Minorities In Sweden Research Articles

Exploiting Sociocultural Issues in Election Campaign Discourse: The Case of Nyans in Sweden

The Swedish far-right party, the Sweden Democrats (SD), came to power in 2022 and is currently the second-largest party in the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdag. While it has been propagandizing an anti-migrant discourse, another newly founded party has been producing a counter-discourse. The newly created Nyans party claims to represent migrants and minorities in Sweden. However, its discourse uses controversial issues that could potentially misrepresent those communities. Our study aimed to analyze Nyans’ Facebook posts published in the month leading up to the 2022 elections. Through our analysis process, which lasted from January to August 2023, we applied a critical discourse analysis approach to uncover the relationship between sociocultural issues and their social, political, and ideological contexts. The results reveal that Nyans’ discourse focused on opposing left-wing parties and aligned itself with the far-right. The discourse aligned with misinformation campaigns on social media when addressing sociocultural issues. These issues include the childcare law, the burning of the Qur’an, and the veil, which are pertinent to a particular perspective in the Muslim community and do not necessarily represent immigrants or minorities.

“Who is Anders Tegnell?” Unanswered questions hamper COVID-19 vaccine uptake: A qualitative study among ethnic minorities in Sweden

BackgroundDespite high COVID-19 vaccination coverage in many European countries, vaccination uptake has been lower among ethnic minorities, including in Sweden. This is in spite of the increased risk of contracting the virus and targeted efforts to vaccinate among first and second generation migrants. The aim of this study was to understand this dilemma by investigating ethnic minorities’ perceptions and their experience of accessing the COVID-19 vaccine. MethodsThis is a qualitative study drawing on 18 semi-structured interviews with health volunteers working in ethnic minority communities and with participants from the two largest ethnic minorities in Sweden (Syria and Somalia). Deductive qualitative analysis was completed using the 3C model by WHO (Complacency, Confidence and Convenience). ResultsComplacency does not appear to be a barrier to intention to vaccinate. Participants are well aware of COVID-19 risk and the benefits of the vaccine. However, confidence in vaccine poses a barrier to uptake and there are a lot of questions and concerns about vaccine side effects, efficacy and related rumors. Confidence in health providers, particularly doctors is high but there was a sense of conflicting information. Accessing individually tailored health information and health providers is not convenient and a major reason for delaying vaccination or not vaccinating at all. Trust in peers, schools and faith-leaders is high and constitute pathways for effective health information sharing. ConclusionEthnic minorities in Sweden are willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. However, to increase vaccination uptake, access to individually tailored and face to face health information to answer questions about vaccine safety, efficacy, conflicting information and rumors is urgently required.

Finland-Swedes and the Concept of National Minorities in Sweden

ABSTRACTFinland-Swedes have not been recognised as a national minority in Sweden despite claims that they fulfil Sweden’s criteria for national minorities. This article discusses the concept of national minorities by examining Swedish political discourse on the position of Finland-Swedes: What kinds of arguments have been used when claiming or denying minority status? The article argues that political discussion previously centred on the significance of language as well as the practical aspects of minority policy but changed course after a 2017 governmental report, shifting the focus to the emergence and age of Finland-Swedish group identity.

Child marriage and sexularism in Sweden: Constructing the nation racializing migrants

This article investigates the discourse on child marriage as reflected in the entire corpus of official investigations Statens Offentliga Utredningar (SOU) and government bills (Prop.) proposing legislative measures against child marriage in Sweden since the first motions on the issue were drafted in 2001. It analyzes them as instances of sexularism: a form of secularism where the secular is construed in relation to sexual emancipation and gender equality rather than in relation to politics or the public sphere. It then connects the effects of legislation against child marriage on the right to family reunification to the racialization of migrant populations and religious minorities in Sweden.

