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Cultural Pearl 2024: Jakobstad/ Pietarsaari

THE HISTORIES of Jakobstad/Pietarsaari- The old Firestation

Place:The Old Fire Station in Jakobstad/Pietarsaari

Timeframe: Once

Organiser: The municipality

Participants: Inhabitans of the city- both Finnish and Swedish speaking, bilingual (Finnish and Swedish) as well as immigrants.

Goal: The goal was to arrange a residents’ forum, where the topic is the background of bilingualism from a historical perspective.

 

WHAT IS IT?

Residents’ forum is a place where the inhabitants of the city can meet and discuss about different common issues. This time the topic was the background of bilingualism from a historical perspective. The local Museum director, who led the forum, started by talking about the city of Jakobstad-Pietarsaari being a bilingual city through history: What has happened, when and why?  

After the background information an external expert* deepened the issue how the institutions and services can promote dialogue between different population groups.  The participatory methods used was storytelling. After the outlines, the floor was open for all inhabitants to talk about their own stories about living in a bilingual city.  The forum was bilingual and moderated fluently in two languages. 

The co-creation of the events with Jakobstad-Pietarsaari, museum director Carola Sundqvist and Miriam Attias will continue 2025 with the support of the Seed Money Initiative from BSR Cultural Pearls project.  

*(Miriam Attias is an expert in conflict transformation, polarization strategy and mediation and a non-fiction writer. Miriam has been working with community- and inter-group conflicts. Miriam is the director of the Kone Foundation founded Depolarize.fi project, which started 2018. Miriam uses a variety of dialogical methods in her trainings with action-based approaches. www.mapfinland.fi)  

 

WHY WAS IT A SUCCESS?

  • Interesting and meaningful speeches described the historical background of the bilingual city. 
  • A start to discuss about the actual challenges with Finnish speakers being a minority in their own city in Finland.  
  • Participants (around 50 persons) from different language groups, also many immigrants. 
  • A lively and honest discussion after the opening speeches: the inhabitants shared their own and their families stories how it has been living in a bilingual city.  
  • Start for a co-creation which will continue with the external expert  
  • The event was sent directly by local TV  
  • Visibility in local newspapers before and after the event.  

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

  • History is a good starting point for the discussions.
  • It explains the reason behind different topics and joins the people together. 

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