Browsing by Author "Brusk Oldrell, Thea"

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    THE COMMUNITY CENTER STRIKES BACK: Everyday Strategies to Manage Prejudice and Discrimination in a Swedish ‘At-Risk’ Neighborhood
    (2024-10-23) Brusk Oldrell, Thea; University of Gothenburg/School of Global Studies; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för globala studier
    In recent years, Sweden has seen a rise and normalization of racializing discourses, particularly focusing on at-risk neighborhoods (utsatta områden). Therefore, this paper aims to answer how the subjects of such discourses perceive and navigate them in their everyday lives. This is explored by following staff members at a public community center located in an at-risk neighborhood in Sweden, using methods of participant observation, alongside semi-structured and informal interviews. The material was gathered over six weeks at the beginning of 2024. The findings suggest that the neighborhood is subjected to territorial stigmatization, which causes participants to experience prejudice and discrimination. To manage, participants exercised primarily three forms of strategy: strategies of avoidance, strategies of humor, and strategies of resistance. While some strategies are seemingly passive, they are deliberate and provide participants with a sense of agency. Furthermore, the everyday resistance performed at the community center suggests that systems of power may challenge themselves by facilitating engagement that (in)advertently resists them. Simultaneously, the lives and goals of residents and participants should not be reduced to simply responding to prejudiced narratives—rather their lives are comprised of their own meanings, relations, projects, and desires.