This manuscript is dedicated to researching the link between language acquisition and cultural integration. As this has overtime become a glaring gap in multiple federal integration policy instruments, we carried out both theoretical reviews as well as fieldwork to answer this question. In so far as fieldwork goes, we recruited two contrasting participants twenty-two and thirty-five years old respectively, male and female, from different cultural groups but both sharing the overall goal of integration in Canada and enrolled in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program. We carried out semi-structured interviews by way of a theory-based protocol and subsequently processed the data via thematic analysis techniques to arrive at our results. Empirically speaking, we synthesized our participants’ lived experiences and perceptions and found that language plays four distinct roles related to culture and cultural integration. First, it is a tool with which to transmit cultural information directly (the referential function). Second, it is the carrier of a second wave of pragmatic (e.g. body language, prosody) from which cultural norms and conventions can be inferred. Third, language is a tool for group differentiation on the basis of which prototypical members (i.e. native-speakers both in the source and destination culture) at times ostracize learners based on linguistic markers. Lastly, we find that it is precisely the experience of loss of membership, disembeddedness, and lack of belonging in previous and future speech groups which then drives newcomers to cultural integration patterns which are less than additive in nature such as intersection and compartmentalization.

This study aims to investigate on the social and cultural integration experiences of Afghan women in Sweden, in terms of their social networks and their socio-cultural practices. In addition, this paper questions where the Afghan women feel belonging to and what factors shape this sense of belonging. For this reason, a qualitative methodology is applied and the data is compiled through semi-structured interviews with ten Afghan women residing in Malmö, Sweden, with using both focus group interviews and individual interviews as the data collecting procedures. The concepts of socio-cultural integration, sense of belonging and social network have been utilized as the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of the study. With regards to social networks, this research intends to investigate on the social interactions of the participants with people of their own ethnic group and also with Swedes. Regarding the socio-cultural practices, the eating habits and the holiday celebration and participation of Afghan women participating in the research are examined as indicators of their cultural integration. The findings of the study reveal that language proficiency is considered as the key factor for socio-cultural integration among the participants. In general, the participants experience different levels of social interactions both with other Afghans and with Swedes. The study also shows that while the participants are committed to the Afghan cultural practices such as eating Afghan foods and celebrating their holidays, they also welcome some of the Swedish cultural practices. In addition, mutual respect has a fundamental place in Afghan women‟s interactions with the host culture and values. Moreover, the participants of this study experience different notions of belonging, and factors such as their family ties, safety, and discrimination vs. acceptance shape their feeling of belonging to both Sweden and Afghanistan. In general, the findings of this study confirm Beg‟s statement (2005) that Afghan women are not a homogenous group, and experience different varieties of socio-cultural integration and different notions of belonging.

This report studies three storytelling subprojects within the field of cultural heritage to see how storytelling, co-design and cultural heritage can strengthen immigrants’ personal identity and contribute to their socio-cultural integration. It also aims to examine what factors contribute to a successful collaboration. The subprojects about local homeland culture include filmmaking with newly arrived children at Skövde Municipality’s mother tongue and reception unit, a storytelling project at Hjo folk high school and a digital book of recipes and stories within Cross media higher vocational education program at DaCapo in Mariestad Municipality. To answer the research questions semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants, potential users, and professionals. Additionally, a survey was carried out with participants of one of the subprojects.