Immigrant entrepreneurs are seen in many societies in present days, no exception for a country like Sweden with a significant number of foreign-born populations. This thesis gets in touch with current immigrant entrepreneurs in the country to obtain first-hand experiences in the entrepreneurial process. The thesis explores the factors affecting these immigrant entrepreneurs in business establishment from the first-person point of view. Employing the mixed embeddedness approach in analysis, the thesis investigates the interactions between the immigrant entrepreneurs and the environment. Every part of the society and individual characteristics could impact the decision made by immigrant entrepreneurs regarding business establishment. The establishment of business is a result of contributions from many different elements surrounding the immigrant entrepreneur. This thesis represents some of the many actual experiences in the Swedish society. There is still an extensive field left to explore and many diversified experiences to be discovered.

This master thesis examines migration issues, focuses on the potential of social remittances, and explores the links between social and financial remittances. The qualitative approach to the research uses the method of semi-structured and in-depth interviews to collect the data in the context of Czechs living in the United Kingdom. This research falls under the concept of transnationalism, uses transnational lenses for exploring processes, and is mainly based upon the concept of social remittances, thus is concerned with flows of norms, know-how, systems of practice, ideas, or social capital from one country to another. This thesis also builds on the expanded conceptualization of social remittances by other researchers. Linking social and financial remittances is done by using the concept of remittance scripts and related activities of migrants. Verbal data from the interviews were analyzed using primarily the inducted method and the method of content analysis. The analyzed results meet the aims of the research and bring a deeper understanding of the potential of social remittances. The factors influencing the potential of social remittances are mainly the work environment of migrants, the importance of unskilled positions, social skills, or intensive transnational links. The key role is also...

Background: Refugees have existed throughout human history, but in recent times it has become morecommon for children without adult company to arrive at Europe's borders. Most children who have arrived in Sweden in recent years have a background in Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea. In 2015 a record number came to Sweden when 35,369 unaccompanied children arrived. During the influx of refugees between 2015 and 2016, an estimated 170,000 children and young people came to Europe's borders and applied for asylum. Aim: Describe contributing factors to mental health problems among unaccompanied refugee children. Method: The purpose of the study is answered with a literature review with a qualitative approach based on 11 scientific articles taken from PubMed and CINAHL. Results: Four themes were identified: Traumatic experiences, Migration process, Agedetermination and Gender. The predominant factors that contributed to mental health problems among the children turned out to be traumatic experiences before and during the migration as well as the protracted migration process. Conclusion: The results of this literature study showed that unaccompanied refugee children have experienced various traumatic events before and during the migration process and face adversity and difficulties in the new country. / Bakgrund: Flyktingar har funnits genom mänsklighetens historia men på senare tid har det blivit vanligare att barn utan vuxet sällskap anländer till Europas gränser. De flesta barn som har anlänt till Sverige i de senaste åren har bakgrund i Somalia, Irak, Syrien, Afghanistan och Eritrea. Under 2015 kom det rekordmånga till Sverige när det anlände 35 369 ensamkommande barn. Under flyktingströmmen mellan 2015 och 2016 kom det uppskattningsvis 170 000 barn och unga till Europasgränser och ansökte om asyl. Syfte: Beskriva faktorer som kan bidra till psykisk ohälsa bland ensamkommande barn. Metod: Studiens syfte besvaras med en litteraturöversikt med kvalitativ ansats som grundades på 11 vetenskapliga artiklar som hämtades från PubMed samt CINAHL. Resultat: Fyra teman identifierades: Traumatiska upplevelser, Migrationsprocessen, Åldersbedömning och Genus. De övervägande faktorerna som bidrog till psykisk ohälsa bland barnen visade sig vara traumatiska upplevelser innan och under migrationen samt den utdragna migrationsprocessen. Slutsats: Resultatet i denna litteraturstudie visade att ensamkommande flyktingbarn har varit med om olika traumatiska händelser innan och under migrationens gång samt bemöter motgångar och svårigheter i det nya landet. Alla dessa faktorer bidrar till högre risk för att utveckla psykiska problem.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and identify underlying problems in newspaper representation of integration and labor market. My media analysis includes articles published in 2018-2022. The purpose of this is to get as nuanced picture as possible. This thesis uses theories that individually or jointly help define and answer problems in medial narratives of integration and labor market. Social constructivism is applied as theoretical and conceptual lens by which to analyze and critically study social constructions shaped by language. Conceptually, the notion of stigma is utilized together with empirical work in order to understand the structural discrimination that occurs in the news texts. Established and outsiders brings out the dichotomy between different groups in society. I have found that the explored debate articles show complexity of a divided society. Integration and the labor market produces immigrants as a societal problem. Immigrants become synonymous with criminals and threats to the economy. My media analysis shows that the debate is used as a political instrument, used to blame others for its failed reforms and efforts. Since most articles use this type of representation, this contributes and is reproduced as knowledge to the reader.

