“True Finns”
Not completely unrelated to my upcoming thesis. One of my challenges is to debunk the old lazy idea that “there was no racism in Finland before those damn foreigners came here”. The Finnish idea of nationhood is very much built upon an impossible ideal of purity, as well as a sense of constant threat towards it. Enemies are easy to find - anyone can threaten such a fragile ideal.
[...] her blackness was an ever-present threat to her reception. For example, in Finland, Fascist protesters shouted at her, “Go Back to Africa”. Baker, however, was as far removed from Africa as were those who screamed such commands, calling into question how nationhood is assessed and defined both by oneself and by others.
“Josephine Baker Attacked by the Fascists on Stage.” Chicago Defender 27 Jan. 1934
Charlene Regester: “The Construction of an Image and the Deconstruction of a Star.” Popular Music and Society, Spring 2000