["Nations and Nationalism, Volume 32, Issue 2, Page 535-551, April 2026. ", "\nAbstract\nThe Torne Valley used to be described as one of the most peaceful and most integrated border areas in the world. This changed radically during the COVID‐19 pandemic when the border between Sweden and Finland precipitously became materialised through the physical installation of a border fence in 2020. With the help of rich empirical data collected through interviews, this paper examines the social struggle between border region resilience and everyday nationalism in the Sweden–Finland borderland area, the Torne valley, in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic. The aim of the paper is to shed light on the complex processes of identity creation and the relevance of regional and national identities in the north. The analysis examines the processes through which regional and national identities are constructed, the meaning of these identities in this context, and provides novel insights on how the pandemic affected social ties in the north.\n"]