"In-betweenship: New Swedish identities in the making? - A qualitative study about Swedishness and being in-between"

Abstract

This paper takes an approach sprung from practices where identities are formed and examines the experiences of being in the borderland of Swedishness. The research is placed in a Swedish context aiming at understanding people who has often or at times gotten their (Swedish) identity or origin questioned. By conducting interviews, testimonies from people who in various aspects navigate the space of betweenness is presented and their experiences of ð€‚³Otheringð€‚´. Different aspects of identity and origin are brought forward and discussed. How race, ethnicity and identity is constructed and the meaning of it for those effected. The thesis is contextualized within the theoretical field of critical whiteness and race studies where concepts like race, ethnicity and whiteness are problematized. Questions about what role skincolour and origin has in a society who claims to be post-racial is discussed.