Identity and sense of belonging among Syrian refugees in Sweden

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the thesis study is to illuminate the feelings of identity and belonging of the Syrian refugees in Sweden by focusing on the Scania region. This is examined by using the concepts of individual, collective, and ethnic identity, along with the concepts of stereotyping and belonging. This qualitative study is based on five personal interviews with the Syrian refugees who came to Sweden after 2011 due to the civil war in Syria. The study is divided into four different sections; self-identification, stereotypes as perceived by the interviewees, belonging, and the role of the language; also, the paper involves the arguments of the interviewees’ responses in regard to the theoretical framework of the mentioned methods. The study demonstrates that the Syrian refugees have a sense of being in-between Sweden and Syria.