‘A citizen of all the different bits’: emotional scaling of identity

Abstract

Scale is a debatable term in the humanities and social sciences. Conceptualized in human geography as spatial categories of thought, as the arenas where social processes occur, as bounded politicaleconomic frames or as unhelpful binaries privileging either the local or the global, scale intersects a significant body of geographical research. The unfolding and intermeshing of topological connections that help to share moments and experiences are important sources for the differentiation, renewal and recalibration of individual identities, but they often work as cocomponents to scalar identifications. Engaging with the recent discussion on scale and the upsurge of emotional geographies, I seek to understand how people contextualize space through situated scalar perspectives and how they realign and recognize their identities through embodied emotions. The analysis of the empirical material, that comprises 23 focus groups with locally and universally-orientated civic organizations in Finland and England, focuses on the ways people use landscapes and communities as emotional signposts in their scalar identification. I argue that scale is a situated category, whose spectrum individuals negotiate through the performance of social discourses and cultural practices. In such negotiation, people scale their identity narratives to overcome or emphasize the distinctions between 'us' and 'others'.

The scalar logics of universities as part of statehood transformation in Finland, 1970–1990

“…There may be situations in which regional, national or global distinctions are less important, but it is difficult to think of a situation in which a university produces or gives meaning to only one scale or set of scales at a time (cf. Mansfield 2005: 468;Vainikka 2014). Despite the multidimensional nature of academic activities, particular projects and university choices, as this article illustrates, tend to favour some scales over others and reshape statehood in line with their ideological and socio-political or politico-economic attitudes (MacKinnon 2011: 31; see also Brenner 2004b).…”

“…Thus, it trained engineers mainly for large enterprises that were located in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Thinking about the scalar dimensions of LUT's practices, the university can be understood as having been simultaneously international, national and regional (Mansfield 2005: 468;Vainikka 2014). LUT aimed at 'Nordic-class' and, later on, world-class performance in carefully selected focus areas.…”

Scaling heritage. The construction of scales in the submission process of alpinism to UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list

“…MacKinnon (2011, 21), for instance, invites geographers to analyse 'the social construction of scale through the strategies of various actors, movements and organisations', thereby overturning 'the traditional conception of scales as fixed and external to social processes'. In a similar vein, Vainikka (2016) states that 'there are multiple discursive scales of "we" through which people formulate their identities'. In the epistemic discussion that he promotes, Moore (2008) calls for analysing scale as a meaningful cognitive, narrative and political tool for understanding actors' respective worlds.…”

Sensing scalarity: Towards a humanistic approach to scale

“…Some previous work examines scale vis-à-vis identity and this provides a useful starting point. Vainikka's (2016) research in England and Finland highlights the emotional connections to spatial features to demonstrate the scalarity of identity:…”

“…Some previous work examines scale vis-à-vis identity and this provides a useful starting point. Vainikka’s (2016) research in England and Finland highlights the emotional connections to spatial features to demonstrate the scalarity of identity:Individuals form scalar identities by relating their localized knowledge to various socially constructed, nested imaginaries of geographical entities or through emotional engagements of being part of differently scaled, performable cultural practices. In short, emotions that help people to realize their identification to different spatial scales have various stimuli.…”