This thesis aims to understand and explore how the experience of adult Third Culture Kids (TCKs) – individuals who live abroad outside of their parents' passport country in their developmental years – impacted the development of their cultural identity. Child migrants on a global level are increasing in the modern context, and not enough literature has focused on exploring the impact a highly mobile and transient upbringing has on children. Therefore, this study presents a social science insight into how the impact of growing as a TCK impacts one's cultural identity construction, sense of belonging, and relation to place. Six interviews were conducted with adult TCKs and analysed using a thematic analysis framework. Results showed that the cultural identity of the adult TCKs was more complex to explore and understand primarily due to their unique base where they had the opportunity to get a wide range of exposure to opinions, perspectives, people, and cultures. Additionally, third culture communities are the environment that mould the TCKs' relation to culture and concepts of belonging and home. Most interviewees showed signs of early maturity regarding their value system, and perspective on life, both of which comprise their cultural identity. This is argued to be principally due to their exposure at a young age to an intricate web of actors, social cues, and different contextual environments. Lastly, given the sample groups' transient upbringing, they perceive that their relation to physical places is weak, resulting in continual revising of their identity and a strong connection to relational bonds. Potentially, TCKs have a paradigm that is distinctive as their conceptualisation of home, belonging, culture, and identity are developed in transient, diverse, and dynamic environments. The study provides valuable understanding on the TCK experience and its impact on cultural identity construction and relation to place. It contributes empirically and theoretically to the field of migration studies, child migrants and to underlining implications of being young and internationally mobile.

Throughout 2015, the European Union’s response to the large number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea became increasingly securitised. It translated to the policing of non-governmental search and rescue organisations (SAR NGOs) active in the Aegean Sea. This thesis investigates the impact of policing on the ability of SAR NGOs to deliver humanitarian assistance in the Aegean Sea between 2015-2022. It employs social constructivist deviance theory to investigate the limiting effects of policing and its potential to generate resilience and resistance. Semi-structured interviews with five staff members and volunteers who worked with SAR NGOs in the Aegean Sea between 2015-2022 explore the research question. The findings were triangulated with existing scholarly literature to address the limited sample size. The study finds that policing limits SAR NGOs’ activities and fosters resilience and resistance. Resilience and resistance may have prolonged SAR NGOs’ ability to operate. Yet, over time, the increasing severity of policing, combined with intra- and inter-organisational fragmentation undermining resilience and resistance, forced SAR NGOs to end their humanitarian assistance in the Aegean Sea. Currently, no SAR NGOs are active in the Aegean Sea, resulting in a lack of search and rescue and human rights monitoring. Consequently, the risk of deaths and human rights abuses in the Aegean Sea has increased.

This paper examines the relationship between societal exposure to conflict and support for nationalist parties in the 2018 Turkish parliamentary election. In a qualitative small-n within-country study, two provinces, Gümüşhane and Kars, are examined by using a structured focus comparison. Based on previous research, I argue in my hypothesis that support for nationalist parties should be higher in societies that have been exposed to high levels of conflict violence. However, contrary to my hypothesis, the results of this paper show that support for nationalist parties is lower in societies that have been exposed to higher levels of violence than in societies that have been exposed to low levels of violence.

This case study explores a recent argument claiming improvements in refugees' healthcare encounters in Norway primarily occur due to the refugee's own effort of adjusting, rather than the healthcare system's efforts. While investigating the perceptions of three Middle eastern refugees in the municipality of Kvinnherad, the aim of the paper was to gain a deeper understanding of the gaps between refugee patients and the healthcare service. By discussing the refugees' perceptions of important factors for improvement in their healthcare encounters, and linking them to the theories of social and cultural capital, the research finds that despite legal right to services and healthcare systems principle of offering equal access for all, refugees can hold a disadvantage in accessing and recieving care. Additionally to being a contribution to the academic research field on refugees meeting with new healthcare systems, the case study brings a new layer of knowledge about refugees' familiarization process in the municipality of Kvinnherad.

According to the Global Trends Report 2021 provided by UNHCR (2022), there were 89.3 million forcibly displaced people in the world at the end of 2021, of which more than a quarter were refugees. This implies that there are more forcibly displaced people who cannot be called as refugees. The contemporary refugee and forced migration issue has developed from the social transformation in line with globalization and neoliberalism. This thesis aims to reveal how transnational migration and social transformation affect the refugee policies of the two countries where there is nothing geographically, historically, and culturally in common. To do so, the methodological approach of comparative case studies (CCS) is used to examine the refugee policies of Sweden and South Korea.  As empirical data, semi-structured interviews with government agents and NGOs from each country are analyzed and assessed with the use of theoretical framework of neoliberalism and its impact on social transformation. The results suggest that the refugee policies of the two countries converged on the minimum level of protection. Furthermore, not only refugees or asylum seekers but also many other people, including migrants and even native born cannot get appropriate protection from the current system. An additional finding is that countries should develop reasonable migration policy to meet both the demand of the national economy and humanitarian protection. This would be possible by preparing the entry rights for economic migrants in accordance with their labor market demands and guaranteeing appropriate entitlements for them.  This thesis demonstrates that comparing the refugee policy between Western and non-Western countries has significance for understanding the power relations that bind the seemingly dissimilar countries together. Therefore, the refugee policies in non-Western countries and their relationship with Western counterparts should be researched further.

