Abstract
This paper is a case study of the use of cultural experts, broadly defined as including mediators and academicians with a variety of backgrounds, in Sweden. It draws on data collected through qualitative interviews with cultural experts, by following court cases through legal documents, mass media and other printed material, and by my own experience as a cultural expert. The paper provides a context to the potential application of the concept of cultural expertise regarding the appointment of such experts by lawyers, prosecutors and courts. It analyzes cases concerning the Sami, the Roma and recent immigrants from Africa and Asia. The Sami cases revolve around conflicts with the Swedish state over rights and ownership. The Roma cases revolve around questions of ethnic discrimination. Cases of immigrants from outside Europe consist of individual criminal cases and asylum. I argue that Swedish ideas—and ideals—of sameness and equality have had an impact on the legal cases that I discuss in this paper. While the legal issues in each of these cases differ, the paper argues that they demonstrate a similarity in how Swedish-majority society manages and even creates cultural differences. I conclude by showing the ways culture, rights, and obligations are understood in courts reflect mainstream trends of Swedish society and suggest the need for cultural expertise in the form of interdisciplinary collaboration.
Highlights
This paper is a case study of the use of cultural experts, broadly defined as including mediators and academicians with a variety of backgrounds, in Sweden
An increased social segregation with ethnic components, has been observed” (SOU 1996, p. 55).1. These are the opening sentences of the summary of a 500-page official government report Sweden, entitled The Future and Multiculturalism,2 by the parliamentary Immigrant Committee which worked between April 1995 and April 1996
Given the novelty of the theoretical underpinning of cultural expertise, instead of engaging in an in-depth but necessarily selective analysis, I have decided to provide a general overview of the use of cultural expertise in Sweden in a narrative format that sometimes interweaves with verbatim extracts of my interviews
Summary
“In just a short while the ethnic composition of the Swedish population has changed in a noticeable way without greater conflicts between different groups. These are the opening sentences of the summary of a 500-page official government report Sweden, entitled The Future and Multiculturalism, by the parliamentary Immigrant Committee which worked between April 1995 and April 1996. Romani Chib, Finnish, Meänkieli, and the different Sami languages and dialects were simultaneously recognized as national minority languages5 These national minorities have very different historical relations to Sweden and to the Swedish state, and very different relations to experts who have either helped, or blocked, their demands for recognition. These relations are different from the ones formed by the more recent non-Nordic immigrants, who today vastly outnumber the national minorities.. Given the novelty of the theoretical underpinning of cultural expertise, instead of engaging in an in-depth but necessarily selective analysis, I have decided to provide a general overview of the use of cultural expertise in Sweden in a narrative format that sometimes interweaves with verbatim extracts of my interviews
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