Mukana ulossuljettuna – etnografinen tutkimus ulkomaalaistaustaisten naisten ohjatusta ryhmäliikunnasta

Abstract

In this study, I will be examining the supervised group exercise of a group of foreign-born women in Finland within a context in which they are socializing into the local physical activities culture. My research interest focuses on the social relationships and processes that are born when foreign-born people find their ways into the sports activities in Finland. In this study, I have chosen to take a different approach and secede from looking at the physical exercising of foreign-born people through the lens of integration. My research was guided by questions about the diversity of the exercise group, the perceived otherness, and the meanings that the women and the group's instructors gave to exercise. I will be constructing the theoretical framework for the study through the theories regarding interdependence, social constructivism and class studies. The ethnographical was gathered through field work with public sports services’ exercise groups between 2017 and 2021. The material consists of observations made through participation as well as interviews of exercising people (n=19), project coordinators (n=2) and instructors (n=2). When it comes to the method of analyzing the material, I utilized content analysis, which was carried out as a multi-stage process. According to the results, the culture of a person’s home country does not define their everyday life in a new country when it comes to physical exercise. Instead, the exercise options on offer and experiences regarding them act as the deciding factors. Foreign-born women link physical exercise with common situations where background has no bearing as well as specific significances that stem from experiences regarding a sense of otherness. Moving to a new country also served to change the common perception regarding adults’ behavior regarding physical exercise; previous experiences of being involved with sports did not translate into active exercise during free time. Having an active community and a selection of options suitable for one’s life situation were beneficial factors in getting involved in physical exercise in a new home country. Socially safe spaces for physical exercise and group guidance that takes both collective and individual needs into consideration were also significant factors in this. The level of success of the group exercise was defined by the social and moral support that the instructors gave to the women. The results showed group sports of foreign adults to be a multifaceted phenomenon, merging together the socialization into a new home country’s sports culture, social relationships based on identification, as well as politics regarding physical exercise rooted in misrecognition and governmentality. When it comes to organizing physical exercise, the utilization of symbolic power gave birth to moral order justifying the drawing of a line between foreign-born and Finnish-born people. The foreign-born people preferred to actualize their own agency with exercise groups where moral standards were not based on whether one is an immigrant or not. Unlearning old credos and updating the basic premises surrounding the work with foreign-born people is therefore essential to its development.

Key words: ethnography, immigrant background, physical exercising, socialization, physical activity services, social position, recognition, otherness