Globalisation and migration represent great challenges to the welfare state, while it is also difficult to imagine a welfare state without an immigrant workforce. This means that migration and the effects of migration plays an important role in the research that takes place in the institutes that make up the Centre for Welfare and Labour Research (SVA).
The network for migration and transnationality brings together knowledge about migration across institutes, sections and disciplines and counts members from all the institutions at SVA and other parts of OsloMet.
The network focuses particularly on transnational and comparative approaches and on studying interaction between different levels of society and between positions and power dimensions related to ethnicity, gender, sexuality, social class, age and generation.
We meet once a month, and the most important thing we do is to keep each other up to date on the interdisciplinary field of migration and stimulate publishing.
We possess expertise on a range of different topics related to migration, including children and adolescents in multicultural environments, ethnic minorities’ relation to the institutions and services of the welfare states, refugees and asylum seekers, civil society, and national and international regulation of migration.
We believe it is important to approach the subject in the following ways:
A transnational approach
The country of origin, the recipient country and other countries contribute to shaping the lives and experiences of immigrants and their descendants. Many stay in touch with the country of origin and family and friends in other countries by means of modern communication technologies, trips, money transfers, marriage and re-immigration. Such transnational processes are also connected, in complex ways, to their adaption to the Norwegian society.
A comparative approach
Different groups have different adaptation strategies and options that must be understood in order to facilitate good inclusion processes. Different countries also have different politics and practices in this field, and research-based knowledge about such connections and differences is important for the continued formulation and adaptation of Norwegian policies.
An intersectional approach
Individuals and society are complex and form part of complex interconnections. Ethnicity, gender, sexuality, social class, age and generation are examples of power dimensions and identity aspects that are important to opportunities and access to resources in the wide sense of the word. We therefore emphasise studying the interaction between such positions and power dimensions.
Contact
Participants
Selected projects
- Food2Gather: Exploring foodscapes as public places for integration
- Regulating migration and membership through monetary requirements (REMIMO)
- Children with a Refugee Background – Measures for Inclusion and Belonging (Barnfluk)
- Descendants of Immigrants and the Concerned Welfare State
- Evaluation of minority counsellor pilot projects in upper secondary schools and adult learning centres
- Discrimination of Muslims in the Labour Market
- Qualify Unification in Europe for Shifting Trust. A Comparative Research on Muslims Responses to the Politics of Threat in France, UK, Spain, and Norway (QUEST)
