Imagined adulthood under transition – Somali-Swedish girls’ life-planning in a late modernity context

Abstract

This article examines how Muslim girls of Somali origin raised in Sweden imagine their adulthood in regard to career and family life. The theoretical framework is social constructionist in that it assumes that children have agency and are capable and competent actors, in contrast to what has previously been generally assumed about children from ethnic minorities, particularly Muslim girls.The qualitative study consists of an analysis of girls' essays. The findings reveal that their dreams are both consistent with the expectations of their families (in particular, high educational ambitions) and inspired from elsewhere (particularly in terms of future family life). How the girls imagine their adulthood may be seen as an example of how their original culture is subject to change in a new environment that influences possibilities, the pace of detraditionalisation and the extent of individualisation, all of which are typical characteristics of a society in late modernity.