Finland, like most European countries, is going through a period soul-searching unprecedented in the 21 st century. Nationalist populism, with its claim to a somehow authentic Finnishness has been a serious political force from the beginning of the second decade, prompting regular and fierce debates about national identity. The original English name of the populist Perussuomalaiset party, 'True Finns', is only a more explicit version of their current name, 'The Finns'. The refugee crisis of 2015 has only exacerbated the situation by hardening the public discourse, with participants from random Facebook commentators to sitting MPs flirting with openly racist language, and making 'debate' a generous term for the cacophony of insult and intellectual entrenchment. While 'identity' as a concept is a new invention, and a reflection of the times of its production (Moran, 2015), it is sensible to argue that for modern Finns and Europeans, the issue of national identity is indeed increasingly an 'inescapable' part of everyday life (Poole, 2003). It is not, however, inescapable because it is somehow transmitted in mother's milk. On the contrary, it is in times of controversy when unquestioned, common sense assumptions about national identity become articulated, negotiated, and challenged. Riffing on Marx, philosophers Alcoff and Mendieta (2003, 3) argue that 'Identity is not in the main an individual affair. Individuals make their own identity, but not under conditions of their own choosing'. We agree, but also emphasise that the conditions in which national identity is constructed are not monolithic, but rather in constant motion. Again, national identity becomes 'inescapable' only in conditions which demand an articulation of it