The neighbourhood of Sofielund in Malm. is marked by diversity in terms of its population and its varying architecture and types of housing. It is also marked by social divisions, including poverty, housing exploitations and criminality. Over time, a large number of interventions have been implemented to better the situation. The interventions are, among other things, inspired by the Business Improvement District (BID) model and include efforts to enhance social cohesion through a strategy of “opening up Sofielund” through creating “meeting-places.” The article provides an analysis of the lived experiences of residents in Sofielund, and shows how policy efforts on “social cohesion” and the creation of meeting-places are perceived by residents. The presentation argues that while meeting-places aim to even out tensions and strengthen social cohesion, they may also reproduce existent power relations and increase tensions. Consequently, the article shows that strategies of opening up places can have the unintended consequences of closing down for buildings, people, and social relations. The article focuses on how inequality and exclusion unfold in inclusive spaces, and entail different forms of polarisation based on “us” and “them”.

Bydelen Sofielund er pr.get af diversitet, både i forhold til beboere og varieret arkitektur med forskellige typer af boliger. Bydelen er også markeret ved sociale skel, som omfatter fattigdom, boligspekulation og kriminalitet. Der er igennem tiden blevet iværksat et stort antal interventioner for at forbedre situationen. Disse interventioner er bl.a. inspireret af den internationale Business Improvement District (BID) og inkluderer bestræbelser på at forstærke social sammenhængskraft gennem strategier til at “åbne Sofielund” gennem skabelsen af “mødesteder”. Artiklen analysere levede erfaringer blandt beboere i Sofielund, og hvordan de opfatter policyindsatsen omkring “social sammenhængskraft” og etableringen af “mødesteder”. Artiklen argumenterer for, at hvor skabelsen af mødesteder har til formål at udligne spændinger og skabe social sammenhængskraft, kan de også reproducere eksisterende magtrelationer og forøge spændinger. Således viser artiklen, at strategier til at åbne steder kan have utilsigtede konsekvenser i form af at lukke ned for både bygninger, mennesker og sociale relationer. Artiklen fokuserer på, hvordan diversitet og eksklusion i denne proces udfoldes i inklusive rum og omfatter forskellige former for polarisering af ‘os’ og ‘dem’.

The overall aim of the chapter is to contribute to the discussion on how teachers’ facilitation of classroom interaction can be understood in view of mono- and bi-/multilingual norms, and more specifically how teachers relate to, make use of, and strengthen children’s epistemic authority through language competences in the multilingual classroom. The analysis is primarily based on two sets of data. First, teacher interviews which answer to what problems and solutions teachers experience concerning teaching and learning in the multilingual classroom, and how they view their role as facilitator of dialogue and a promoter of agency and hybrid integration in relation to this. Secondly, video-recordings of classroom interaction in selected European localities teachers’ facilitation of dialogue were explored with regard to considering monolingual and bi-/multilingual ideologies and the promotion of hybrid integration. The analysis shows how the monolingual ideology permeates the data material. Students’ multilingual resources are not recognised and valued; consequently, multilingual students’ agency and epistemic authority is hindered. However, there are glimpses of “cracks” where spaces for alternative practices can be developed, in which students can use their full linguistic repertoire, including varying named languages to express their views or ideas beyond the language of instruction, which create potentials for strengthening students’ participation in classroom interactions. The chapter argues that children’s language competences should be integral to understandings of their epistemic authority and calls for further research into how strategies that accomplish this can be developed and transferred across classrooms and localities, with the purpose of strengthening all children’s epistemic authority in education.

Across Europe, migrant children often have lower educational outcomes than non-migrant children. This is a trajectory that can begin early in the school career and have long-term implications and is due to a host of school and non-school factors. This chapter offers an overview of migrant children’s protection, support and education as well as a synopsis of some of the legislation that impacts young migrants and their integration into schools. To this end, it highlights two contrasting cases (those of Belgium and Poland) in order to better illustrate the fact that even in countries with very different histories of migration, approaches to integration and school systems, there are many common obstacles facing migrant children in schools. Available data on the training of teachers and support workers, migrant children’s access to and placement in schools and the structural space for children’s agency in schools is presented here in order to illustrate the difference between policy and the lived reality of migrant children’s integration into schools. The treatment of children in policy and programming that is summarised here shows the complicated position migrant children occupy in policy, society and education systems.

