Parenting in double translation: lived experiences of Ugandan immigrant parents in Norway

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines how Ugandan immigrants in Norway experience cultural shifts in parenting. Data were collected from six parents by using narrative inquiry and micro-ethnography in the setting of the family’s everyday life, and data were interpreted using thematic narrative analysis. The parents’ narratives emphasized how they struggled to understand Norwegian parenting values and reconcile Norwegian and Ugandan parenting values and norms. The parents tried to adapt their parenting practices according to Norwegian parenting expectations while also preserving their own cultural practices. Consequently, two worlds frame the parents’ social identities and parenting experiences over time, creating a difficult split with consequences for their parenting practices and entire existential situation. Parents felt that failing to meet the expectations of parenting attracted interventions from Norwegian Child Welfare Services, and these interventions were found to be frightening and difficult to understand. The findings are relevant to social work because they emphasise how the interaction between immigrant parents and welfare professionals may cause parents to feel they are not ‘good’ parents and may produce marginalisation and feelings of social exclusion in Norwegian society.