When colour matters : racial hate crime and everyday violations in Sweden

The aim of this study is to give examples of, explore and discuss how people who belongto the group categorised as “non-white”, with an emphasis on Afroswedes, anddepicted as racially different, experience hate crime and everyday harassment. The linksof prejudices, stereotypes, colonial notions, everyday racism and violent hate crime isdiscussed from a Swedish perspective. Theories relating to colonial stereotypes, differentkinds of racism, cross-border conflicts, the geography of hate and the consequencesof hate crime are used to analyse the material. One key conclusion is that racial categorisationsare still important for explaining people’s life possibilities and their vulnerabilityto hate crime, despite the fact that in present-day Sweden the significance of raceis often denied. This denial can lead to hate crime and other forms of racial harassmentbeing neglected by the authorities