Tensions on Finnish Constitutional Bilingualism in Neo-nationalist Times : Constructions of Swedish in Monolingual and Bilingual Contexts

Abstract

This chapter analyses the tensions on the status of Finnish constitutional bilingualism from the perspective of higher education, more precisely from the position of Swedish in one monolingually Swedish university (Åbo Akademi University [ÅAU]) and one bilingual university (University of Helsinki [UH]). It contributes to an understanding of the position of minority languages in universities in times when the use of English has increased on one hand and neo-nationalist tendencies stressing the importance of national language(s) are on the rise on the other. Apparently, the new bilingual programmes at UH challenge the tradition of institutional separation of national languages. At ÅAU, in turn, Finnish higher education policies (rather than language policies) seem to provide a major source of tensions on the position of Swedish.