“Am I What You See?” Unaccompanied Afghans in the Swedish media and their integration prospects

Abstract

This thesis deals with representation of unaccompanied Afghan immigrants in the Swedish media. In the post-2015 context, unaccompanied Afghans have gained tremendous media attention in Sweden. However, how do unaccompanied Afghans perceive and evaluate these media images of themselves? How do these images impact their integration prospects in Sweden? In answering these questions, ten semi-structured qualitative interviews have been conducted. Using the cultural racism and intersectional perspectives, this thesis shows that unaccompanied Afghans consider media images of themselves highly generalist, monolithic, problem-oriented and deficient. The findings also illustrate that the deficient media images adversely impact unaccompanied Afghans’ integration prospects by limiting their access to housing market, standing on the way of their inclusion in school, and worsening their mental health.