Dr Saila Piippola

Department of human work science

Luleå university of technology

SE-971 87 Luleå

Sweden

The 23^rd Nordic sociological conference

18-20 august in Turku, Finland

Rethinking identity/ crossing national borders

The aim with this paper is to explore the impact of nationality and citizenship in social movements cross borders. The qualitative data is based on a total of 40 semi-structured in-depth interviews and follow up interviews. The previous study published 2003 was designed to explore the scope of action among unemployed nurses and social movements between two nations, north part of Finland and north part of Sweden when the goal was a job. Results from my previous work showed that crossing boundaries is an option in contemporary society among diasporas experiences both single and coupled mothers, but can not bridge every difficulty encountered, such as language, the lack of a social network, and family arrangements. The concept of identity is frequently used in social sciences but is still unclear and ambiguous. This data is unique because it allows us to rethink identity and its connection to nationality and citizenship in borderlands. This study expands our understanding of identity and social movements cross national borders. The result shows how national identity becomes the dominant discourse over cultural identity.