From Empty Parking Lots to Border Fences: A Visual and Sensory Ethnography of the Finnish–Russian Borderscapes in ‘Times of Stress’

This article studies everyday bordering processes at the Finnish – Russian border during 'times of stress', specifically, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of the war in Ukraine. The research is grounded in ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the summer and autumn of 2022 in four border cities (Imatra and Lappeenranta in Finland, and Svetogorsk and Vyborg in Russia). The study centres on visual and sensory observations made during the fieldwork, as well as discussions taking place in local newspapers and their social media channels. The Finnish – Russian borderland is approached as a 'borderscape' – a site where borders are constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed in everyday life by heterogeneous agents. The research illustrates that the political context shaped the Finnish – Russian borderscapes concerning the material border landscape, people's experiences and imaginations. The study argues that visual and sensory ethnography can add deeper and more nuanced layers to the understanding of borderscapes as well as provide alternative ways of conveying research findings.