Abstract
This article examines how language is used to perform Finnish American identity at ethnic festivals in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, particularly in the Keweenaw Peninsula, which one festival claims is the “Finnish American nesting place” and “a pivotal center for Finnish American culture” (http://finnfestusa2013.org/). These festivals provide rich opportunities for mapping language and identity, where individuals rely on a range of linguistic practices not only to claim their Finnishness (Wilce 2006), but also to authenticate it by locating it in a particular place through the use of recognizable ethnic and regional features and by enacting it through participation in traditional activities. The significance of language in both defining Finnish American and locating it in the Upper Peninsula is evident in festival advertisements and websites, activities, presentations, and souvenirs, as well as participants' use and display of family names. Meanings associated with these practices and the people–language–place connection are reinforced and legitimized through festival displays, genealogies, census data, traditional folkway demonstrations, Finnish language lessons, the use of Finnish, and references to historical Finnish texts and folklore. More importantly, individuals who come from outside the region and who do not claim Finnish American identities recognize what it means to be “Finnish American” with specific ethnolinguistic features that are recognized as “Finnish.” While social meanings attached to these linguistic practices are key in both their performance and recognition (Beal 2009; Johnstone 2010; Purnell, Raimy, and Salmons 2009), historical processes are also a significant element linking Finnish American identity, language use, and the Upper Peninsula (Remlinger 2007a, 2009), for it is historicity that legitimates these connections (Milroy 2002). Thus, historical, linguistic, and ideological processes contribute to the idea of an authentic Finnish American identity and to locating it in language tied to a particular place.
