Lived Residential Schools in Times of Crisis and Change: Debating the School for the Deaf in Borgå Through Experience in the 1930s and 1980s

In her chapter, Hanna Lindberg studies experiences of residential schools by focusing on the school for the deaf in Borgå, Finland. The school was the only school for deaf children from Swedish-speaking homes in Finland, and children from all parts of Finland were sent there to receive their education. The residential school was also a fragile institution, and the future of the school was repeatedly discussed. The chapter focuses on two periods of crisis during the 1930s and 1980s, and it analyzes how experiences were brought to the fore in the public dissemination of these crises. By comparing experiences of residential school life during two time periods 50 years apart, the chapter exposes changing conceptions of residential schools, deaf education, and language relations in Finland.