Playfulness and Freedom of Choice in Matters of Belonging

Abstract

Dorothea Breier’s dissertation “The Vague Feeling of Belonging of a Transcultural Generation. An Ethnographic Study on Germans and their Descendants in Contemporary Helsinki” (2017) focuses on Germans and their descendants in Finland. Breier explores in her monograph how they (de)construct boundaries between German- and Finnishness by simultaneously drawing on national categories and challenging the same moments later. She also examines the ways in in which people position themselves within such frameworks, and what impact this self-assertion has on individuals and their lives. While Breier’s focus is on the descendants of Germans in contemporary Helsinki, the study highlights the importance of taking into consideration the intergenerational, societal and historic context when exploring the descendant generation’s views, emotional experiences and behaviour.