Making Space a Home: Role of Homeland-Based Cultural Practices in Homemaking of Tamils and Somalis in Norway

This article looks at the relationship between homeland-based cultural practices and the homemaking process of first-generation members of the Tamil and Somali diaspora communities in Norway. There are around 13000 Tamils and 25000 Somalis currently living in Norway, adopting practices and habits that are culturally rooted in the lifestyle of their country of origin. This article does not see country-of-origin orientation and home in Norway as opposites, but rather as complementary processes. Thus, this article argues that homeland-based cultural practices of Tamils and Somalis are part of their homemaking in Norway to establish a space of comfort. The main empirical base of the paper is grounded in 40 interviews of first-generation immigrants, 25 of Tamils and 15 of Somalis

Remittances, Standard of Living and Integration: A Study of Tamils Living in Scandinavian Capitals (REMIT-INT), 2016

The primary objective of the project was to study the remittance practices and their consequences with standard of living and the integration process of Tamils living in Scandinavia. The data was collected in Oslo, Stockholm and two places in Denmark. The study aims to map out the present pattern of remittance sending practices, positive and negative effects of remittance practices and the connection between remittance practice and the place. Scandinavian countries, though with many similarities among them, do present certain differences in the context of immigrant integration policy. The scale difference between the places does also matter in the context of the study, making a study of this nature both challenging and interesting. Similar numbers of Tamils live at present in Norway and Denmark numbering around 13,000. The population in Sweden is far smaller. The project adopts three hypotheses. These are described as follows: 1. Remittance sending has been largely a first-generation practice and the moral obligation for sending remittances is minimal among the second generation Tamils. 2. Remittance sending has impact on standard of living; and positively contributes to better labour market and housing conditions, but negatively contributes to health problems and relative poverty among remittance-sending Tamils and thus plays an important role in integration issues. 3. Remittance practices have association to place differences and have an impact on standard of living and integration through the differences in places and available social capital. For further information about ”Remittances, Standard of Living and Integration: A Study of Tamils Living in Scandinavian Capitals (REMIT-INT), 2016”, please contact the principal investigator