”Kyss mig, jag är en sverigefinne!” Gränsdragningar mellan invandrarskap och minoritetsskap i den sverigefinska etnopolitiska mobiliseringen 1980–2020

Unlike immigrants, national minorities are awarded recognition based on their long historical presence in the nation-state. While the political boundary between national minorities and immigrants is governed on state level, minorities’ own agency is significant for constructing and contesting ethnic and political boundaries. This article shows how Sweden-Finns, recognized as a national minority in Sweden since 2000, have contested the immigrant/national minority dichotomy in their transition from stigmatized post-war migranthood to recognized national minority-ness. By asking how boundary-making between migranthood and minority-ness is expressed in Sweden-Finnish ethnopolitical campaigns from the 1980s to the 2010s, we bring attention to how shifts in the socio-political and media technological contexts of these decades have shaped their mobilization. Through an analysis of newspaper articles, campaign material, and interviews, we show how Sweden-Finnish ethnic activists discursively construct identity and draw boundaries of belonging during different time periods.

Svenska judars berättelser om flyktingar, överlevande och hjälpverksamheter under och efter Förintelsen

Swedish Jews’ supposed inactivity over Europe’s persecuted Jews during the Holocaust has been a prevalent discourse during the post-war period. This article ponders the origins of that discourse and how it affects how and what Swedish Jews narrate about aid and relief work, and Jewish refugees and survivors, when recounting their memories from the 1930s and 1940s. This investigation also examines how previous research has addressed and represented the aid efforts of the Jewish minority in Sweden and discusses what new empirical knowledge about Swedish Jewish aid and relief work during the Holocaust we can ascertain by using oral history. Hence, it is also a contribution to the ongoing debate in the research field of ‘refugee studies’, initiated by the historians Philip Marfleet and Peter Gatrell, who emphasise both the importance of working with historical perspectives and asking questions about the sources at the disposal of historians and what sources they choose to work with when writing about aid, relief work and refugees.
 
 

Betydelser av könsstympning hos migrerade minoriteter i Sverige

The article examines meanings and attitudes to female genital mutilation among migrated minorities in Sweden. It explores the importance of family, networks, work, the role of laws and regulations, and the meaning and importance of female genital mutilation. It draws conclusions on power structures around and determinants of female genital mutilation in relation to attitudes and attitudinal change. The material was collected via four focus groups with 47 migrated men and women, originally from Somalia. Theoretically, the article draws on feminist institutionalism and the framework on gender regimes, and scholarship on intersectional violence, and expands the concept of violence beyond the physical, individual and intentional.The article argues that the risk of female genital mutilation decreases considerably with migration. While some previous research has failed to consider migration as a process of attitudinal change, the article shows that attitudes do not simply migrate with migrants; they change through the processes of migration. It contributes to debates on violence from an integration-theoretical perspective, and shows how the concepts of isolation and mobility can contribute to better explanations of attitudes and practices of female genital mutilation.

From In-Betweenness to Invisibility: Changing Representations of Sweden Finnish Authors

Abstract In this article, I examine representations of Sweden Finnish authors Antti Jalava and Susanna Alakoski in Swedish literature reviews in the 1980s and 2000s. The study builds on constructivist views of ethnicity and identity in order to understand Sweden Finns' changing status in a multicultural Sweden. In addition, the article discusses Sweden Finnish literature in relation to recent studies and debates on immigrant literature in Sweden. Sweden Finns are a Finnish ethno-linguistic group, who were recognized as a national minority in Sweden in 2000. Immigrants and their descendants are generally excluded from minority policies. Although Finns and the Finnish language have a historical presence in Sweden, most present-day Finnish speakers in Sweden, or those identifying themselves as Sweden Finns, have their background in post-World War II labor migration or even in more recent migration. In addition to integration, Sweden Finns' status as a national minority derives from a growing awareness of Finnish history in Sweden, but also from a unique combination of national, bilateral Finnish Swedish politics as well as Nordic cooperation. Therefore, the rapid change in Sweden Finns' societal status from immigrants to a national minority in a few decades raises questions about how different ethnic and cultural boundaries are drawn and redrawn in different times. In order to examine these changing ethnic categories, I use critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyze how the Swedish majority media have portrayed authors with Finnish background at different times, and how these representations reflect Sweden Finns' changing societal status in Sweden. As material, eighteen literature reviews from Swedish newspapers regarding Antti Jalava's novel Asfaltblomman (1980) and Susanna Alakoski's novel Svinalängorna (2006) are analyzed with a focus on author representations and questions of ethnicity and authenticity. The results of the study show that author representations reflect Sweden Finns' integration into Swedish society. While Jalava was mostly depicted as an immigrant or as “neither Swedish nor Finnish” in the early 1980s, Alakoski was instead seen foremost as part of the Swedish literary canon through representation as a working-class author. However, despite Sweden Finns' recognition as a national minority, as well as Alakoski's own migrant background, she was represented neither as a Sweden Finn nor as someone with an immigrant background, although her Finnish background was implicitly acknowledged. Therefore, the study also contributes to contemporary studies of immigrant literature in Sweden by highlighting the exoticizing and racializing aspects of the contemporary discursive construction of “immigrant literature” and “immigrant author.”

