Broar och sociala band : En intervjustudie om språkcaféers roll i invandrares sociala integration  

Sammanfattning: This text sets out to shed light on certain aspects of immigrant integration in Sweden. Focus for this study was immigrants’ social integration, i.e., creating personal long-term connections with members of the host society. This study’s aim is to examine the role language cafés as regularly conducted by, for example, non-profit organisations and the Swedish church play in immigrants’ social integration into the Swedish society. Language cafés bring together newly arrived immigrants and residents that have established a living in Sweden; these range from ethnic Swedes to other former immigrants with varying backgrounds and ethnicities. During the meetings, participants practice the Swedish language in a casual way with focus on everyday life while enjoying Swedish fika together. Given the general set up of language cafés and the fact that everyone participates voluntarily, these intercultural meetings lead, in some cases, to lasting contacts between immigrants and residents outside the language practicing activity. In relation to social integration, the question this study seeks to answer is therefore: how do intercultural meetings at language cafés support contacts between immigrants and residents, and in what ways do these contacts facilitate social integration? For this study, interviews were conducted with six former participants of language cafés in various locations in Sweden. These interviews built the basis for conducting a thematic analysis; it shows that people’s intercultural meetings at language cafés can lead to minor and medium sized contact networks that promote several aspects of social integration such as professional development, physical and mental health benefits, and friendships. In this study, these emerging connections are analysed and explained through theoretical framework related to intercultural meetings and communication.