The Keffiyeh, a traditional headdress, holds symbolic significance for Palestinians in their struggle for freedom against the occupation, yet its utilization in the fashion industry has drawn criticism for its exploitative nature and disregard for its cultural importance to Palestinians. Hence, this thesis examines Palestinians' perceptions of the use of the Keffiyeh in the fashion industry and the significance of this garment for their cultural identity. It is based on semi-structured interviews with five Palestinian women who were born in Palestine and in Europe. This paper draws upon cultural appropriation as a foundational element in the academic background, while utilizing cultural identity as a theoretical framework. The results of the analysis demonstrate that the Keffiyeh plays an important role in the cultural identity of the interviewed Palestinians’ and that its use in the fashion industry is viewed as an appropriation of their culture. By situating this paper within the current body of research on cultural identity and cultural appropriation, it aims to provide valuable insights into the importance of the Keffiyeh for Palestinian identity through an examination of the Palestinian perspective, thereby contributing to existing scholarly discourse.

This thesis aims to investigate social integration experiences of Nigerian students in the United Kingdom, focusing on the influence off participating in social activities and building connections with the local community. The research aims to understand how these factors contribute to the overall social integration of Nigerian students in the United Kingdom. Study shows that many of the participants form meaningful social connections with natives in their host communities. However, few expressed a preference for maintaining cultural boundaries and avoiding social connections. Findings show that, sense of belonging within the host community was found to be influenced by personal ideologies, experiences, cultural background, and attitudes. The outcome of this study provides deeper understanding of the challenges faced by migrants during the process of acculturation, it also reiterates the significance of establishing inclusive and supportive environments to facilitate migrants’ integration into the host community.

One of the pillars of a democratic society is social trust. It strengthens the perception of group values and creates a social environment that may influence attitudes toward immigrants. This paper delves into the dynamics of frequent social interaction (FSI), attitudes towards immigrants (ATI), and the mediating role of social trust (ST). The research aims to investigate the connections that underpin the relationships within this democratic system in Sweden. Does social trust and frequent social interaction influence attitudes toward immigrants? This paper uses the European Social Survey (ESS), particularly the 2018-2019 Round 9, focusing on Sweden. Hayes Process Macro Model 4 simple mediation is used to regress and explore the relationship between these variables. The quantitative analysis result indicates that there were statistically significant relationships between FSI and ATI with the presence of social trust as the mediator. The research paper provided findings that are beneficial in the study of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) and added information on how attitudes toward immigrants influence Swedish society. Lastly, a proposal for future research is then discussed and concluded.

Indigenous peoples have special relation to the land, and they might seek to gain landrights based on their historical acknowledgment within a nation state in the modern days. The acknowledgment for the rights of these lands is based on their ethnic identity, historical and colonial roots and by the concept of self-determination. The structures and power are held by the nation states and guided by the international frameworks, which determine who are the people who hold rights to these lands. The research uses comparative political analysis in the special case of indigenous peoples in Sweden and Finland to illustrate recent political debate concerning land rights and self-determination. This paper offers analysis about the recent political trajectories regarding the ratification of C169 in both countries by combining political analysis and approach from the social sciences. The findings suggest that the question of self-determination, land and domestic legislation play a role why these countries have not ratified the legally binding convention C169.

Taking the form of a case study on an interpellation on ‘youth crime and street gangs’ and its consideration in plenary debate in the Finnish Parliament in December 2022, the purpose of this study is to examine how politicians narrate the Finnish community of value and its boundaries. The methodological framework of this study consists of strategic narrative analysis, poststructural and critical research theoretical underpinnings, and the operationalization of the concept of ‘community of value’. The findings of the study show that the strategic narratives on the Finnish community of value are diverse but return to similar points of boundary-making problematizing the ‘Migrant’ as part of a ‘suspect population’. The character of the community of value is simultaneously defined through the ordinary actions of its ‘Good Citizens’ and Finland as ‘not-Sweden’. Ultimately, the role left to play for the ‘Migrant’ is one of a ‘Tolerated Citizen’. These findings add a contribution to the field of critical migration and integration studies, as well as to the field of Finnish and Nordic political discourses.