Abstract
In this article, we use the results from two studies, one on interracial relationship and the other on transnational adoption, to explore how notions of race and ethnicity shape family policies, family building and everyday life in Sweden. Transnational adoption and interracial marriage in Sweden have previously never been compared in research, even though they both are about transracial family formation. By bringing these two topics together in a critical race theory framework we got a deeper understanding of how transracial families are perceived and affected by societal beliefs and norms. The analysis revealed a somewhat contradictory and complex picture on the norms of family formation. The color-blind ideology that characterizes the Swedes’ self-understanding, together with the privileged position of whiteness in relation to Swedishness, makes the attitude towards different forms of transracial families ambivalent and contradictory. Transracial children and their parents are perceived differently depending on their origin and degree of visible differences and non-whiteness, but also based on the historical and social context. Since family formation involves an active choice, the knowledge and discussion on how race and whiteness norms structure our thoughts and behavior are essential in today’s multicultural Sweden.
Highlights
Race and ethnicity, together with class and gender, are usually highlighted as important categories within humanist and social science research
In recent years has the white majority population become the research in Swedish academia, inspired by American and British critical race and whiteness studies
When racism is mentioned at all, it is essentially viewed as something that happens somewhere else than in Sweden or among others than among Swedes. It is not seen as a mindset or as a societal structure that everyone is a part of.How can we understand racism and the idea of race in today’s Sweden in light of our empirical material? Due to the previously mentioned fear of using the concepts of race and whiteness and even the word race itself, as well as the inability to understand and accept how they can be used to highlight unequal power structures, it is evident that our combined empirical material lacks a discussion on race and whiteness
Summary
Together with class and gender, are usually highlighted as important categories within humanist and social science research. In recent years has the white majority population become the research in Swedish academia, inspired by American and British critical race and whiteness studies. Within this new and emerging field of Swedish critical race and whiteness studies, Swedishness and whiteness have become analytical categories that are operationalized to problematize white norms and privileges. Thereafter we give a short presentation of the two studies and their respective results The latter part of the article discusses and analyzes our research results in order to deepen the analysis on how transracial family formations are perceived in Sweden from a critical race and whiteness studies perspective
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