Firewalls are clear divisions between border policing and the provision of basic social rights. They have a dual character: to ensure that no information collected with the purpose of safeguarding basic social rights should be shared for immigration control purposes; and that migrants should not be subject to immigration control when being present at, or in the vicinity, of religious, private and public institutions upholding and providing social rights. This article suggests a normative argument for ‘firewalls’ in the context of social work and develops the concept theoretically as a principle practised and negotiated at different scales.

Sammanfattning 

Detta kunskapsunderlag om integration till Tillväxtkommissionen för ett inkluderande och hållbart Malmö tar avstamp i frågor om hur man kan arbeta för att stärka integration i städer som präglas av en omfattande mångfald i sin befolkning. Rapporten utgör en kunskapsöversikt av ett urval av forskning på området och består utöver inledningen som presenterar rapportens ansats, av tre delar: en mer teoretisk del, en del som presenterar en översikt av empirisk forskning, och en avslutande del som sammanfattar forskningsöversikten och kopplar denna till frågor om integration i Malmö. Denna del innehåller även två rekommendationer och en fråga. 

Inledningen visar hur Malmö, liksom många andra städer, präglas av en omfattande diversitet som uppstått till följd av globala migrationsmönster och nationella bosättningsmönster. År 2021 var 35 procent av befolkningen i Malmö utrikes född. Om vi vidgar greppet och även ser till inrikes personer med minst en utrikes född förälder, det vill säga både personer med egen migrationserfarenhet och personer där en av eller båda föräldrarna har migrationserfarenhet, så har 56 procent av Malmös befolkning migrationsbakgrund och det med ursprung i inte mindre än 184 länder. 44 procent av Malmös befolkning är födda i Sverige av föräldrar som båda är födda i Sverige. Detta innebär att det i Malmö finns fler personer som har migrationsbakgrund än som inte har det. 

Denna utveckling har gett upphov till en omfattande debatt om integration i både forskning, politik och praktik. Medan både forskning, politik och praktiska verksamheter historiskt har utgått från att invandrade minoriteter kommer att assimileras med majoritetsbefolkningen, ibland med stöd för att bevara vissa kulturella särdrag, introducerades begreppet superdiversitet för ett femtontal år sedan för att beskriva nya former av diversifiering och för att öppna upp för en diskussion om integration som tar avstamp i denna pågående utveckling. Denna diversifiering involverar inte bara allt fler födelseländer, nationaliteter och etniciteter, utan även inom varje sådan grupp sker en diversifiering, bland annat i formen av skilda migrationsvägar och juridiska status, vilket påverkar social differentiering och integration. Mot denna bakgrund, syftar superdiversitet som begrepp att möjliggöra en behövlig ’synvända’ kring integration. Kunskapsöversikten tar avstamp i denna diskussion och ser till empirisk forskning som har relevans för hur vi kan tänka kring och verka för att stärka integration i den diversifierade staden. Utöver inledningen som beskriver denna ansats, består rapporten av tre delar. 

Den första delen är mer teoretisk och tar spjärn mot frågan vad diversitet och integration är och hur det kan förstås i samhällen som präglas av omfattande diversitet. Fokus ligger först på diversitet, och vad som skiljer superdiversitet från diversitet i städer. Detta leder in till en diskussion om integration, och inte minst hur super-/diversitet utmanar invanda sätt att tänka kring integration. Denna första del avslutas med en diskussion om hur vi kan tänka kring superdiversitet i ett integrationsperspektiv. Diskussionen tar avstamp i en politik- och praktikorienterad modell för integration och ser till hur denna kan förstås i ljuset av superdiversitet. 

Andra delen presenterar empirisk forskning om integration i urbana sammanhang som präglas av omfattande diversitet. Den modell för integration som presenteras i inledningen, används för att sortera forskningspublikationerna. Avsnittet är strukturerat efter modellens fyra huvudområden för integration (markörer och verktyg; sociala kopplingar; underlättare; fundament), och empirisk forskning om integration och superdiversitet i urbana sammanhang diskuteras i relation till modellens fjorton domäner. 

