Lakes, Rock, Forest: Placing Finnish Canadian History

Abstract This article examines uses of landscape in Finnish Canadian autobiographical writing. By framing relationships between people and landscapes as dynamic and interactive, this analysis inquires about the persistence of the Finnish Canadian “landscape myth”—that Finns settled there because of the landscape. These life writing narratives are situated within the traditions of Finnish nationalism, Finnish and Canadian settler narratives, and Finnish immigration historiography, yet are viewed as examples of the diverse ways that individuals use, understand, and represent their connections with place and landscape. The article analyzes Nelma Sillanpää's Under the Northern Lights (1994) and Aili Grönlund Schneider's The Finnish Baker's Daughters (1986), further contextualized by additional Finnish Canadian autobiographical works. Though focused on Finnish experiences in Canada, this work contributes to broader discourses on Finnish Great Lakes identities.