In 2015, more than 160.000 people sought asylum in Sweden, twice as many as the year before and a number that far exceeded the Swedish Migration Agency’s estimation. This event tested society’s resilience capacities, as several Swedish institutions’ had to cope and adapt to the situation. By conducting a case study analysis of the local community’s response to the “refugee crisis” in a small Swedish municipality, this thesis aims to explore the pathways of rural resilience in a small Swedish municipality in response to unforeseen events, such as the “refugee crisis”. Drawing from Stenbacka’s (2013) work on rural resilience, this thesis identifies three converging pathways that contributed to forming a resilient rural community: 1) rural ties 2) open spaces for civil society, and 3) building on best practices. The findings illustrate how rural processes of learning and adapting to prevailing challenges help communities cope and adapt to unforeseen events and demonstrate how the prevailing planning discourse can benefit from adding a rural perspective. The findings also suggest a relationship between rural resilience and emotional citizenry, as the pathway to rural resilience enables spaces that unfold feelings of inclusion and belonging through interpersonal encounters.

Refugee families who flee their homes as a result of conflict or persecution and face stressful migration experiences often struggle with trauma that may put them at increased risk for family discord and dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to use an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of 8 refugee mothers resettled in the United States, in particular their experiences pre-, during, and post-migration, and to further examine the impact that these experiences had on their relationships to their children and families. The study also examined mothers' experiences with different forms of support systems post-resettlement. Participants were recruited through a resettlement agency in Roanoke, Virginia. This study illuminated a number of key findings to further inform research, theory, and practice with this population. Refugee mothers reported stressful and traumatic experiences across their migration, describing harsh living conditions, prolonged stays in refugee camps, and loss of children and other family members as some of the most stressful experiences. Once resettled, mothers spoke of continued challenges, including language barriers and inconsistent or arbitrary support from formal social support services. Findings also suggest resiliency among this sample of refugee families, with mothers highlighting strong relationships with their children during and post-migration. The current study further informs the family stress literature and contributes a strength-based framework to understanding challenges faced by refugee families across the migration period. / Doctor of Philosophy / Refugee families who flee their homes as a result of conflict or persecution and face stressful migration experiences often struggle with trauma that may put them at increased risk for family dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of 8 refugee mothers resettled in the United States, in particular their experiences pre-, during, and post-migration, and to further examine the impact that these experiences had on their relationships with their children and families. The study also examined mothers’ experiences with different forms of support after resettlement. Participants were recruited through a resettlement agency in Roanoke, Virginia. This study highlighted a number of key findings to further inform research, theory, and practice with this population. Refugee mothers reported stressful and traumatic experiences across their migration, describing harsh living conditions, prolonged stays in refugee camps, and loss of children and other family members as some of the most stressful experiences. Once resettled, mothers spoke of continued challenges, including language barriers and inconsistent support from social services. Findings also showed mothers’ resiliency, with mothers highlighting strong relationships with their children during and post-migration. The current study further informs the family stress literature and contributes a strength-based framework to understanding challenges faced by refugee families across the migration period.

Denna studie sker med bakgrund av den flyktingsituation som uppstod i världen under 2015 och som kom att kallas den värsta flyktingkatastrofen sedan andra världskriget. Många länder i Europa, Sverige inkluderat, upplevde ett ökat antal asylsökande under denna period och detta blev föremål för en intensiv mediabevakning och en rad politiska åtgärder. Syftet med denna uppsats är att kritiskt granska hur flyktingar och flyktingmigrationen till Sverige under hösten 2015 konstrueras genom den offentliga diskursen som förekommer i svensk nyhetsrapportering. Syftet är även att undersöka hur dessa konstruktioner kan komma att skapa en bild av människor på flykt som ”den andre”. Detta kommer göras genom att undersöka på vilket sätt flyktingmigrationen framställs i Aftonbladet med utgångspunkt i två av de politiska beslut som togs 2015, nämligen införandet av ID-och gränskontroller. Detta har gjorts genom en kvalitativ textanalys med hjälp av en perspektivanalys. Två perspektiv kunde identifieras i de undersökta artiklarna, Hot-perspektivet, där flyktingmigrationen till Sverige framsälldes som ett hot mot Sverige och den svenska välfärden, och Humanitetperspektivet, som fungerade som ett motperspektiv till Hot-perspektivet där Hot-perspektivets problemformulering ifrågasätts och den problematiska situationen anses vara att i och med de politiska besluten om att begränsa antalet asylsökande hotas flyktingars grundläggande mänskliga rättigheter. Studien kom fram till att Hot-perspektivet präglas starkt av en nationalstatlig uppfattning med spår av en rasistisk diskurs som bidrar till att sprida en uppdelning mellan ”vi” och ”dem” som i sin tur kan leda till spridandet av en exkluderande inställning gentemot asylsökande. Genom att beskriva flyktingmigrationen som ett hot mot det svenska samhället bidrar perspektivet till att legitimera en mer restriktiv hållning då dessa beslut framstår som rimliga och möjliga. Humanitetperspektivet präglas av en mer global syn som erbjuder en mer inkluderande uppfattning av flyktingar och asylsökande. Genom att lyfta problemformuleringen och placera den problematiska situationen både i och utanför Sverige bidrar Humanitetperspektivet med men mer global syn på flyktingmigrationen som sammanfogar världen till ett mer sammansatt samhälle istället för att se den som uppdelad i nationer.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how asylum-seeking refugees manage their lives in the situation they are in, a situation in which they are dependent and have to wait for decisions on whether or not they will get to stay in the country in which they have made their application for asylum.  The elaboration upon these questions and the purpose of the study is approached through a field study of asylum-seeking refugees from Afghanistan in Sweden. The thesis presents a background of international migration, refugee migration, refugee migration from Afghanistan and the reception of asylum seekers and refugees in the EU and Sweden, which tells us both that asylum seekers and refugees are not welcome in the countries of the ‘North’, where policies of containment and repatriation are the most common features of treating the refugee ‘problem’ and that the long period of waiting and uncertainty creates a situation of passivity and ill-health among the asylum seekers. Employing grounded theory methodology in different forms based in data from fieldwork, including participant observations and informal conversations, the study applies a constructionist grounded theory approach in the analyses of the situation and the management thereof. Steered by this constructionist grounded theory approach, strengthened by a situational analysis, the thesis presents a situational frame pointing to the situation for the asylum-seeking refugees as temporal and dependent on Swedish national discourse, racism and paternalism. With this background and frame and generated by data from the field study, the thesis goes on to present the situation as disempowering. The disempowering processes are illustrated through looking at dependence and inhospitality, and are characterised by the asylum-seeking refugees’ oscillation between feelings of hope and despair. It becomes, however, also evident that the asylum-seeking refugees take action and that they are supported by latent empowering processes. The actions taken are categorised as actions of empowering in opposition to the processes presented as disempowering. The actions of empowering are connected to keeping oneself occupied, searching for and maintaining social contacts and in the asylum-seeking refugees’ representations of themselves. From the presentation of the situation as disempowering and the actions taken by the asylum-seeking refugees in response to this situation as actions of empowering, a process characterised as seeking empowerment is presented. In this process empowerment is discussed as the establishment of power to resist. During the discussion of the concept of seeking empowerment it is shown how the asylum-seeking refugees in this study, through their actions of empowering, try to resist the disempowering situation. By seeking to establish power to resist, they are seeking empowerment.