Den tredje och avslutande delen består av en sammanfattande diskussion, två förslag och en fråga. Den sammanfattande diskussionen lyfter vilka lärdomar som går att dra från befintlig forskning om integration i städer som präglas av en omfattande migrationsdriven mångfald; den sätter fokus på hur integration påverkas av såväl nationell och lokal politik, som hur organisationer och professionella arbetar med integration inom olika verksamheter. Det är alltid en utmaning att säga hur och i vilken grad kunskap från ett sammanhang är överförbar till ett annat. De två rekommendationer som utfärdas riktar sig dels till politiken i Malmö, dels till Malmö stad som organisation. Rapporten avslutas med en fråga om vilket slags kunskapsunderlag Malmö stad behöver för att kunna utveckla politik och praktik så att dessa svarar mot de behov som finns i staden och dess befolkning. 

The transnational perspective contributes to the development of theoretical and practical knowledge of social work as this is conditioned and framed in contemporary dynamics of globalization. Social work transnationalism, also referred to as transnational social work, is related to but typically has a more limited and focused purview than international social work. More than a particular field of practice, social work transnationalism is based in particular understandings of social problems and interventions. In migration studies, the transnational perspective has contributed to a reframing of international migration as multidirectional and continuing mobility dynamics in people’s everyday life and in societies. More broadly in the development of the social sciences, the transnational perspective constitutes a critique of naturalized assumptions of “sedentarism” and of societies as nation-states. In the social sciences, this kind of critique is often referred to as a critique of methodological nationalism. For social work, it means that implicit assumptions of social problems and social work as “naturally” framed by nation-states and the reach of nationally organized welfare programs are questioned. Instead, transnational approaches to social problems and social work regard these as they are shaped, experienced, and needed in globalized societies. While the development of the transnational perspective is diversified, its ontological standpoint makes it a particular perspective. This is also why it has a more limited and focused purview than international social work: international social work is not limited to a particular theoretical perspective. The aim of this article is to organize existing literature on social work from a transnational perspective under relevant themes. Below, Overview Works and Collected Volumes are first presented, followed by five themes, which are divided into subthemes. The first theme, Social Work Transnationalism, includes literature developing the transnational perspective in social work, discussions on transnational social work as a set of practices, and implications for social policy. The second theme, Social Work with Transnational Populations, includes literature on social problems and social work in relation to particular populations of migrants, such as children and elderly. The third theme, Migrant Transnationalism and Social Protection across Borders, is a growing field of literature that regards informal social protection systems, often led by migrants through transnational networks. Finally, the fourth and fifth themes are about implications of Social Work Transnationalism among Migrant Professionals and Social Work Transnationalism and Education.

Following the 2015-peak of asylum-seeking migrants in Europe, asylum-policies have become increasingly restrictive. As bordering has become a prioritized issue among many European national governments, including in the Nordic countries, practices of bordering have also become more decentralised, diffuse and dispersed. This special issue set focus on such bordering practices as these are manifest in the social service sector. It draws on research conducted in Norway and Sweden and consists, besides this introduction, of seven original articles.Of particular focus is how social work, in its regulations and practices, are involved in the bordering of both the nation and the welfare state. Connecting insights from border studies – and related critical research – with social work research, the articles present empirical analyses of the dynamics of bordering practices among varying practitioners and in varying organizations, including legislators, courts, municipalities, street-level social workers and civil society organizations. The special issue as a whole also raises questions about the ethical and political challenges that emerge at the nexus of bordering and social service provision. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of the field of border studies and discuss how it relates to social work research. This serves as a conceptual foundation which we hope will enable critical reflections on the relationships between social service provision and bordering practices in Norway, Sweden and beyond.

Following the 2015-peak of asylum-seeking migrants in Europe, asylumpolicies have become increasingly restrictive. As bordering has become a prioritized issue among many European national governments, including in the Nordic countries, practices of bordering have also become more decentralised, diffuse and dispersed. This special issue set focus on such bordering practices as these are manifest in the social service sector. It draws on research conducted in Norway and Sweden and consists, besides this introduction, of seven original articles.Of particular focus is how social work, in its regulations and practices, are involved in the bordering of both the nation and the welfare state. Connecting insights from border studies – and related critical research – with social work research, the articles present empirical analyses of the dynamics of bordering practices among varying practitioners and in varying organizations, including legislators, courts, municipalities, street-level social workers and civil society organizations. The special issue as a whole also raises questions about the ethical and political challenges that emerge at the nexus of bordering and social service provision. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of the field of border studies and discuss how it relates to social work research. This serves as a conceptual foundation which we hope will enable critical reflections on the relationships between social service