Navigating otherness and belonging : A comparative case study of IMGs’ professional integration in Canada and Sweden

This paper explores the othering processes and feelings of belonging among international medical graduates (IMGs) who seek to practise medicine in Canada and Sweden. Building on the theoretical literature on othering, belonging, and the conceptualisation of status dilemmas, we explore how IMGs in Canada and Sweden negotiate their professional identity, how they cope with being othered and how they establish a path to belonging. Analysing qualitative interviews with 15 Swedish and 67 Canadian immigrant physicians, who are either practising medicine or are in the process of professional integration, we demonstrate that the construction of professional identity among IMGs necessitates constant comparison between the differences and similarities among ‘us’ – immigrant physicians, and ‘them’ – local doctors. In this process, one’s ethnicity, gender, and professional status are intertwined with the experience of being seen as ‘the Other’. We also show that in negotiating their professional status, IMGs actively interpret the meaning of being a Canadian/Swedish physician. We conclude that feelings of belonging to a professional group (Canadian or Swedish) do not seem to be static but rather fluid, ephemeral and changing, depending on the context. Our analysis suggests that more attention should be paid to the social context in which experiences of processes of being othered and feeling belonging are being constructed and interpreted by people themselves.The 'Other' doctor: boundary work within the Swedish medical professio