A collective sigh of relief : Local reactions to the establishment of new asylum centers in Norway

This article investigates a mood change in local communities where new asylum seeker facilities were established in the wake of the “refugee crisis” in 2015. Whereas opinions in flux are often studied using quantitative data, this analysis takes advantage of in-depth qualitative interviews with inhabitants in selected Norwegian local communities after new temporary asylum reception centers were established. Qualitative data collected at this particular time provide the opportunity to gain insight into social processes occurring in the wake of a sudden influx of immigrants. A key feature of the material is statements reflecting fear or nervous anticipation in relation to the period before the newcomers arrived, followed by descriptions of diminishing concern afterwards. Several studies have engaged with the issue of changes in public mood during this particular period, but few have analyzed changes at the local level. The study concludes that while the backdrop of impactful events that led to shifts in public mood at the national and regional levels played a role in informants’ imagined encounters with the newcomers, experiencing the presence of the newcomers resulted in a subtle mood change of increased acceptance.publishedVersio

A Promise of Inclusion: On the Social Imaginary of Organised Encounters between Locals and Refugees

The present study contributes an empirical analysis that makes explicit a central social imaginary underpinning organised cultural encounters between ‘locals’ and immigrants: that contact between individuals who would not otherwise meet can lead to long-term inclusion of immigrants. While research on why local populations fear or exclude newcomers is important, our study draws on interviews with locals involved in community initiatives in Norway in the wake of the refugee influx in 2015 to enquire into ideas that guide locals’ practices seeking to include. We find that a ‘promise of inclusion’ forms part of a social imaginary underpinning the organised encounters studied here, featuring ideals of meeting as equals and reciprocity in social relationships while also unveiling how practices of inequality operating within the encounters are common. Emphasising the extent to which it is possible to manage the risk of power inequalities, the study adds to the ongoing academic conversation on organised encounters by distinguishing between power inequalities operating within organised encounters and inequalities operating within the imaginary of the encounter itself. Whereas the research participants are often aware of this paradox, their motivations and approaches are still informed by the social imaginary and guided by the promise of inclusion.publishedVersio

Local responses to hostility to new asylum seeker centres in Norway

This article investigates disagreement over how to respond to the establishment of asylum seeker centres in local communities. Building on interviews with individuals in one rural and one urban community in Norway, we analyse experiences and outcomes of the neighbourhood information meetings organized by the Directorate of Immigration before opening the new centres. We demonstrate that such meetings hold a broader social function, and they become arenas to raise concerns and manage disagreement among neighbours. When anti-immigrant opinions expressed at the meetings are published in the media, community members counter the negative place representations that are not aligned with their own self-identification. We identify three strategies of contestation deployed to counter negative media coverage: foreseeing conflict, claiming exceptionalism and mobilization to volunteer. Broader implications involve immigration authorities’ management of conflict when establishing such centres; their scope should not be limited to host-guest relations but should include horizontal contestation within the community.publishedVersio

Analyseworkshop i veiledningsprosessen på master- og doktorgradsnivå

Rapporten viser erfaringene med bruk av analyseworkshop i veiledningen på master- og doktorgradsnivå på sosiologi. Den ordinære veiledning av tekst ble for en måned lagt om til fordel for to lengre analyseworkshoper der veileder og student/stipendiat arbeidet sammen med det aktuelle empiriske materialet for masteroppgaven/doktorgradsavhandlingen. Rapporten vurderer avslutningsvis fordeler og ulemper ved bruk av analyseworkshop i veiledningsarbeidet

Mobility dynamics within the settlement phase of Syrian refugees in Norway and The Netherlands

This paper sets out to investigate the forced and voluntary (im)mobility of Syrians who recently moved to Europe and are in the transition from asylum to settlement. We conceptualise ‘settlement’ for this group as a dynamic process and trace different forms of mobility in this phase, which is more commonly defined as static and associated with ‘having arrived’. We take a broad perspective on mobility, including social, mental and physical aspects of moving and being stuck and include refugees’ own experiences and everyday coping strategies in order to understand how the interaction with mobility regimes takes place and is experienced after settlement. We do this by analysing qualitative interviews conducted in two similar but nevertheless different reception and settlement contexts. The Netherlands and Norway are both highly regulated welfare states providing support to newcomers although, importantly, also restricting their agency and mobility, resulting in spatial and social exclusion. By zooming in on research participants’ acts of everyday coping mechanisms and different domains of integration in the two contexts, we identify similarities and differences in strategies for challenging official and everyday definitions of where and what to be after fleeing to Europe.publishedVersio

Mobility dynamics within the settlement phase of Syrian refugees in Norway and The Netherlands

This paper sets out to investigate the forced and voluntary (im)mobility of Syrians who recently moved to Europe and are in the transition from asylum to settlement. We conceptualise ‘settlement’ for this group as a dynamic process and trace different forms of mobility in this phase, which is more commonly defined as static and associated with ‘having arrived’. We take a broad perspective on mobility, including social, mental and physical aspects of moving and being stuck and include refugees’ own experiences and everyday coping strategies in order to understand how the interaction with mobility regimes takes place and is experienced after settlement. We do this by analysing qualitative interviews conducted in two similar but nevertheless different reception and settlement contexts. The Netherlands and Norway are both highly regulated welfare states providing support to newcomers although, importantly, also restricting their agency and mobility, resulting in spatial and social exclusion. By zooming in on research participants’ acts of everyday coping mechanisms and different domains of integration in the two contexts, we identify similarities and differences in strategies for challenging official and everyday definitions of where and what to be after fleeing to Europe

Experiencing and resisting interwoven social boundaries: the case of highly educated recent refugees in Norway

This article explores forced migrants’ experiences with mainstream social boundaries and investigates how classed resources are used to resist and renegotiate such boundaries. The case of forced migrants from Syria who came to Norway during the ‘refugee crisis’ is demarcated by ‘bright’ boundaries vis-à-vis mainstream society. Moreover, arriving with middle-class resources like higher education may represent bargaining power in boundary negotiations at the individual level. I show that the research participants encountered boundaries where prejudice against forced migrants and prejudice against established minorities are nested together. These interwoven social boundaries are resisted by signalling distance from excluded practices and renegotiated by drawing on classed resources such as higher education and classed repertoires such as mastering outdoor leisure pursuits. Drawing on interwoven resources, these strategies enable access to many important middle-class arenas. Access to mainstream sociability, however, remains limited even for individuals who manage to convert their classed resources and repertoires.acceptedVersio