This thesis examines people’s attempts to (re)construct belonging and authority after rapid socio-political and economic change. It is a study of the lives of those living alongside each other in a new resettlement area in Zimbabwe a decade after ‘fast track’ land reform. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted on a series of farms in the Mazowe area (March 2012-May 2013), I show that in the uncertain socio-political context of this new resettlement area, belonging was a dynamic social process involving complex moral bonds, and relationships of dependence and obligation. ‘Fast track’ land reform can be understood as a process of state-making in which the Zimbabwean state reconfigured its relationship with its citizens via the redistribution of land. After ‘fast track’, farms were transformed from socially and politically bounded entities under the paternalistic rule of white farmers, to areas in which land beneficiaries and farm workers lived alongside one another under the rule of the ZANU PF state. Land was allocated according to ZANU PF loyalty. Farmworkers due to their associations with white farmers and oppositional politics, were rarely allocated land. Thus farms in Mazowe consisted of landless farm workers who had lived and worked in the area for generations, and landed beneficiaries who came from a variety of places. In addition, ‘fast track’ was framed in terms of redistribution rather than restitution but many chiefs saw it as an opportunity to ‘return’ to their ancestral lands. However, their claims to authority in the areas remained uncertain. I examine how people dealt with the various tensions thrown up by ‘fast track’. By leaving these tensions unresolved, a contingent stability was generated on farms, even as this was fragile. My work contributes to better understanding the socio-political effects of land reform. Research on Zimbabwean land reform has tended to rely on official framings of people’s relationships to each other and the land, and has largely failed to capture the complexity and negotiated nature of these in everyday life. Anthropological work on belonging has mostly focused on explicit claims. I show how history and the micro-politics of everyday relationships profoundly shaped local forms of belonging which crosscut state delimitations of who belonged, and what land reform meant to those living in this area.

The yet unresolved interethnic conflict on the island of Cyprus known as the ‘Cyprus Problem’is one of the longest persisting conflicts in the world stretching over five decades. The conflictis between the Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots and has consequently divided the Islandinto a Greek-Cypriot administrated southern part, and a Turkish-Cypriot administrated northernpart. Despite the opening of the borders in 2003, which granted permission to cross over to eachside, studies show that the peace-building interaction between the younger generations remainslimited. Through in-depth interviews with ten young Cypriot women, the thesis analyses socialfactors impeding the interaction across the divide and provide an understanding of the women’sperception of peace in Cyprus. The politicisation of the construction of belonging continues todisconnect the women from a shared Cypriot identity and hence impedes interaction across thedivide. Further, the context of the negotiations has created a stalemate on peace-buildinginteraction for many of the women and had a negative impact on their views on politics ingeneral. The study reaffirms that women’s political involvement is essential to bring aboutpeace and reconciliation in Cyprus.

The excavation of the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia in 1894 marks the beginning of Swedish archaeological fieldwork in Greece. During a couple of hot summer months, two philologists from Uppsala University, Sam Wide (1861-1918) and Lennart Kjellberg (1857-1936), worked in the sanctuary together with the architect Sven Kristenson (1858-1937), the Greek foreman Pankalos and around twenty local workmen. In 1997, the Swedish Institute at Athens began new excavations at the sanctuary. This thesis examines the beginnings of Swedish fieldwork in Greece. Within the framework of a cultural history of archaeology, inspired by archaeological ethnography and the New Cultural History, it explores how archaeology functioned as a cultural practice in the late nineteenth century. A micro-historical methodology makes use of a wide array of different source material connected to the excavation of 1894, its prelude and aftermath. The thesis takes the theoretical position that the premises for archaeological knowledge production are outcomes of contemporary power structures and cultural politics. Through an analysis of how the archaeologists constructed their self-images through a set of idealized stereotypes of bourgeois masculinity, academic politics of belonging is highlighted. The politics of belonging existed also on a national level, where the Swedish archaeologists entered into a competition with other foreign actors to claim heritage sites in Greece. The idealization of classical Greece as a birthplace of Western values, in combination with contemporary colonial and racist cultural frameworks in Europe, created particular gazes through which the modern country was appropriated and judged. These factors all shaped the practices through which archaeological knowledge was created at Kalaureia. Some excavations tend to have extensive afterlives through the production of histories of archaeology. Therefore, this thesis also explores the representations of the 1894 excavation in the historiography of Swedish classical archaeology. It highlights the strategies by which the excavation at Kalaureia has served to legitimize further Swedish engagements in Greek archaeology, and explores the way in which historiography shapes our professional identities.

