Nye former for tilhørighet. Migrantorganisasjoner for barn og ungdom i en norsk sivilsamfunnskontekst

Abstract

The traditional Scandinavian voluntary sector model is under pressure. The aim of this chapter is to identify the importance of individuals’ cultural background in creating new forms of community and belonging among young people of immigrant background. Based on a qualitative study of eight national voluntary organizations for children and young people of immigrant background, we analyse transnational ties and practices in these organizations. What is the importance of these ties for social and political integration, and how do, these organizations meet the Goverment`s requirement of being a traditional voluntary organization with a national scope? This analysis shows that migrant organizations can be understood as both socio-cultural and political communities. With this dichotomy as a backdrop, we discuss how migrant organizations are trying to fill the role as intercultural communities and at the same time act as arenas for social and political integration. We find that the socio-cultural and political dimensions of the migrant organizations cannot be understood independently of each other. This means that the integration process and transnational ties are two complementary processes. The chapter concludes that the migrant organizations have the potential to play an important role as arena for social and political integration. However, this potential seems to become activated because of the organizations transnational ties and networks, and not despite of them.