Considering the past and present of Romani in Sweden: secondary school pupils’ thinking and caring about the history of the Romani in national tests

ABSTRACTIn this study, we analyse 126 secondary pupils’ responses to national test questions designed to make them think and care about the history of national minorities in Sweden. Using a mixed method approach we find that historical thinking and empathy as caring are tightly interlinked in the responses. In particular, the cognitive act of corroborating historical sources about the treatment of minorities is linked to historical empathy as caring – while sourcing seems like a separate process. We also find that pupils struggle to link the past to the present and the future more than they do with sourcing and corroboration. Engaging with the past of discrimination of minorities makes pupils take critical positions beyond established dimensions of historical thinking. Our findings highlight how we need to better understand how to scaffold pupils’ practical knowledge, skills and attitudes in ideologically and emotionally charged issues.

Mellan sekulära och religiösa förväntningar

In-between Secular and Religious Expectations: Civil Religion at an Individual Level in SwedenThis article responds to recent calls for reconsidering the concept ‘civil religion’ to advance the understanding of how both religious and secular authorities shape individuals’ attitudes towards the religious. ‘Civil religion’ is defined as set of religious symbols and practices that can be studied at an individual level. The analysis utilized representative survey data collected in 2016–2017 in Sweden. Four basic forms of ‘civil religion’ were identified and justified in relation to expectations held by both religious and secular authorities in Sweden over time. The analysis showed that the identified forms of ‘civil religion’ differ in terms of social class, gender and age. The results are taken to raise further research questions about relationships between high socioeconomic status and criticism of religion and about low socioeconomic status and adherence to religious minorities in Sweden. In addition, it is stipulated that a civil religion approach to religious attitudes might shed new light on questions concerning contemporary covenants and shared ideas about the religious.

Dyskryminacja Saamów w Szwecji. Zarys problemu

The aim of this study is to analyze different aspects of discrimination against the Sami in Sweden. The article describes how the rights of the Sami were curtailed in the past and how the Sami questions are handled today. The study shows the causes of discriminating politics and the effects of discrimination (which are often still visible). The article explores whether the Sami in Sweden are still being discriminated. I also describe the rights of the Sami both as the indigenous people and as the minority in Sweden.

Childhood Obesity Prevention program for disadvantaged minorities in Sweden highlights both challenges and successes of an innovative integrated care model