Comment concevoir l'« intégration » à l’ère de la mondialisation ? Dans quelle mesure le mot « intégration » demeure-t-il encore pertinent pour les migrants eux-mêmes à notre époque dite « mondialisée » et « transnationale » ? En soulignant les caractéristiques normatives, désormais performatives et interactives, du concept d’« intégration », cette thèse se propose de fournir une réponse partielle à partir d'expériences de politisation des nouveaux migrants chinois dans la région parisienne. Grâce à une ethnographie multi-située dans plusieurs communes chinoises et plusieurs quartiers parisiens, nous reconstituons le processus dynamique d’intégration via des actions politiques collectives. Arrivés avant tout avec des motivations économiques, les migrants en viennent à s'impliquer dans divers quartiers, ce qui les conduit à se mobiliser et se confronter aux règles tacites du système sociopolitique français. À travers leur apprentissage politique à plusieurs niveaux, ils créent une conscience de minorité désirant une reconnaissance politique en tant que membre de la société française. Un tel désir n’affaiblit pas pour autant leur sentiment d’appartenance à la communauté chinoise. Plus leur statut social est élevé, plus les migrants semblent capables de s'approprier leur origine chinoise comme une ressource en vivant des expériences à la fois « transnationales » et « translocales ». L’accès à la citoyenneté est donc inégal au sein d’une même communauté et ne peut être mesurée qu'en croisant les origines migratoires et le statut social. / How to grasp the notion of “integration” in an era of globalization? To what extent does the word “integration” remain relevant for migrants themselves in “globalized” and “transnational” times? By emphasizing the normative, thereby performative and interactive, characteristic of the concept of “integration”, my dissertation proposes a partial answer to these questions based on the experiences of political mobilization of Chinese migrants in Paris. Drawing on a multi-sited ethnography in several towns in China and neighborhoods in Paris, I reconstitute Chinese migrants’ dynamic processes of integration through collective actions. Arriving in Paris with primarily economic motivations, their involvement in different neighborhoods pushes them to engage in a political process of mobilization while confronting the tacit rules of the French political system. Through their political learning process, they create a minority consciousness with a desire for their political recognition as members of the French political community. However, such a desire does not weaken their feelings of belonging to the Chinese community. The higher their social status is, the more the migrants prove capable of capitalizing on their ethnic origin and use it as a resource to live a “transnational” as well as “translocal” experience. The access to political rights and citizenship is thus unequal within the Chinese community and cannot be measured without crossing ethnic origins and social class positions.

Abstract This study brings together the politics of belonging, relational narrative inquiry and values and values education in the context of Finnish early childhood education. The study draws on the politics of belonging within which belonging and exclusion are understood as relational rather than individual phenomena. The significant relations for belonging and exclusion do not just emerge between humans, but they are also material, cultural and political. The study asks how the politics of belonging are shaped in young children’s diverse relations in a Finnish preschool context. The onto-epistemological premise of the study relies on the relational narrative inquiry. The study was implemented in six Finnish preschools, where the children’s ages ranged from 1 to 5 years. The research material consisted of written small stories, videos, participatory observations, field notes and discussions with the educators. The analysis was based on holistic reading and re-reading and supported by the idea of small stories and theory of gaps. The findings highlight three interrelated entrances to understanding the politics of belonging in the preschool context. First, the study emphasises the politics of belonging as constantly shaped and lived in daily encounters. The findings illustrated the co-existence of belonging and exclusion. Usually it was one child who was excluded by other children in the fleeting moments of daily life, and often when the educators were not present. Second, the study reveals the meaning of the pedagogical practices in the politics of belonging. Pedagogical practices were tightly surrounded with the materiality, institutional routines and cultural aspects, such as spaces, artefacts, routines, rules, curriculum and legislation. The third entrance provides insights into the value-bound nature of the politics of belonging. Belonging emerged as closely related to democratic, caring and disciplinary values. The findings raised a tension between individually and collectively oriented values. The study argues for understanding the politics of belonging shaped in a landscape of diverse relations and value fields, where the children were active agents in their belonging and exclusion. / Tiivistelmä Väitöskirja yhdistää yhteenkuuluvuuden politiikan, suhteisen kerronnallisen tutkimuksen sekä arvot ja arvokasvatuksen suomalaisen varhaiskasvatuksen kontekstissa. Yhteenkuuluvuuden politiikka käsitteenä haastaa tutkimaan yhteenkuuluvuutta ja poissuljetuksi tulemista suhteissa muotoutuvana ilmiönä ennemmin kuin yksilön näkökulmasta. Suhteisuus nostaa esille ihmisten välisten suhteiden lisäksi myös materiaaliset, kulttuuriset ja poliittiset suhteet merkityksellisinä yhteenkuuluvuudelle. Tutkimus kysyy: Kuinka yhteenkuuluvuuden politiikka muotoutuu pienten lasten moninaisissa suhteissa suomalaisessa päiväkotikontekstissa? Tutkimuksen onto-epistemologinen lähtökohta on suhteisessa kerronnallisessa tutkimusotteessa. Tutkimus toteutettiin kuudessa päiväkodissa, joissa lapset olivat 1–5-vuotiaita. Tutkimusaineisto koostui kirjoitetuista pienistä kertomuksista, videoista, osallistuvista havainnoinneista, muistiinpanoista ja keskusteluista varhaiskasvattajien kanssa. Tutkimusaineiston analyysi pohjautui kokonaisvaltaiseen luentaan ja uudelleen luentaan, soveltaen kerronnallisia käsitteitä ”pienet kertomukset” ja ”välien teoria”. Tulokset tuovat esille kolme toisiinsa kietoutunutta näkökulmaa. Ensiksi tutkimus korostaa yhteenkuuluvuuden politiikkaa jatkuvasti muuttuvana ja arjen kohtaamisissa muotoutuvana ilmiönä. Tulokset havainnollistavat yhteenkuuluvuuden ja poissuljetuksi tulemisen samanaikaista olemassaoloa. Yleensä yksi lapsi poissuljettiin leikin ulkopuolelle arjen ohikiitävissä hetkissä, joissa työntekijöitä ei ollut läsnä. Toiseksi tutkimus nostaa esille pedagogisten käytänteiden merkityksen. Pedagogiset käytänteet suhteissa materiaan, institutionaalisiin rutiineihin ja kulttuurisiin näkökulmiin tuottivat yhteenkuulumista ja poissuljetuksi tulemista. Tulokset avaavat tilojen, tavaroiden, rutiinien, sääntöjen, varhaiskasvatussuunnitelman perusteiden sekä lainsäädännön merkityksiä. Kolmas näkökulma avaa arvojen ja arvokasvatuksen kietoutuneisuuden. Yhteenkuuluvuuden politiikka liittyy läheisesti demokraattisiin, hoivan ja välittämisen sekä kurin ja järjestyksen arvoalueisiin. Tutkimus paljastaa jännitteitä suhteessa yksilöllisiin ja yhteisöllisiin arvoihin. Tutkimus haastaa tarkastelemaan yhteenkuuluvuuden politiikkaa moninaisten suhteiden ja arvojen maisemassa, jossa lapset ovat aktiivisia toimijoita yhteenkuulumisessaan ja poissuljetuksi tulemisessaan.

