Refugees' Perception of Racism: A Case Study of Iranian Refugees in Sweden

ABSTRACT: This research is based on a case study regarding Iranian refugees in Sweden and it strives to find out how Iranian refugees have experienced racism in Sweden; if they have been exposed to racism or not? The aim of this study is to give voice to marginalized people so we might discover the hidden aspects of racism that might not be obvious for any researcher. The data for this article is based on semi-structured interviews that have been conducted with Iranian refugees in Sweden in 2017. Most of the participants in this study were Iranian refugees who have been in Sweden for less than 5 years, at the time of this research. In this paper, drawing on 13 semi-structured interviews, I show that in Sweden, racism emerges in two important levels; individual level and structural level. Furthermore, I show that racism is not limited to a specific group; different ethnicities and nationalities are prejudiced against each other. In addition, the discourse of “them” and “us” exist amongst refugees and immigrants. This distinction has been built upon supposed “cultural superiority” of Swedes which brings about a distinction between immigrants and Swedes in this case. KEYWORDS: Iranian refugees, individual racism, structural racism, cultural superiorit