I hold a Ph.D. in sociology from Uppsala University. In my doctoral thesis Conditional belonging: Listening to unaccompanied young refugees’ voices (2014), I investigated negotiations of belonging among young people that upon arrival in Sweden were categorized as unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors. The thesis demonstrates how belonging is a process that interacts with – and is shaped by – social relations, place, exclusion and racialization.
In my postdoctoral project (2016-2018) in social work at Linköping University, I continued my focus on children and youngsters that are categorized as unaccompanied minors, but with a focus on the municipal social work. In the project I investigated how the children’s situations and needs were constructed by social workers, and the significance of gender in intersection with age, ethnicity and class in assessments of the children’s situation. In addition, the project also investigated the conditions for social work with asylum-seeking children and youngster in the aftermath of the restrictions in Swedish migration policy after 2015.
In my postdoctoral project (2016-2018) in social work at Linköping University, I continued my focus on children and youngsters that are categorized as unaccompanied minors, but with a focus on the municipal social work. In the project I investigated how the children’s situations and needs were constructed by social workers, and the significance of gender in intersection with age, ethnicity and class in assessments of the children’s situation. In addition, the project also investigated the conditions for social work with asylum-seeking children and youngster in the aftermath of the restrictions in Swedish migration policy after 2015.