Shared places, separate spaces: constructing cultural spaces through two national languages in Finland

Finland is a bilingual country with 2 national languages, Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish-speaking school institution aims to protect the minority language by maintaining a monolingual school space. In this article, the construction of linguistic and ethnic difference in educational discourse and practice related to the national languages in Finland is analyzed by using discourse analysis, feminist and post-structural theories. By analyzing ethnographic data and public debate, we argue that discursive and material practices related to spatiality have a significant role in constructing difference and otherness in the Finnish school context. Essentialist categories are produced but also contested from the positions within the cultural spaces at school and in society at large.