This study focuses on diversity issues such as ethnicity, gender, and discrimination in the police profession, but mainly in connection with women and people with other ethnic backgrounds in the profession. The study is based on three questions that are answered during the study. To proceed with this survey, I have used a text analysis survey that I built up with the help of empirical data in the form of literature, reports from the government, annual reports of the police and previous publications in the form of blog posts to get the experiences my questions are out after. My theoretical perspectives in this study are the gender system by Yvonne Hirdman. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's theory of different capitals. Erving Goffman's theory Stigma which deals with classification and social deviations. To understand the aspect of power, I use the concept of Hegemony. The result of my study was that it is constantly working to increase diversity and gender equality in the police profession, but that it is still unequal.

The approach of this study is that conversion to Islam leads to stigmatization. Based on that the aim of this study is to examine what reactions and treatment Swedish Muslim converts have experienced from their families regarding their conversion to Islam, how they prepare for revealing their conversion, what strategies they use to handle their families’ reactions and whether this has any significance in their self-perception. The study is qualitative and was made with semi-structured interviews with five Swedish female converts. The theories used are Erving Goffman’s stigma and the concepts of Islamophobia and Swedishness. The results show that the converts prepare the revealing of their conversion by speaking openly and positively about Islam a long time before the revealing. The reactions received indicate reproduced Islamophobic prejudices and aversions and take form of grief, shame, and despair to more far-reaching reactions such as negative violations, distancing, lack of support and exclusion from the family unity and from Swedishness. The women explain that they hide the fact that they pray, and, in some cases, they take off their headscarves when visiting their families. Furthermore, they wear a turban or put on headscarves and clothes with bright colors to look more ‘normal’. Finally, their self-perception is affected by all the negative reactions and treatment, and they clarify that they feel ambiguities about how to perceive themselves: as ‘real’ Swedes or not since their families tell them they areno longer considered as such

This thesis aims to explore why, and in what ways football is, and can be used within humanitarian action. I will discuss the reasons why football is particularly suitable, and how to build an effective program. I will take a closer look at peacebuilding and psychosocial support, how it connects to football and what attributes of the game that promotes a project’s success. The research is based on a literature study, and I have taken examples from both academic articles and other books. I have found a range of attributes that makes football particularly good to work with, including the physical aspect of the game, the joy it brings to the participants, and that it is a safe framed space where to explore new perspectives. That football is a team sport is essential when working with both peacebuilding and psychosocial support. The social platform football consists of is the foundation to cooperation and changing the view of ‘the other’. Moreover, it can build a sense of belongingness, not only to the players themselves but also to the team and the club which might be crucial in a volatile context such as forced migration. I partly challenge the idea that sport does not have any inherent positive factors for people’s well-being. I found the physical aspect and that it is teams that are winning, not individuals as reasons for this. But I also found, that creating an environment where the actors are autonomously motivated is the most important factor, not only to give optimal opportunity for the actors to perform in the best way but for their well-being as well.

In this thesis, through critically analysing images and text in a selection of Swedish children's picture books, the aim is to investigate how white and non-white bodies are represented, and how racial differences between these white and non-white bodies are depicted and racial meanings addressed. Theoretical concepts from within the field of Critical race- and Whiteness studies are applied, to demonstrate how hegemonic whiteness and colour-blindness as discourse is prevalent in these children´s books, which is achieved by using non-white characters as tokens. Moreover, this study of representation is an illustrative case for how race can function as social construct, and thus should have value as an analytical concept also in IMER-studies performed in the Swedish context. It can additionally lift a discussion about the importance for children at an early age, to develop awareness and understanding of how race can affect individual lives.

Albanians are known for their long legacy in migrating worldwide for economic reasons, especially in Europe. Yet, return programs and policies are falling behind to meet the needs of those migrants who decides to return to their home country. The aim of this study is to explore the topic of return migration and reintegration in the context of Albanian migrants. To this end, this thesis answers three research questions: 1) What are the forces driving Albanians to emigrate from their country of origin? 2) What are reasons that Albanians return to their country of origin? 3) What are the challenges that Albanian returnees face during the reintegration process in Albania? The main theoretical lenses adapted by this study are the social network theory, the theory of reintegration, and push-pull factors. Through a qualitative research, based on semi-structured interviews, this study identifies as pull factors of migration higher paying jobs and employment opportunities, while recognising educational systems and labour laws as push factors. Furthermore, discrimination and unsuccessful acculturation resulted as key drivers of return. Finally, this study investigates dysfunctional systems, unresponsive public institutions, and economic difficulties as significant challenges throughout returnees’ reintegration.

On May 26th, 2020, the world was shocked after learning that George Floyd had died at the hands of the police while being wrongfully arrested. Protests took place worldwide, demanding justice for Floyd as well as the end of the systematic racism present institutionally in police forces. In Europe, people started raising their voices, denouncing that this phenomenon was no stranger to the Old Continent. Indeed, the last few years have witnessed the media coverage of multiple cases of police violence based on ethnic grounds. The media play a key role as the source of information for the population, they decide what is going to be on the headline, catching people’s eye. France has especially attracted attention with its racial profiling practices that go against the 2001 European Code of Police Ethics acting as recommended guidelines for the Member States. Therefore, this study aims to analyse media discourses depicting three specific cases of police violence: the Adama Traoré Case, the Theo Luhaka Case, and the Michel Zecler Case. Following the model of Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, the point of this thesis is to find whether the power relations regulating the world can be identified within these discourses. By analysing the articles and finding similarities in how they portray the events then an idea of the institutional and societal power relations in France.