«The changing character of immigration and integration regimes, and the impact on the urban society: The case study of Oslo»

This presentation focuses on possible links between integration policy regimes and changing multicultural urban expressions over time. Oslo is a case to illustrate the changes. Since the 1960’s, the immigration to Oslo has changed in character and in volume. In the 1960’s, immigration was experienced as new and temporal by society, politicians and by many immigrants themselves. In 2018, a third of the urban population has immigrant background. Society’s expectations and immigrants’ and descendants’ own ambitions, and possibilities for participation in society have changed, as have the views of a multicultural society. Politics has varied between inclusionary and exclusionary perspectives. Over time, immigrants and their descendants have navigated in various ways to adapt to and function in society in accordance with their own ambitions and perceived opportunities. The question of the talk is, by doing so, what are the visible material/immaterial impacts on the urban society? What are the lessons to be learned across time and dominant understandings of integration of importance for the urban society?

Susanne Søholt is a political scientist and researcher at Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet). During the last years she has been working with migration, integration and segregation in urban and rural areas. The main focus has been on integration and segregation in the housing market, but also in neighbourhoods and in the labour market.

The event was organized by the Latvian Association of Anthropologists in collaboration with the University of Latvia Institute for Philosophy and Sociology, as well as the Association «Dzīvesstāsts» within the Nordplus program framework.