This thesis explores diaspora experiences among Somali-Swedish parents and their daughters where the girls are enrolled in a Muslim-profiled school. The thesis uses migration theory with a transnational perspective, with findings that depart from the traditional view of migrants’ rootedness in a single country. It adopts the new paradigm for the sociology of childhood, where childhood is regarded as a social construction and children are considered to possess agency and competence. Anthony Giddens’s structuration theory and its main concept ‘duality of structure’ was employed as a theoretical tool. Methods that were used were participant observation, interviews (individual and in group) and analysis of essays. The thesis consists of three studies. The first study explores how Somali-Swedish parents explain their choice of a Muslim-profiled school for their children. The results refute the traditional view that such choices are solely faith-based, showing faith as important but not determining. Important factors were finding a school that met their high educational ambitions and  made both parents and children feel trusted, safe and not disrespected because of their faith and skin-colour. The second study explores transnational experiences, particularly the transfer of transnational practices from the Somali-Swedish parents’ to their children and the construction of a transnational social space, built on close global relationships. The results show that transnational practices are feasible irrespective of physical travel. The study also exemplifies the group’s readiness to relocate between countries by the onward migration from Sweden to Egypt, and implications for the children are illuminated. Somalis in diaspora often explain their propensity to move by their past nomadic life-patterns, but this study shows as strong factors the desire for better opportunities in combination with experiences of cultural and economic marginalisation in the West. The third study analyses how girls in grade 5 (about eleven years old) imagine their future career and family life by analysing essays. The findings reveal that their dreams are both consistent with the expectations of their families (in particular, high educational ambitions) and inspired from elsewhere (particularly in terms of future family life). How the girls imagine their adulthood could be seen as an example of how their original culture is subject to change in a new environment. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript.</p><p> </p>

Les langues d'immigration sont une catégorie spéciale de langues minoritaires, caractérisées par le fait qu'elles peuvent être majoritaires dans leur pays d'origine. C'est d'ailleurs pour cette raison que le Conseil de l'Europe, dans sa Charte Européenne des Langues Régionales ou Minoritaires, a choisi de ne pas les intégrer en argumentant que leur statut officiel, ou du moins majoritaire, dans leurs Etats d'origine suffit à assurer leur protection et à leur promotion. Néanmoins, les locuteurs de ces langues, en contexte de migration, sont tout de même en position de minorités. L’étude de ces dernières revêt alors toute son importance. Comment les locuteurs parlent-ils, protègent-ils et enseignent-ils leurs langues d'origine ? Quelle représentation de leurs langues ont-ils ? Peut-on, pour mieux comprendre ces phénomènes linguistiques, catégoriser les migrations et ainsi différencier plusieurs types de communautés ? Une diaspora se différencie-t-elle d'une migration économique par ses pratiques linguistiques ? Un modèle est-il envisageable ? Le rapport au territoire de ces communautés sera central dans ce questionnement. Trois communautés migrantes d'origine européenne seront étudiées pour essayer de répondre à ces questions. Le choix de ces dernières est représentatif de différentes configurations migratoires mais aussi culturelles et, évidemment, linguistiques. Les concepts de diaspora et de communauté transnationale seront analysés. Le choix de travailler sur des langues européennes découle d'un raisonnement simple. Le statut de citoyen de l'Union Européenne des locuteurs de ces langues leur confère le droit de circuler librement dans les Etats membres et cette mobilité intra-communautaire va aller crescendo au fil des années jusqu'à devenir - ne l'est-il pas déjà ? - un enjeu capital de l'UE. De plus, la proximité culturelle, religieuse et linguistique de ces communautés vis-à-vis de la France, ainsi que la proximité géographique des territoires d'origine et d'accueil sont des éléments à prendre en compte. / Immigration languages are a special category of minority languages, characterized by the fact that they may be majoritarily spoken in their original countries. It is for this reason that the Council of Europe, in their European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, chose not to integrate them basing on the argument that their official status, or at least their majoritarily-spoken status, in their original countries is sufficient to ensure their protection and promotion. However, speakers of these languages in immigration context are still in a position of minorities. Hence it is important to study them. How speakers speak, protect and teach their native languages? What representations of their languages do they have? Can we, to have a better understanding of these linguistic phenomena, categorize the migrations and differentiate several types of communities? Do diasporas differ from economics migrations in their linguistics practices? Is it possible to establish a model? The relation to the territory of these communities will be central to this inquiry. Three migrant communities of European origin will be studied in the end to answer these questions, the choice of which is based on the representativity migration and cultural patterns and, of course, language patterns. The concepts of diaspora and transnational community will be analyzed. The choice to work on European languages derives from a simple reasoning. The European Union citizenship status of the speakers of these languages gives them the right to move freely within the Member States and the intra-EU mobility will go crescendo over the years to come – isn’t it already the case? - a key issue in the EU. In addition, the proximity to these communities - cultural, religious and linguistic - with French people, as well as the geographical proximity between original and host countries are taken into account.