Identity and immigration                                                                                                            - A qualitative study with unaccompanied refugee children Jennie Hamberg Larsson and Matthew McNeillThe main purpose of this study is to illuminate and describe how unaccompanied refugee children experience changes and reconstructions to their identity after immigration to Sweden. Using qualitative interviews this study looks at how social relationships in Sweden and a foreign background influence the reconstruction of unaccompanied refugee children´s identity. The base for our analysis is identity theory while roll concepts, social identity theory and concepts of ethnic and national identity are used to give deeper insight into the experiences of three unaccompanied refugee children. Important results found included a connection between the way that identity is formed in relationships, especially with significant others, in the country of origin and how reconstruction of identity develops in the new country with new social relationships. Furthermore the results showed how this reconstruction of identity can be linked to different acculturation strategies that incorporate the importance of an Ethnic identity and a national identity.Keywords: identity, Ethnic identity, unaccompanied children, immigration.

The aim of this study has been to reach a deeper understanding of how refugee adolescences experience their Ethnic identity, particular ethnic consciousness in terms of integration, assimilation and segregation. Further my intention has been to investigate if the adolescences experienced changes in their Ethnic identity.   In order to investigate these questions a qualitative method consisting of four interviews were conducted. The study included two young men at the age of 18, and two young women at the age of 17 and 18. Three of the interviewed persons can be defined as refugees, but not the fourth adolescence.

The purpose of this study is to first investigate how a group of Syriac women participating in the Syriac/Aramaic Academics Association (SAAF ? Syrianska/Arameiska Akademikerförbundet) at a Swedish university perceive their Ethnic identity, and maintain it in the mainstream Swedish society. Furthermore, it considers whether SAAF as an ethnic institution provides an arena for the reproduction of social capital in interaction with the women's families. This study is based on previous research and theories of Ethnic identity and its role in the building of social capital within so-called ethnic groups. The method used for this study involves qualitative interviews, to achieve its aims.

ABSTRACT Within migration and globalization the concept of Ethnic identity, religious identity and belonging have come to play a significant role in both immigrants? lives and as well in social context. Sweden, as a multicultural society has been dealing with different ethnic groups of immigrants and the way these minority groups perceive themselves to be and how they are perceived by others in the society has also come to be of high importance. By migrating people also change their position. They often occupy inferior positions in the society when they settle down in the new country.

In the world after the Cold War, internal and ethnic conflicts have been predominant. Ethnic conflicts have their own theories on why they erupt and what can be done to solve them. This essay seeks to analyze how the Ethnic Security Dilemma can explain the causes, and possible solutions, of today´s armed ethnic conflicts.By making an ideal types typology over different types of ethnic conflicts, and then analyzing the Ethnic Security Dilemma´s impact on each conflict type.

The key purpose of this research has been to study and understand how young people with Syriac ethnicity experience their identity, when living in two different cultures. The Syriac minority is something of a special case when it concerns establishing the identity of an individual, since syriac´s do not have an official country.To be able to do this research an interview has been done with four young students with syriac ethnicity. The four of them is attending their final year at ?gymnasiet? in Sweden which is equivalent to USA?s senior year in high school.The multicultural school is today a fact and many immigrants attending the Swedish schools today feels misplaced when they meet the Swedish culture through fellow students and society. A clash between cultures occurs and most of the students, with non-Swedish ethnicity, live some kind of dual life.

This study aims to examine how the students ethnic background affects them in their social relationships at school. The main research questions in this study have been: How does the ethnic background of students affect there social relationships with their friends at school?How does the identity creates and develop in the context of social relationships? What significance does the language that is spoken hold in the social relationships of the childrenThe main research questions have been investigated based on the students perspective, where the two main methods were individual interviews and observation on the schoolyard during recess. The interviews and observations where carried out at eight informants with three different ethnic backgrounds. The three ethnic backgrounds were Swedish, Somali, and Syrian.           The results of the study showed in the interviews that no one of the informants differentiated themselves from their friends who came from different ethnic backgrounds from which they did, they did not categorize themselves based upon their ethnicity.

The Somali community is relatively new in the UK and the majority of Somalis in Bristol are living under poor conditions in deprived areas. According to literature and research relevant for this study Ethnic identity seems to be of more importance when threatened by environmental or social changes, such as experiences of migration. Young people are more exposed to such a process of identity construction. The aim for this study was to get a more profound understanding for the significance of migration for young Somali people?s identity formation in Bristol.

"One life in two worlds" is a qualitative study of Syriac boys constructs ethnic and religious identity in different social contexts.Based on these three questions: how do the boys describe the importance of the parents' cultural and religious background in relation to their own identity? How do the boys describe their experiences of being categorized in school? Which significance is given to religion and ethnicity when the boys describe their experiences in relation to home and school context?I did reach the aim of this essay which was to investigate by interviewing the Syrian boys how they construct or reconstruct ethnic and / or religious identity in relation to different social contexts with a focus on the home and the school.In this study, I assumed the qualitative method in which I interviewed six Syriac boys who attend grade nine. The starting point of the study was social constructivism. Therefore, knowledge in this study is seen as something that is constructed in language, social and cultural interactions. The reality and perspective of reality is socially constructed, meaning that knowledge is created through the interplay of common action.The results of this study show that all the informants are agreed that their parents' ethnic background has had and has great significance for their identity formation.

