This thesis is a close reading of the horror film His House (2020) and has its theoretical base in the works of Sara Ahmed. It focuses on the emotional experience of the film’s lead characters who are South Sudanese asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. The study is set out to chart which emotions the characters feel, which of them are the most overpowering and what does the presence of these emotions imply about the asylum experience. Close reading shows that feelings typically understood as negative are dominant – guilt being particularly present as it is tied to the film’s monster. The thesis argues that the film calls for attention to asylum seekers’ mental health through showing the horrors experienced by the heavily traumatized lead couple. The study also argues that horror fiction is a window to public anxieties, and as such offers a valuable research avenue to ethnic and migration studies as well as social sciences at large.

This study discusses the process of identity-building among second-generation migrants from former Yugoslavia, living in the Southern Region of Sweden, Skåne. The findings of this study have shown that respondents' identity construction is fluid and depends on many factors that influence it, which vary from one individual to another. For instance, language, culture, values, norms, how individuals were raised and where they were born. Moreover, depending on the individuals' experiences and personal choice. Some individuals maintain and reproduce their identity by using the parent’s mother tongue to speak with their family at home and maintain the culture by making Serbian/Bosnian food and choosing to listen to Yugoslavian music. I found that some individuals born in former Yugoslavia feel belongingness to Sweden, where they grew up and were raised instead of where they were born. The feeling of belonging differed from one respondent to the other. Some respondents showed their sense of belonging through feelings and emotions they have attached to the country they were raised in (Sweden). They have established bonds that make them see their belonging to Sweden as necessary. Others attributed their belonging to their environment, place where they were born, or parent's country of origin.

This thesis studies the factors that make international students from non-EU countries move to Hungary for their studies, what their experience in the host society was and how this experience affected their decisions about their post-graduation plans. Using qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews, this research seeks to analyze the different factors that either pull these students to stay in Hungary or relocate to a different country or factors that push these students to return home. These factors are divided into three main groups: professional, personal and social factors. Overall, the results reveal that professional factors play the biggest role in either pulling students to stay in the host country or relocate onwards, while these factors were never mentioned as an incentive to return home. Personal and social factors, on the other hand, affected people differently, as some of the personal or social factors made one stay, while the same factors made others leave.

This thesis explores the role of environmental perceptions and activism in migration decision-making within the context of a country highly vulnerable to climate change. It focuses on a case study of young climate activists in Bangladesh, and their aspirations for staying or moving. The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. For analysis of migration decisions, the study utilizes a theoretical framework of aspirations and capabilities by De Haas (2021), while incorporating concepts of Hirschman’s (1978) “voice” and Robins’(2022) “duty to loyalty”. The study reveals that climate activists are aware of and concerned about environmental changes, but do not perceive them as immediate threat to their current livelihoods. While they face daily challenges and witness the vulnerability of communities, they express hope and actively choose to stay in their country. Activism serves them to voice their concern and help their community. The constant interaction between the environmental perceptions and activism, shapes their capacity to envision a better future and enhances their aspirations for staying in their motherland

The goal of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the controversial issues surrounding the offshore asylum policy by concentrating on the political debates and arguments that are for and against the policies' activation. This will be done by  following the structure of a Political Discourse but applying an Argumentation Analysis to the study. Furthermore, the thesis critically examines the application of liberal norms in the offshore policy of Denmark and the United Kingdom and explores the tensions that occur when liberal principles such as human rights, humanitarianism, and the rule of law overlap with the nation's concerns of immigration and border control. This will be done by analysing the historical changes, legal framework, and the implementation of the policy in Denmark and United Kingdom. Using a comparative case study approach, the thesis analyzes the Rwanda Asylum Plan in relation to similar offshore asylum policies implemented in other countries such as the Australian offshore processing policy.

Gender discrimination is a world-wide matter, it is the consequence of the type of violence that is built into structures and effectively deprives women from basic liberties and opportunities (Baliamoune-Lutz, 2013:01-02: Galtung, 2015:181). As many women cannot stay in their countries because of ongoing conflicts, poverty, persecution and their position in the society, -exactly the same reasons prevent them from leaving. At the time that poverty and conflicts have driven a massive increase in global migration, it has become a most urgent topic in question (IMR, 2017:04). The prolonged gender discrepancy by granted residence permits has been a social phenomenon lacking national recognition in Sweden. This study reveals how large the gender discrepancy in Swedish migration is and how the opportunities for women are developing. A more detailed review of women’s opportunities by categories of residence permits between 2009 and 2017 reveals the deficiencies on gender disparity in Swedish migration and acknowledges the main causes. It is suggested by this study that the measured and identified indifferences are translated into women’s needs and provided with structural interventions to improve the currently existing conditions of the opportunities for women in Swedish migration. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of gender disparity by the opportunities for women in Swedish migration. The empirical research investigates women’s opportunities and development on obtained residence permits between the years 2009 and 2017. Method: This study is of inductive methodology using a grounded theory. The systematic collection of data and discovered patterns have been linked to theories of gender discrimination. Data: The used method is a cross-sectional study of more than one case with the interest of variation by the usage of quantifiable data and variables; the material is collected from the Swedish migration agency and sorted into 1,052,654 cases by gender, category of residence permits and year. Result: The result of this statistical research showed that Women are less likely to have a residence permit by all categories but one in Sweden. Over the past nine years women have been underrepresented by granted residence permits by each year and in total with 44.8% and the share is continuing to decrease. The study also revealed that the vast majority of migrants originated from developing and least developing countries where women are exposed to a considerably higher degree of gender discrimination. The gender discrepancy by obtained residence permits in Sweden is somewhat similar to the emigration in developing and least developing countries. As women outnumber men by 51.5% of the total immigration stock in industrial countries, in developing and least developing countries, women make up for only 45.6% of the total immigration stock. Gender discrimination is presumably the contributing factor to the gender discrepancy in Swedish migration. It is suggested by this study to implement structural interventions by increasing the share of the category family reunification in order to obtain an equal distribution of women and men by obtained residence permits.

