Re-integrating Swedishness: The Politics of Belonging among returning Swedish migrant women.

Abstract

How do Swedish migrants re-negotiate national identity upon returning to their home country? This project investigates re-constructions of national identity and processes of re-integration among Swedish migrant women after returning to Sweden. Statistics show that most Swedes living abroad choose to return to Sweden, a fact that makes them the single largest immigrant group to Sweden. Among Swedes who emigrate to Asia, the absolute majority returns within a couple of years, but fewer do so from the UK and the US. What are the gendered implications of Swedish return migration? In what ways has migration impacted on the womens working lives and family relations? What are the theoretical implications of Swedish return migration in understanding concepts of home, belonging and national identity? Special attention is directed at the women?s views on gender equality. Have their views on Sweden?s cultural and political projects on gender equality and social egalitarianism changed? From their perspectives, how has the Swedish society changed during their time abroad?

Keywords

Globalization, Intersectionality, Migration, Swedishness, Cosmopolitanism

Publications

Lundström, Catrin, White Women. White Nation. White Cosmopolitanism: Swedish women between the national and the global, NORA Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 7(2): 96-111.2018Lundström, Catrin,Hemmafru hemma: återvändande migrantkvinnors möte med svenska jämställdhetsnormer i politik och praktik, Sociologisk Forskning, 55(2-3): 389-4

Lundström, Catrin (2017) The white side of migration: reflections on race, belonging and migration in Sweden. A special issue on racialization and migration in Norden. Eds Rikke Andreassen and Suvi Keskinen. Nordic Journal of Migration Research.