Skates and skis: 'arctic childhoods' and mobilized differences - the mattering of skis and skates in 'nation-ed environments'

‘Arctic Childhoods’ and mobilized differences—the mattering of skis and skates is a chapter by Zsuzsa Millei, Riikka Korkiamäki and Mervi Kaukko. The focus is on the role of skating and skiing, especially through the role they play as material in Finnish schools. In their chapter, Millei, Korkiamäki and Kaukko engage the idea of ethnopoetry, where they combine their own memories and Finnish storybook in dialogue with two research projects focusing on children who have recently arrived in Finland as refugees. In the processes of negotiating their belonging to a new nation everyday objects such as skates or skis have an important role. Because skating and skiing are so central in Finnish schools, newly arrived children must negotiate part of their belonging through this equipment—to figure out how to be a child in the Arctic.