue, the
border area between Finland and Russia is understood as a borderscape produced by
bunches of multi-layered co-constitutive processes, practices, narratives, and
representations. 

The special issue of the journal was
edited by professor Olga Davydova-Minguet from University of Eastern
Finland.

– The images of Russia should be studied as existing in
everyday consciousness, gained through own experience, produced, disseminated, and
discussed in media, existing in historical memory – which were all envisioned to be
diverse in different groups, Davydova-Minguet says. 

The
everyday perceptions of Russia and Russians are discussed in contributions by Teemu
Oivo, Henrik Dorf Nielsen, Olga Davydova-Minguet, and Pirjo Pöllänen from University
of Eastern Finland. 

In contrast to the previous studies
of Russia’s images in Finland, Russian-speakers in this special issue are taken as
one of the population groups that need to be studied together with Finnish-speakers,
who make up the majority of the population. 

The special
issue of the Barents Studies journal Looking at Russia’s images from the Finnish
border is available at barentsinfo.org/barentsstudies