Talkin’ ’bout My Integration: Views on Language, Identity, and Integration Among Dutch and Finnish Migrants to the Swedish Countryside
Abstract Migration to the sparsely populated countryside in the North of Europe has received relatively little interest. We analyse how Finnish (labour) migrants and Dutch (life-style) migrants who have settled in a rural area in mid-Sweden discuss their challenges in relation to transnational migra...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
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Springer International Publishing
2023
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42979-8_5 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-031-42979-8_5 |
| Summary: | Abstract Migration to the sparsely populated countryside in the North of Europe has received relatively little interest. We analyse how Finnish (labour) migrants and Dutch (life-style) migrants who have settled in a rural area in mid-Sweden discuss their challenges in relation to transnational migration. Our focus-group fieldwork data indicate that the Finnish and the Dutch participants have completely different views on what it means to be socially and linguistically integrated into a new home location. Our data also illustrate the intricacies of identity construction in transnational migration situations. We describe the Finns as ‘self-marginalised’ migrants who show little interest in becoming explicitly integrated into the village community, whereas the Dutch settlers as ‘involuntarily marginalised’ migrants are frustrated about the time it takes to become included in the local community. The analyses show the crucial importance of the migrants’ causes for migration and their expectations vis-à-vis social integration into a new community . |
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