This thesis explores the mobility intentions of refugees in Hofors. The aim is to apply the theoretical framework of the life course perspective and social network theory; evaluating their suitability in approaching the topic of refugees’ mobility intentions in the Swedish countryside. The research questions ask how the life courses, social networks, and the specific locality influences their mobility intentions. The empirical research is based on biographical interviews and participatory mapping with refugee migrants residing in Hofors and an expert interview with a municipal employee. The findings illuminate: the role and dominance of different life domains at different timings (e.g. importance of the work domain in the initial stages of integration), the function of social networks as a resource of information, and the social context offered by Hofors (facilitating certain resources) – indicating the central importance of this conjunction, between the needs of trajectories within certain life domains and the ability of the locality to satisfy these needs, in influencing the mobility intentions. The research is situated in the field of international migration to the Swedish countryside, focusing on how rural municipalities can retain more refugees, by addressing the issue from the perspective of refugee migrants.

Same, but different? A comparison of the integration experiences of refugees and guest worker migrants in Germany Abstract The increasing number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany over the past years have not only sparked an emotional public debate on immigration and societal membership, but have also proven to be a major challenge for policy-makers. Although the volume of refugee migration is indeed unprecedented in Germany, the country has had significant experience with receiving and integrating newcomers in its recent past: the post-war economic boom has led to the recruitment of millions of foreign workers, so- called Gastarbeiter. A non-negligible share ultimately settled permanently, but their integration process was not without its challenges. This paper argues that Germany's guest worker experience offers valuable insight into current integration processes in the German context. To make this existing knowledge accessible, this work uses a historical approach to identify the main elements that have shaped the integration experiences of guest workers in Germany, tied in with an econometric examination assessing the main factors in turn associated with the economic integration of the current refugee cohort. Comparison of the results suggest that a range of obstacles faced by guest workers and their...

Southern Africa generally has an arid climate and many hydrologists are predicting an increase in water scarcity over time. This research seeks to understand the implications of this in socio-political terms. The study is cross-disciplinary, examining how policy interventions can be used to solve the problem caused by the interaction between hydrology and demography. The conclusion is that water scarcity is not the actual problem, but is perceived as the problem by policy-makers. Instead, water scarcity is the manifestation of the problem, with root causes being a combination of climate change, population growth and misallocation of water within the economy due to a desire for national self-sufficiency in agriculture. The solution lies in the trade of products with a high water content, also known as 'virtual water'. Research on this specific issue is called for by the White Paper on Water Policy for South Africa. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)

Southern Africa generally has an arid climate and many hydrologists are predicting an increase in water scarcity over time. This research seeks to understand the implications of this in socio-political terms. The study is cross-disciplinary, examining how policy interventions can be used to solve the problem caused by the interaction between hydrology and demography. The conclusion is that water scarcity is not the actual problem, but is perceived as the problem by policy-makers. Instead, water scarcity is the manifestation of the problem, with root causes being a combination of climate change, population growth and misallocation of water within the economy due to a desire for national self-sufficiency in agriculture. The solution lies in the trade of products with a high water content, also known as 'virtual water'. Research on this specific issue is called for by the White Paper on Water Policy for South Africa. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)