Background: Obesity is one of the leading causes of ill health and avoidable care costs worldwide, with children of particular concern. While public health campaigns have had some success, worldwide prevalence is increasing. Several risk factors including overweight parents and socioeconomic factors (education, income, living areas) influence childhood obesity prevalence. There is evidence that early preventive measures targeting children at high risk of becoming obese are effective. However, ethnic minorities are often difficult to include in such preventive measures, due to access constraints and cultural barriers. This imposes a pressing challenge for preventive public health interventions and is an unsolved driver of inequalities in health. We developed a family-oriented partly telephone-based intervention for disadvantaged families with children at risk of obesity. Our objective was to reduce weight, improve diet, and reduce obesity prevalence in children. The intervention was co-created with both participants, (many of Somali and Arabic origin), and integrated with local community partners including NGOs, healthcare providers, day-care and employers. Methods: This community based identification included high-risk families including socioeconomically disadvantaged, and Somali/Arabic immigrant families with limited literacy and Swedish knowledge. Overweight women (BMI ≥25) attending priority maternity clinics in Stockholm were referred after consent. Based on a personalised plan, a health coach provided culturally adapted education and motivational coaching in Somali, Arabic, English or Swedish. The support consisted of increasing knowledge and enabling behaviour change to increase physical activity and exercise, and improve diet. The study was initiated by the county council of Stockholm, Sweden in 2012 and compared participating clinics with matched control clinics. Results: At one-year follow-up of our 500 families, over 80 % had increased their respective self-reported physical activity level by 30-40 % and 60-70 % of families now meet the 1h /week exercise target (30 % at baseline). We also saw a significant increase in the self-reported improvement of diet. 90 % of the families reported increased consumption of vegetables, 65 % reported a reduction in sweet drinks served. Pregnancy weight gain was on average 8.2kg (25-30 % less than national average). Parents’ mean weight reduction was 6.7kg. Also, our preliminary results indicate a reduced prevalence of childhood obesity in the intervention group compared to control clinics, with final evaluation forecast for 2017. Conclusion: The health coaches offer unique possibilities to support behavioural change across socio-cultural groups. Providing cultural-language adapted support and co-operation with NGOs can engage groups that normally do not participate in health promotion. We have been able to achieve improvements in diet and exercise in mothers, with preliminary indications this has led to reduced prevalence of obesity in children. Co-creation and engagement creates a demand for the health coach offer, where families actively seek out to participate, contribute and mobilize their family members. The benefits of the program are also to be seen long term. By addressing the obesity epidemic, we will be able to enjoy better health both directly for individuals affected, but also indirectly due to reduced pressure on the health system caused by obesity related illnesses.

The Tornedalian Minority in Sweden. From Assimilation to Recognition: A ‘Forgotten’ Ethnic and Linguistic Minority, 1870–2000

The article provides a historical outline of the Tornedalian minority in Sweden. Even in the Nordic countries today, Tornedalians constitute a little known ethnic group, living in the cross-border area of the Gulf of Bothnia. The first part of this article describes the Finnish minority in Sweden, as contextualisation for exploring the Tornedalian who are an ethnic and linguistic sub-group of those Finns. The second part focuses on debates about Tornedalian identity. The third part presents the history of Swedish policy towards Tornedalians since the nineteenth century. Finally, the article reflects on the status and role of the Tornedalian minority today. Their recent recognition as an ethnic minority represents an important step in the revitalisation of their culture and language. However, ongoing struggles to preserve their identity and to achieve full minority rights remain of concern to the group.

Parlament Samów w Szwecji – forma przejściowa czy ostateczna?

Sami Parliament in Sweden – a temporal or final institution?
 The article examines the meaning of the Sami Parliament in Sweden from the perspective of the self‑determination discourse. The Sami Parliament is believed to be the most important political institution for contemporary Sami society. The creation of the Sami Parliament was a fundamental step for this society because it increased Sami minority influence. What is more, Sami people are the only minority in Sweden which has its own representative body. The author of the article analyses how this institution works as a part of the Swedish political system and in comparison to other similar institutions. The aim is to predict Sami Parliament’s possible ways of development and its future role within Sami society’s right to self‑determination.

Within ‘the Tin Bubble’: the police and ethnic minorities in Sweden

How can discriminatory treatment along perceived ethnic lines become reproduced within a discursive climate that claims to support ethnic diversity and condemn racism? Through an analysis of interviews with 21 current and former employees of the Swedish Police who identified their background as ‘foreign’, this article investigates how certain language use and specific talk can be reproduced in spite of the internal and external criticism directed at them. Six different, institutionally available accounts resorted to by the interviewees to make sense of and legitimise the derogatory language and joking they encountered at work are examined, shedding light on how the use of derogatory language, slurs, and degrading humour about ethnic minorities can remain commonplace within the police force without becoming considered as especially problematic. In addition, the analysis shows that which takes place within the police's own ‘Tin Bubble’, or in the police car, canteen, and lunchroom, to potentially have a carryover effect from one context to the other, colouring police interactions with the public and adversely affecting the workplace satisfaction of police employees coming from minority backgrounds.

