Material Semiotic Narratives of Finnishness Through a Mundane Object: The Case of the Plastic Bucket

Abstract

This article explores how Finnishness is constructed in media texts with and through plastic buckets. By so doing, the article contributes to research on materiality and nationalism through examining the role of a mundane object instead of official national symbols. It also examines the material and cultural influence of plastics in contemporary society. The data consist of 211 media texts published between 2012 and 2023. Through analysing the affective material semiotics of the bucket phenomenon in these texts, I have identified three narratives that aim to define Finnishness and offer national subject positions in relation to buckets. I call the narratives (1) a glorifying narrative, (2) a demeaning narrative and (3) an affirmative narrative. The article argues that the free plastic bucket has become an unofficial national symbol of Finnish culture and that the symbolic values are closely entangled with the materiality of buckets and embodied bucket-related practices.