Feelings of inclusion and community activities : A study into the feelings of social inclusion and sense of belonging for migrants living in Sweden

Sammanfattning: With increasing migration over the last few decades, over 20% of Sweden’s inhabitant are now foreign-born (Krzyżanowski, 2018). A policy shift stemming from the 2015 European migrant crisis (Hagelund, 2020) led to a decentring of integration management from national immigration policy to the local level (Scholten and Penninx, 2016). Subsequently, community level actors have become increasingly active developing their own integration philosophies and implementing these locally. Health and well-being activities curated by the non-governmental organisation Hej Främling seek to improve local inclusion for migrants and newly arrived persons to Sweden. Using these activities as a launching point, this study draws upon perceptions from 17 migrants participating in Hej Främling to examine their feelings of inclusion and sense of belonging across space and place and activities. Results show activity participation both within Hej Främling and across Swedish society more broadly has a positive influence on migrants’ sense of inclusion, in particular through the facilitation of shared spaces of experience, where migrants from diverse backgrounds can come together over a shared interest and build upon their social networks. Concept-mapping was used as a conceptual framework to illuminate the core components of inclusion, how they interlink and contribute to further conceptualisation. This study identifies four key insights for local inclusion: 1) the value of shared experiences in creating inclusion 2) the perceived socio-cultural barriers to inclusion 3) activity space as environments for intercultural encounters and 4) the facilitative role of community organisations in creating inclusion and promoting integration.