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>

Avhandlingen beskriver och analyserar hur skolvalfriheten som policy, det vill säga uppfattad möjlighet och hot tar sig i uttryck i vardaglig praktik. Aspekter av diskurser, praktiker analyseras i avhandlingen utifrån olika aktörers handlingshorisonter. Avhandlingens kontext består av en urbant belägen lokal skolmarknad, inom vilken aktörers praktiker och strategier undersöks. Avhandlingen behandlas således hur ungdomar, familjer och skolprofessionella navigerar skolvalfriheten i en alltmer polariserad och storstadsregion. Teoretiskt ramas studien in av Pierre Bourdieu sociologi samt koncept från det kulturgeografiska fältet. Metodeoliskt bygger avhandlingen på empiri insamlat med etnografiska metoder under läsåret 2012-2013. I de fem empiriska kapitlen diskuteras hur föreställda geografier, skolhabitus, rykten och symboliska gränser förhandlas av studiens aktörer. I det avslutande kapitlet diskuteras och analyseras avhandlingens främsta bidrag. Kapitlet lyfter också några frågeställningar som måste adresseras för ett mer jämlikt utbildningssystem. / This thesis explores and analyses how school choices are made and perceived in an urban local school market. The thesis uses concepts from the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and theories working with the concept of place and space. Using ethnographical methods, it explores the geography of school choice, while the empirical material describes and analyses school choices in a local school market structured by socio-economic as well as symbolic boundaries. The five empirical chapters discuss and analyse imaginary geographies, school habitus, hot and cold knowledge, and symbolic boundaries. The concluding chapter discusses the main findings and addresses some questions regarding how to make the educational system more equitable.