African diaspora in Finland


African diaspora in Finland


The African diaspora in Finland (Finnish: afrikkalaisten diaspora Suomessa) refers to the residents of Finland of full or partial African ancestry, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Statistics Finland, the total number of people in Finland with a close African background (Africans in Finland; Suomen afrikkalaiset) was 57,496 in 2020.

The distinct adjacent term Afro-Finns (afrosuomalaiset), also referred to as Black Finns (mustat suomalaiset), can be used for Finns whose lineages are fully or partly in the populations of Sub-Saharan Africa ("Black Africa"). Afro-Finns have lived in Finland since the 19th century, and in 2009, according to Yle, there were an estimated 20,000 Afro-Finns in Finland.

History

Finns reacted to the first Africans in Finland with curiosity and amazement. During the 19th century, there were some Africans from the Americas who worked as servants for wealthy Russians in the Grand Duchy of Finland. The first known African who received Finnish citizenship was Rosa Lemberg who came to Finland from Ovamboland in 1888 and received Finnish citizenship in 1899.

Between the 1900s and the 1970s, the few Africans in Finland were mostly either students (for example from Nigeria and Ethiopia), political exiles from South Africa or people married to Finns. In World War II (1939–1945), there were some Afro-Finnish soldiers, and among them were Private 1st Class Rudolf Prüss, who served as a ski patrol leader in the Karelian Isthmus and was killed in the Winter War, and Corporal Holger Sonntag, who was of African-American and German descent and served as a driver in both the Winter War and Continuation War.

In 1990, during the Somali Civil War, the first Somali refugees arrived in Finland. After that, due to their high total fertility rate and the high number of Somali family reunifications, quota refugees and asylum seekers, they rapidly became the largest African group in Finland. During the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Finland, most of the Sierra Leone national under-17 football team's players defected to Finland due to their country's poor conditions after a civil war that had ended a year earlier.

Nowadays most people of African ancestry come to Finland from Africa, but many have also come from the United States, Latin America and other European countries. Especially Americans and British people of African ancestry have moved to Finland, mostly through marriage.

Demographics

As of 31 December 2020, according to Statistics Finland, the total number of people in Finland with a close African background is 57,496, which is 1.0% of the population of Finland. 47,041 (81.8%) of them are from Sub-Saharan Africa. 32,511 (56.5%) of them are men, while 24,985 (43.5%) are women.

Distribution

In Kallahti, a neighborhood of Helsinki, 9.8% of the population consists of Africans.

On 31 December 2020, the region with the most people with a close African background was Uusimaa with 39,987 people (2.4% of the region's total population), which is 69.6% of their total population in Finland.

Citizenships

On 31 December 2020, there were 19,544 people who had dual citizenship of Finland and an African country.

Citizens of African countries who received Finnish citizenship by year:

People born in Africa who received Finnish citizenship by year:

Asylum seekers

1990–2013

From 1990 to 2013, a total of 14,481 African citizens sought asylum in Finland, which was 22.4% out of the total of 64,536 asylum seekers. African asylum seekers by country of citizenship:

There were not asylum seekers from Cape Verde, the Comoros, São Tomé and Príncipe or Seychelles.

2015–2020

From January 2015 to August 2020, there were a total of 7,935 African citizens who sought asylum in Finland; 14.6% out of the total of 54,520 asylum seekers. African asylum seekers by country of citizenship:

There were not asylum seekers from Botswana, Djibouti, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe or Seychelles.

Adoptions

From 1987 to 2019, a total of 911 people were adopted from Africa to Finland. 843 (92.5%) of them were from the countries of South Africa (508, 55.8%), Ethiopia (287, 31.5%) and Kenya (48, 5.3%).

Adoptees from Africa by year:

Marriages and cohabitation

On 31 December 2020, there were 4,589 Finnish citizens who were either married to or registered as cohabiting with citizens of African countries. 2,809 (61.2%) of the Finnish citizens were women and 1,780 (38.8%) were men; for both sexes the largest groups of partners were Somalian, Moroccan and Nigerian citizens. The next largest groups for Finnish women were Gambian and Ghanaian citizens, and for Finnish men Ethiopian and Kenyan citizens. On the same date, there were 4,725 African-born people who were either married to or registered as cohabiting with people born in Finland; 3,718 (78.7%) of the people born in Finland were women, while 1,007 (21.3%) were men.

Afro-Finnish identity, culture and media

According to an estimate in 2009 by Yle, there are 20,000 Afro-Finns in Finland, and thus, they compose a much larger ethnic minority than many other prominent large minorities in Finland, such as the Sami or Romani. The identity of Afro-Finns varies; some consider themselves Finns, while others have their own separate identity. Some actively cherish their connections to Africa through their African relatives and cultures, while for others their connections to Africa are more distant but still relevant to them.

In 2013, the dance performance Noir? by Sonya Lindfors became the first fully Afro-Finnish dance performance when it premiered at Zodiak – Center for New Dance in Helsinki. Held annually since 2018, the Afrofinns Achievement Awards—presented by Afrofinns ry, an organization for "Finns and everyone else with African heritage living in Finland"—acknowledges, honors and celebrates the contribution of the Afro-community in Finland. In 2020, Kelly Kalonji, Miss Helsinki 2013 and celebrity, and Obi-West Utchaychukwu, the editor-in-chief of Diaspora Glitz Magazine, founded the beauty pageant The Face of African Queen for young women of African ancestry living in Finland.

