Maybe I should say something about what my research is on. I'm born and raised in Sweden, but have been living in the US for I don't even know how many years now... Anyways. My area of expertise is race and ethnicity, and I am particularly interested in racism and ideas of white normativity.
Over the last decade or so, racism has been on the rise in Sweden. As much as it pains me that this is the trend in my home country, it's interesting to me that this is happening in a country that is seen around the world as a benchmark of equality and democracy. I think Sweden is a bit confused too, seeing since policymakers have tried SO HARD to be politically correct and make decisions that they think are the right ones. But the efforts made to integrate new immigrants have obviously not worked, and have rather led to a wider gap between native-born and immigrant Swedes. I am also interested in how public media, especially Swedish television, has shaped opinions on immigrants and immigration through public discourse and how these opinions are internalized and spread.
So my research will consist of three parts: (1) archival research that plots immigration related policy from the 1950s paired with waves of immigration, (2) content analysis of public discourse on immigration, immigrants, and racism in Swedish media, with an emphasis on television, and (3) in-depth interviews that explore the experiences and perceptions of immigrants, immigration, and racism among both native-born and immigrant Swedes.
Given that I am still in my first year in the program, this might still change. But I feel like I've eased into this topic and will most likely only tweak it from here on out.
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