How to think differently about difference: convivialities and contentions in the postmigration condition

Abstract

In the Swedish integration debate, difference is often framed as an inevitable problem. This notion has become a taken-for-granted truth, echoing across political and social spheres. As a result, the debate frequently reinforces a rigid divide between so-called ‘natives’ and ‘migrants’. This thesis problematises that framing by proposing a novel approach to understanding how difference and sameness are socially produced, using the concept of the postmigration condition as its analytical lens. By utilising the postmigration concept, the thesis explores how difference and sameness are experienced in contentious and convivial ways and thereby challenges normative assumptions about what constitutes differences and sameness, while also exploring how the obsession with migration intersects with exclusion and racism. The thesis investigates these dynamics through ethnographic fieldwork at a large DIY store in Sweden. Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork amongst the employees, the thesis moves away from ideas about inevitable conflicts or specific cemented categories as it delves into how convivialities and contentions are evoked and experienced in everyday life. This thesis revisits classical anthropological themes—such as kinship, solidarity, humour, and language—and situates them within the postmigration condition to rethink difference and sameness. With the thesis, I contribute to ethnographic practices that are attuned to fluid social categories. As such, this thesis offers theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions to an understanding of how to think differently about difference and sameness. The primary contribution of this thesis is in its rethinking of the entrenched narrative of “problematic integration” (and migration) in Sweden, by bringing forward alternative, often overlooked, narratives.