Sense of Belonging among First-Generation Migrants: Educational Reproduction of Inequality in Sweden

In a globalized world, schools are becoming more diverse. Research has shown that feelings of belonging are important for the success of migrants in school. Mostly quantitative research has been carried out, however, and it has shown a relationship between belonging and educational achievement, academic motivation, and health-related issues. For this thesis, I use previous research as a stepping stone and explore how twelve first-generation migrant students that arrived in Sweden at different times in their lives narrate their experiences with belonging in Sweden. Using a phenomenological approach also provides insights into how various actors affect the migrant students’ experiences and enables an in-depth comparison between how length of stay impacts the narratives. By shifting the focus on class to ethnic inequality, and adding elements of agency to the theoretical concept of social reproduction, as well as using the theoretical concepts of bright versus blurred boundaries and multiple belongings, I argue that even though scholars highlight the importance of belonging, and even though schools have a good potential of creating feelings of recognition and inclusion, the outcome, is that the migrant students in many situations rather experience feelings of exclusion. These findings are typical for migrants that could be classified as 1.5 generation migrants, who also showed more feelings of “inbetween-ness.” The newer migrants have still not experienced boundary-crossing to the same degree, and instead showed other forms of belonging. The findings of the thesis are in line with research that have shown that there is a need to move beyond simple forms of belonging and extend the old understanding of viewing belonging along strictly national or ethnic lines