This is an interview based qualitative case study on two Women's Migrant Associations in Malmoe, which I interpret as being part of a women's movement, with characteristics of a new social movement. The aim of this study is to get a deeper understanding on how the collective identity is being constructed, in this women's movement where the membership is not based on an exclusive Ethnic identity.I make a two dimensional analysis that departs from a social constructivist underpinning, including the theories Transversial Politics, Postcolonial feminism and New Social Movement Theory.First I analyze the construction of collective identity from the external social and cultural context, and get confirmed that the collective identity of the movement is based on a common experience of social exclusion and a plurality of actions that aims to fight the structural injustices based on gender and ethnic discrimination. Secondly I analyze how the collective identity is being constructed and maintained from the interactions between the members of the movement, from an understanding of Transversial Politics. My findings show that the members of the movement interact in a participatory democratic way which generally corresponds to Transversial Politics. According to Transversial Politics this can lead to a construction of an empowered inclusive collective identity for the members and as my empirical study confirms it also means possibilities for deconstruction of boundaries between social groups..

This thesis analyses how romanies look upon schooling and how they reflect upon the possibility of getting an education. Many inquiries relating to romanies have been published in Sweden but very few are based on fieldwork among romanies. The aim of this thesis is therefore to through fieldwork focus on how romanies themselves look upon their educational situation.The main questions for this study are: How is the image of romanies as a problem constructed in school? How are romanies separated from other students? How is the interplay between romanies and school representatives formed? How do romanies look upon the possibility of getting an education and does their perception differ from the usual official apprehension?An important conclusion concerns how social workers and teachers continuously categorize romanies as different. The group is constantly differentiated from other ethnic groups and is often the target of integration projects.

AbstractTitle: Den mångtydiga svenskheten: En studie av det svensk-amerikanska föreningslivet i Kalifornien utifrån en etnisk aspekt 1910 & 1915. (The multiplicity of Swedishness: A study of the Swedish-American society?s associations in California from an ethnic point of wiew 1910 & 1915.Author: Joakim FranssonMaster Thesis in History (10p)Växjö UniversityThe purpose of this thesis is to examine the Swedish-American associations in San Francisco and Los Angeles and how they withheld or/and formed a Swedish or American Ethnic identity. The primary source for obtaining that objective is the newspapers Vestkusten and California Veckoblad were the announcements from the associations are analysed. The thesis main questions are as following: Which ethnic aspects appears in the announcements from the Swedish-American associations in the newspapers Vestkusten and California Veckoblad 1910 and 1915? And What similarities and differences in the ethnic expressions appears in the primary sources during these periods?The conclusions can be briefed as there was a great variety of Swedish-American associations during the examined periods, there was a frequent occurrence in both religious and secular movements.

The thesis examines how language, culture and family structures interrelate and affect the process of migration. Vital is how women from a different ethnic background integrates during migration and in a dialogue context with us as researchers and native Swedes. The thesis is interdisciplinary and analyzes empirical data through a qualitative method by using the perspectives gender, ethnicity and identity. The empirical material consists of 7 interviews, which have been transcribed and then broken down in to quotations. Thesequotations have then been analyzed using the perspectives mentioned above.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how the Dakota conflict in 1862 affected the Swedish immigrants in Minnesota and how the collective memory was shaped in that particular group of people. To examine the contents of the collective memory this essay uses the theories of Halbwachs on collective memory as well as Orm Øverlands theories on creating an identity and ethnic memory in USA since the concepts of collective memory and the process of creating an identity is connected on a basic level. The essay compares the collective memory created by the Swedish-Americans with the collective memories of the Dakota Indians and finds indications that both ethnic groups have a highly traumatized memory of the conflict. However the difference between the two groups is that the Indians have both positive and negative memories of the conflict while the Swedish-Americans only have negative memories. Furthermore the essay finds that the fear of Indians that was present in the Swedish-American ethnic groups can be traced back to events of the Dakota Conflict.

The key purpose of this research has been trying to understand, and study how assyrian/syriac youth create their identity under the influence of two or several different cultures. We have also looked upon how different factors such as history, religion, language, family and school play a role in the youths identity development.We have used a qualitative method in our study where we have interviewed six assyrian/syriac youth. Because of their Christian faith the assyrian/syriac group has been forced to migrate from their countries to different parts around the world. In the new countries the group has been forced to create and live in a diasporaculture. The city Södertälje in Sweden has developed to become a metropole for this ethnic group where they have founded a substantial diasporaculture.