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The Finnish–Russian borderland has transformed in the last three decades from two isolated national territories into a transition zone, where the ‘other’ culture and society is ever more present. This paper analyses what kinds of perceptions Finnish and Russian children have of the border and the borderland today. It also examines children’s territorial identifications in the borderland. The research is based on 263 mental maps collected from 9–15-year-old children in the cities of Lappeenranta (Finland) and Vyborg (Russia) and the village of Pervomayskoe (Russia) between 2013 and 2017. The analysis of the maps illustrates that the children participating in the study perceive the Finnish–Russian border mainly as a place for border crossings, although they continue to use the border as a tool for constructing socio-spatial distinctions. In this way, the children actively participate in processes of bordering and play an important part in the social life of the borderland. The participants’ perceptions of the borderland are connected to the national and local contexts that they live in but vary widely between individuals. The paper argues that the local border-related phenomena and children’s border-crossing experiences are increasingly relevant for their national and local identification processes. Besides providing novel information regarding Finnish and Russian children’s perceptions and identifications in the Finnish–Russian borderland, the paper adjusts the mental mapping method to a borderland context and enhances our understanding of the complexity of the bordering processes taking place in borderlands.

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The article is devoted to reflection on the experience of field research of refugees from Ukraine. It examines methodological and ethical issues and problems. The article aims to identify problematic points and to demonstrate how methodological sensitivity and reflexivity can help to find relevant research focuses and interpretative frameworks. The first section of the article is devoted to research strategies, in particular the problems of “fast” and “slow” research, as well as issues of observations and specifics of interviewing of refugees. The use of mosaic methodology, research strategies of “fast” and “slow” sociology, different sources, etc. allows researchers to find non-trivial research focuses.The second section of the article is devoted to the relationship between the researcher and the research subject. On the one hand, the humanitarian perspective universalizes suffering, on the other hand, it allows establishing trusting and personalized relationships and working with the sensitive topics. The section also raises the questions of the interviewer’s emotional empathy and trust issues.