Expressing Religiosity in a Secular Society: the Relativisation of Faith in Muslim Communities in Sweden

This article discusses religion in public space and the case study is Muslim minorities in Sweden. The discussion deals with secularisation trends within Muslim communities in Swedish society in view of the notion of counter-secularisation as a fixed and unchanged form of religious expressions in contemporary public life. What happens in Muslim communities as Muslims of various cultural backgrounds and religious orientations meet and interact in a new secular context? The article argues that, similar to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Christian reform movements opened up for a relativisation of faith and thus to a certain extent initiated a secularisation process, a relativisation of faith is at present an ongoing process in Muslim communities in Sweden. Of the three definitions on secularisation, promoted by Jose Casanova, secularisation as ‘differentiation of the secular spheres from religious institutions and norms’, ‘marginalisation of religion to a privatised sphere’, and ‘the decline of religious belief and practices’, Muslim practices in Sweden indicate an adherence to these two first notions of the relation between ‘church and state’. As for the last definition of secularisation; ‘the decline of religious belief and practices’, which has to do with private religious practices, many Muslims would regard themselves as religious without claiming a public role for religion, similar to many Christians in Sweden. Furthermore, many of the traits considered to be ‘religious’, might well be attempts to protect a particular cultural context rather than being signs on increased religion as such.

Muslim Middle Eastern clients' reflections on their relationship with their occupational therapists in mental health care

Persons with a Middle Eastern background represent a minority in Sweden which has significantly increased in size over recent years. The purpose of the present study was to explore the elements that shape the experiences and perceptions of clients with a Middle Eastern background living by Muslim norms who received occupational therapy in mental health care at the time of participating in the study. The study included interviews with 11 clients who received occupational therapy in mental health care. Data collection and analysis were carried out in accordance with the grounded theory approach. One core category, desiring a union, described the clients' desire for an alliance with the therapists that encompassed the realities and truths embedded in their values, preferences, world-views, and belief systems, as well as a wish to reconstruct their abilities to function and perform daily life tasks within their cultural contexts. The core category included sub-categories: desiring relationship, desiring affiliation, and desiring affirmation as well as some related components. The overall findings showed a tentative model in which the notion of mahram affinity was embedded. The results demonstrated that the clients' views regarding desiring a union had their support in collectivistic world-views that often clash with those of the therapists.

I skuggan av kulturella stereotypier

In the shadow of ethno-cultural stereotypes: gender, equity and ethnic relations in SwedenScientific debates about cultural differences between ”Swedes” and migrants/ethnic minorities in Sweden have fuelled stereotypical categorizations and a socio-cultural demarcation between ”us” and ”them”. The authors argue that this development has underpinned constructions of foreignness. In the light of a critical review of the current debate on honour related violence, the authors discuss – inspired by Georg Simmel’s and Erving Goffman’s classic texts on the stranger, the stigma and the construction of foreignness – alternative understandings of culture and politics of belonging with a focus on gender, agency and identity formation. Formation of cultural and ethnic identity should be related, the authors conclude, to a dynamic interplay between the past and the present. Moreover, the social dimension should be highlighted, in order to avoid a stigmatizing culturalism.

The language situation in Sweden: the relationship between the main language and the national minority languages

This article is based on the presentation at the conference "Cultural Diversity, Multilingualism and Ethnic Minorities in Sweden" arranged by The French Institute the 2nd and 3rd of September. The aim of the article is to give a short presentation of the language situation in Sweden today and to make a presentation on the main language Swedish and the five national minority languages.

Cultural diversity and international law. In the field of human rights and identities

Abstract : This communication was submitted to the International Conference “Cultural Diversity, Multilingualism and Ethnic Minorities in Sweden” (Ambassade de France en Suede, Institut francais, (...)