In 1944, the Soviet Union deported hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars from Crimea, one of whom was the Ukrainian artist Jamala's great-grandmother Nazylchan. Almost a hundred years later, and only two years after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Jamala represents Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "1944". The song is about the great-grandmother's experiences of the deportation of Crimean Tatars and was accused of containing political messages, which becomes relevant as the competition prohibits all kinds of political elements. The contribution was reviewed by the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, and was not judged to be political. The Eurovision Song Contest is an avowedly non-political competition that was started after the Second World War with the aim of keeping the peace in Europe and giving Europeans something to unite around. The countries participating in the competition nominate artists and songs that represent the country in the international music competition. This study examines how the case of Jamala and the contribution "1944" has been used in and outside the competition by Jamala to create awareness and mobilize support for both Ukraine and Crimean Tatars with the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944, the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. To examine how Jamala identifies with her family, how she relates to what is political and what is not, as well as how she and other representatives of countries in international cultural events can be understood as political ambassadors, this study can provide some answers to how politics, national identity and representation in that type of context can be understood to be related. / År 1944 deporterade Sovjetunionen hundratusentals krimtatarer från Krim, en av dem var artisten Jamalas gammelfarmor Nazylchan. Nästan hundra år senare och bara två år efter Rysslands annektering av Krim ställer Jamala upp som representant för Ukraina i Eurovision Song Contest 2016 med låten "1944". Låten handlar om gammelfarmoderns upplevelser av deportationen av krimtatarer och anklagas för att innehålla politiska budskap, vilket blir relevant då tävlingen förbjuder alla typer av politiska inslag. Bidraget granskas av EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, och bedöms inte vara politisk. Eurovision Song Contest är en uttalat icke-politisk tävling som startades efter andra världskriget med syfte att behålla freden i Europa och ge européerna något att enas kring. Länderna som medverkar i tävlingen utser artister och låtar som representerar landet i den internationella musiktävlingen. Denna studie undersöker hur fallet Jamala och bidraget "1944" använts i och utanför tävlingen av Jamala för att skapa medvetenhet kring och mobilisera stöd till såväl Ukraina som krimtatarer i och med deportationen av krimtatarer 1944, annekteringen av Krim 2014 samt invasionen av Ukraina 2022. Genom att undersöka hur Jamala identifierar sig med sin familj, hur hon förhåller sig till vad som är politiskt och inte samt hur hon och andra representanter för länder i internationella kulturella evenemang kan förstås som politiska ambassadörer kan denna studie ge några svar på hur politik, nationell identitet och representation i den typen av sammanhang kan förstås höra samman.