Established in 1993, the magazine SCANDI-B was targeted to Black people in the Nordic countries. Printed in Raisio, Finland, it had a circulation of 7,000 in 1993 with Lammin Sullay as the editor-in-chief. In 2010, Yle broadcast the three-episode documentary television series Afro-Suomen historia ("The history of Afro-Finland") about early Afro-Finns. The multimedia Ruskeat Tytöt ("Brown Girls") focuses on Afro-Finns and other people of colour in Finland. Its six-episode Afrosuomen historiaa etsimässä ("In search of history of Afro-Finland") podcast's first episode was broadcast on Radio Helsinki in 2017. The Afro-Finnish Diaspora Glitz Magazine won the category of Best Media at the 2019 Afrofinns Achievement Awards.

Racism

During the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland, some warned Finnish women against taking an interest in "exotic" athletes and pressured Finnish women to "act appropriately" within the vicinity of black people, "neekerit". The Finnish word neekeri (cognate with negro) was long considered a neutral equivalent for "negro". In 2002, the usage notes of neekeri shifted from "perceived as derogatory by some" to "generally derogatory" in the dictionary Kielitoimiston sanakirja, edited by the Institute for the Languages of Finland.

Nationwide racism started to grow after the first Somali refugees arrived in Finland in the 1990s during the Somali Civil War. Finnish skinheads perpetrated attacks against Africans, and especially the city of Joensuu in eastern Finland grew to be an infamous center of racism. In the municipality of Nastola in southern Finland, the police had to protect the local refugee center from the violence of the locals, as they committed a shooting. Other incidents included a bomb that detonated in a refugee center in Valkeala, a municipality in southeast Finland, and an attack by skinheads against Somalis in Hakunila, Vantaa, in southern Finland.

In the late 20th century and the 21st century, some ethnic Finnish women married to or cohabiting with younger black men have faced discrimination as they are sometimes stereotyped as sex tourists in Finnish society.

According to the study "Being Black in the EU" by the Fundamental Rights Agency published in 2018, 63% of Afro-Finns in Finland had experienced racist harassment, which had appeared as offensive gestures, comments, threats or violence. This was the highest percentage of the twelve European Union member states that were included in the study, much higher than for example in Malta which was 20%. 14% stated they had experienced violence in Finland due to their skin colour, which also was the highest of the participating countries, much higher than in, for example, Portugal where 2% had experienced similar violence.

A report published in 2020 by the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman found that four out of five people with an African background had experienced racial discrimination in Finland due to their skin colour.

Notable people

Citizens and residents of Finland of full or partial African ancestry

See also categories: Finnish people of African ancestry, Expatriates in Finland (African country subcategories) and Immigrants to Finland (African country subcategories)

Actors

Artists

  • Sasha Huber (born 1975), Swiss-born artist of Haitian descent
  • Ervin Latimer (born 1988), fashion designer of African-American descent
  • Howard Smith (1928–2021), American-born African-American visual artist and designer

Beauty pageant contestants

  • Sofia Belórf (born 1990), half-Moroccan Miss Helsinki 2010
  • Sara Chafak (born 1990), half-Moroccan-Berber Miss Finland 2012
  • Kelly Kalonji (born 1987), Congolese-born (DRC) Miss Helsinki 2013 and celebrity
  • Dana Mononen (born 1999/2000), half-Guadeloupean Miss World Finland 2019
  • Lola Odusoga (born 1977), half-Nigerian model, presenter and Miss Finland 1996

Dancers

  • Sonya Lindfors (born 1985), half-Cameroonian dancer and choreographer
  • Esete Sutinen, Ethiopian-born dancer

Entrepreneurs

  • Soraya Bahgat, social entrepreneur of Egyptian descent
  • Mohamed el-Fatatry (born 1984), Emirati-born entrepreneur of Egyptian descent
  • Mateus Tembe (born 1974), Mozambican-born entrepreneur and director

Film people

  • Khadar Ahmed (born 1981), Somalian-born screenwriter and film director
  • Jessie Chisi (born 1986/1987), Zambian-born film director and screenwriter
  • Ali Lacheb (born 1956), Algerian-born documentary film director

Journalists

  • Linus Atarah, Ghanaian-born journalist
  • Jesca Muyingo (born 1975), half-Ugandan journalist
  • Sean Ricks (born 1983/1984), television journalist of African-American descent
  • Minna Salami (born 1978), half-Nigerian journalist

Musicians

Politicians

Scientists

  • Moncef Gabbouj (born 1962), Tunisian-born professor
  • Kelsey Harrison (born 1933), Nigerian-born gynaecologist and researcher
  • Eugene Holman (born 1945), American-born African-American linguist and actor
  • Mulki Mölsä (born 1958), Somalian-born physician and researcher

Sportspeople

Basketball players
Footballers

Writers

  • Ronald Fair (1932–2018), American-born African-American writer and sculptor
  • Nura Farah (born 1979), Somalian-born writer
  • Ranya Paasonen (born 1974), half-Egyptian writer

Others

People of the Finnish diaspora with African ancestry

This list is for notable people of African ancestry who also belong to the Finnish diaspora (i.e. Finnish emigrants and their descendants) but do not hold Finnish citizenship. Many of them maintain their ties to Finland.

Germany

  • Misan Haldin (born 1982), half-Nigerian former basketball player
  • Roli-Ann Neubauer (born 1984), half-Nigerian basketball player

Sweden

United Kingdom

  • Alex Sawyer (born 1993), half-Ghanaian actor
  • Marc Wadsworth (born 1955), half-Jamaican activist and journalist

United States

Notes

References

External links

  • Anna Rastas [in Finnish]. "Talking Back: Voices from the African Diaspora in Finland". Academia.edu.
  • Vorobeva, Ekaterina. "Black African Entrepreneurs in Finland: Structural Barriers". ResearchGate.

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: African diaspora in Finland by Wikipedia (Historical)




 


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