Abandoned Refugee Vehicles “In the Middle of Nowhere”

Reflections on the Global Refugee Crisis from the Northern Margins of Europe

Authors

  • Oula Ilari Seitsonen University of Helsinki
  • Vesa-Pekka Herva University of Oulu
  • Mika Kunnari University of Lapland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.31697

Keywords:

Refugees, refugee crisis, vehicles, arctic, periphery

Abstract

Vehicles abandoned by multinational refugees during the winter 2015–2016 in northern Finnish Lapland’s border checkpoints represent an offshoot of the ongoing global refugee crisis on the so-called “Arctic Route” to Europe via Russia. In the summer 2016 this material reminder of refugee mobility vanished almost totally, as the vehicles were auctioned in a show for promoting Lapland tourism. This photo-essay highlights and discusses some of the manifold aspects connected to this flow of refugees, including, for instance, the ethical concerns of trivializing refugee issues intertwined with a host of global larger-scale matters, or using their material heritage for stimulating recreational mobility in these marginalized northern regions.

Author Biographies

  • Oula Ilari Seitsonen, University of Helsinki

    Oula Seitsonen is an archaeologist and geographer, and a project coordinator in the project “Lapland’s Dark Heritage”.

  • Vesa-Pekka Herva, University of Oulu

    Vesa-Pekka Herva is Professor of Archaeology, University of Oulu, Finland, and the principal investigator of the project “Lapland’s Dark Heritage”.

  • Mika Kunnari, University of Lapland

    Mika Kunnari is an archaeologist and artist at the University of Lapland, Finland, and he works in the project “Lapland’s Dark Heritage”

References

Interviews:

M1. Male, border guard at Kelloselkä border point (anonymous due to professional reasons), June 3, 2016, Salla. M2. Male, municipality official (anonymous due to professional reasons), June 3, 2016, Salla.

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Published

2017-07-12

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Forum

License

© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

For information regarding our Open Access policy, click here.

How to Cite

Seitsonen, O. I., Herva, V.-P., & Kunnari, M. (2017). Abandoned Refugee Vehicles “In the Middle of Nowhere”: Reflections on the Global Refugee Crisis from the Northern Margins of Europe. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 3(2), 244-260. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.31697