Creating Imaginaries around “Ethnic” Success

(From Yle News)

“Last week General Motors promoted Mary Barra, whose maiden name was the distinctly Finnish-sounding “Makela”, to become the company’s first female CEO. Finnish media set out to find out just how Finnish she was, but their methods betrayed different approaches.

The tabloid Ilta-Sanomat decided it would cover the story by emailing the GM press office, which replied confirming Barra’s Finnish roots–her grandparents were Finnish. The headline “GM’s new boss speaks a little Finnish” ensured the paper’s readers were not confused by a foreign business story appearing on page three of the tabloid.

Helsingin Sanomat, on the other hand, sent US correspondent Tuomas Niskakangas to the Detroit suburbs to investigate. He knocked on doors near her childhood home, asked her former neighbours about her, and dug out stories about her high school days. Her childhood friend knew nothing of Barra’s Finnish background, however, leaving Niskakangas to conclude that “the United States really is a country of immigrants, full of unusual names”.

By the end of the story he too had made contact with the GM publicity machine and received confirmation of Barra’s Finnishness, leaving him to remark wryly that “on the basis of this information we can declare Mary Barra to have a ‘Finnish background’. Long live Finnish business knowhow!”.”