‘In a Way, We Live in a Bubble, and the Outside World is Watching Us.’ : - A Qualitative Case Study on Young Adults’ Views on Communication and (Social) Investment Processes in the Area of Rosengård.

Sammanfattning: The residential area of Rosengård in Malmö – Sweden, is one of the many areas included in the ‘million programme’, a program that in the 1960s focused on building a million new homes over ten years in Sweden, meant to provide cheap housing options for the rapidly growing population. Today, areas like Rosengård and the program are often associated with immigrant-dense segregated residential areas with high crime and socio-economic problems. It is also a scrutinized area where many investigations and studies have been conducted in different contexts. However, the focus usually lies on explanatory models examining topics about the area or the people. This research study builds upon a qualitative research method, semi-structured interviews, that shifts the focus on giving the group in question a platform, thus, listening to the residents' voices of Rosengård, their experiences, individual perceptions, and meaning-making. The research study aims to gain a broader understanding of Rosengård, the residents' involvement in social investment processes meant to solve the problems within the area, and the communication practices that different actors pursue. A combination of Hall’s (2013) work on representation, Spivak’s (1988) essay on the subaltern, and Said’s (1978) understanding of ‘othering’ will be used to analyze the themes of representation and its natural link to communication, while Tufte’s (2017) work on participatory communication will serve as the foundation for analyzing the (social) investment, - and communication practices in Rosengård. The thesis’ results show that the representation of Rosengård and its residents is primarily negative due to constructed and pre-existing stereotypes and frequent negative media coverage, contradicting the residents' perceptions of Rosengård. The results also show that the residents’ experiences of investments in the area are generally characterized by tokenistic participation and concerns about privatization and gentrification.