In the wake of the foiled terrorist attack at a mosque outside Oslo on 10 August, and the widespread solidarity seen outside mosques around Norway on the morning of Eid, we reflect on the prospects for hope and for the endurance of social fabric. We do so by drawing on our research on responses to… Read more »
Author: Rojan Tordhol Ezzati
‘Our Values’ in Times of Terror
Last fall I spent two months in Poitiers, France as a visiting researcher at Migrinter. The last time I lived in France before that was in 2008, just when the financial crisis fully hit. A lot has changed since then, some of it directly or indirectly linked to the financial crisis. High unemployment rates; several… Read more »
A Sense of Community in Times of Terrorism
In contrast to the impression one may derive from “the debate about the debate” in Norway, “we” – the overwhelming majority – can agree on many points, including the fact that we stand united in the struggle against extremism. We succeeded in doing so in the “rose marches” five years ago, and we can continue… Read more »
On becoming Norwegian
In May 2015, one of Norway’s leading daily newspapers, Aftenposten, launched a series of profiles titled #JegErNorsk (#IAmNorwegian). One is of Slavomir, who has made his everyday life easier by changing his name to Stian. Another is of Tara, who feels at her least Norwegian on Norway’s national day, when – with her immigrant background… Read more »
Always an Immigrant, Never Norwegian
Immigrants have become integrated into Norwegian society with degrees of success that range between two possible extremes: strong attachment and total alienation. In debates about integration, ethnicity and country of origin are often claimed to be the key factors for determining whether or not integration will be successful. Other important factors are seen as secondary…. Read more »
On Distance and Proximity
On July 22nd 2011, I was home from work when I heard a loud blast. It sounded like thunder. Strange that I had not seen any lightning, with a sound this loud, I thought before carrying on with household chores. Half an hour later I took a break, logging onto Facebook. ‘Explosion in Oslo, it’s… Read more »
‘Maybe someday I’ll return…’
The ‘super-diversity’ case-study in the PREMIG project was, unlike the other five case-studies, not defined around a country of origin. Instead we defined it based on temporal dimensions, by interviewing people who had either come to Norway during their childhood, before turning 14, or recently, in the past 1-5 years. This was, more than anything, an experiment…. Read more »