This thesis examines how Swedish citizens deal with the increasingly difficult process of returning to Sweden with family members who are third country nationals, following the passage of a law that places temporary limits on residency permits. The goal of this thesis is to examine how negotiations of citizenship and belonging play out in the context of Swedish migration policy and family reunification regulations. In order to explore these questions in more detail, I have chosen an ethnographic methodology based on a combination of virtual ethnography in two groups on the social media platform Facebook as well as seven semistructured interviews with participants found through these groups and one expert interview with an organization lobbying for Swedes abroad. In this study, the concepts of citizenship, belonging, whiteness, Swedishness, and diaspora are used to understand the relationship of utlandssvenskar (Swedish citizens living abroad) to Sweden and their Swedish citizenship. The study concludes that these Facebook groups provide a space to share and receive support, generate discussion, interact with other Swedes, and help create a sense of community among members scattered around the world by creating a "we". The process of family reunification reinforces feelings of deservingness, and the idea of privilege and citizenship rights is taken for granted. Obstacles to claiming one's homeland and citizenship rights challenge and harm notions of Sweden and Swedishness. Moreover, the study concludes that being utlandssvensk challenges notions of belonging and the way Swedish citizenship is negotiated.

Georgia, the Post-Soviet, transition country with struggling economy and territorial disputes has been dealing with forced migration since 1990s. In 2008, the country experienced another internal displacement wave and about 30,000 people were forced to flee from their homes. The state constructed compact IDP settlements and provided housing to affected households. After more than a decade, there is a significant gap in economic livelihoods of the IDP households in those settlements. The location and the size of the IDP settlements has had impact on the economics of IDP population and acted as main drivers of inequalities in integration across the settlements of forcibly displaced persons. The thesis will explore how the settlement facilitates or hampers employment and income-generation process for IDPs.  The conceptual framework utilized will be the combination of asset-based approach and cumulative disadvantage theory, push and pull factors theory of migration and the three key framework dimensions of camp design. The methodology used will include primary data collection through semi-structured interviews, secondary data collection through scholarly articles and reports, and the analysis and discussion of both.

This study examines the experiences of multiracial and multiethnic young adults in Finland, aged between 24-28, as they negotiate their daily lived experiences and construct their identities in the framework of ethnicity, race, belonging, and discrimination. The study utilises a qualitative research approach with a thematic analysis of four semi-structured interviews. In addition, drawing on Richard Jenkins' (2014) theory of social identity, the study discusses the relationship between these individuals and Finnish society. The findings highlight the impact of white normativity on the participants' self-identification and externally assigned identification, as well as fluidity in identity construction and challenges in belonging to Finnish society. Finally, the study highlights that the interviewees have a perception of what it means to be Finnish based on cultural and social norms.

This essay is an effort to highlight what integration is and how it is achieved. The aim of this study is to create a deeper understanding of integration and its process in Kristianstad. The focus is on a local level and Kristianstad as a municipality has been investigated. Two different categories of people have been interviewed for this study to be able to highlight integration. The first category includes personal that is working with integration in Kristianstad through a municipal perspective. The other category includes people that has immigrated to Kristianstad.  The theories that this essay used about integration is by Margareta Popoola and Jose Alberto Diaz. The result of my study shows that integration is seen as a process for both the minority group and the majority group to adapt on several levels to each other. Even though the groups are intended to adapt to each other the result show that its mostly the minority as a group that needs to adapt to the majority when integration is discussed. The conclusion of this study is partly that integration is a complicated term and can be understood differently depending on where and when its used. / Denna uppsats är ett försök att belysa vad integration är och hur det uppnås. Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en djupare förståelse för integration och dess process i Kristianstad. Fokuset ligger på lokal nivå och Kristianstad som kommun har utretts. Två olika kategorier av personer har intervjuats till denna studie för att diskutera kring integration. I den första kategorin ingår personal som arbetar med integration i Kristianstad utifrån ett kommunalt perspektiv. Den andra kategorin inkluderar personer som har invandrat till Kristianstad. Teorierna som denna uppsats använt om integration är av Margareta Popoola och Jose Alberto Diaz. Resultatet av min studie visar att integration ses som en process för både minoritetsgruppen och majoritetsgruppen att på flera plan anpassa sig till varandra. Även om grupperna är tänkta att anpassa sig till varandra visar resultatet att det mest är minoriteten som grupp som förväntas anpassa sig till majoriteten när integration diskuteras. Slutsatsen av denna studie är delvis att integration är ett komplicerat begrepp och kan förstås olika beroende på var och när det används.