Academia and cultural production as ‘postmigrant’ fields in Sweden
The migrants’ and their descendants’ presence in leading positions in Europe is full of tensions and does not develop at the same pace in all professional fields. This project explores such processes of establishment in present-day Sweden, in academia and cultural production as the two fields in which migrants have the highest representation in leading positions in public institutions.
This project contributes to the emerging cross-European debate and research on the ‘postmigrant’ condition that acknowledges antagonistic positions towards migration, and struggles about participation and representation, but also highlights new alliances that are not reduced to origin or heritage. Our empirical interest is directed at the paths to recognition and professional influence of people who self-identify as migrants or migrant descendants, and work as university teachers and researchers on the one hand, and as authors, cultural journalists and professionals in performance arts on the other.
Spanning ethnology, migration and literary studies, the project explores different constellations of alliances between migrants, their descendants and ‘natives’, with a particular interest in the role of friendship. It addresses issues of professional influence and public visibility, and asks how they differ in the two fields. It also brings insights into the under-explored Arabic language-based cultural field in Sweden.
Final report
Purpose and implementation
The project contributes to cross-European research on postmigration through a nuanced exploration of Swedish academia and cultural production, the fields with a significant presence of migrants. While migrants achieve public visibility and professional recognition, we focused on how inequalities, tied to actual or perceived migrant backgrounds, shape career trajectories in both fields. Using an interdisciplinary approach that integrated ethnology, cultural history, migration studies, and literary studies, we examined gatekeeping mechanisms, power dynamics, and pathways to influential roles. The project’s design allowed us to highlight the differences and similarities between academia and cultural production, and to leverage synergies between the conceptual framework of postmigration and Bourdieu’s theories of practice, fields, capital, and habitus.
We conducted biographical interviews with nearly 80 individuals, starting with those who identify as migrants or descendants of migrants. Rather than restricting our focus to a specific group, we examined professional relationships by also interviewing mentors and colleagues recognised as key allies, most of whom turned out to be ethnic Swedes without personal migration experience. This relational and inclusive approach aligns seamlessly with the postmigration framework. Interviews were conducted in Swedish, English, or the interviewees’ native languages, depending on their preference. While many interviews took place online due to the pandemic, we found no compromise in data quality. To provide further context, we supplemented the interviews with secondary sources, including autobiographies, media articles, union data, and relevant public reports.
The three most significant results
The project makes a groundbreaking THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION by refining and expanding the conceptual lens of postmigration through Bourdieu’s framework. We explored the formation of “postmigrant habitus” and emphasised the transformative role of alliances and friendships within academic and artistic/literary fields. Global, international, and transnational influences increasingly challenge the binary logic of these fields, fostering a more multidimensional and unpredictable institutional landscape where career trajectories have become increasingly complex.
By examining individual careers, we found that processes of (mis)recognition and the distribution of various forms of capital significantly shape ALLIANCES AND COLLABORATIONS across migration, heritage, and origin. These alliances –whether through mentoring, collegial support, or friendship – play a crucial role in how merit and talent are recognised. The relative openness and transnational nature of both academia and the cultural domain further fuel relationship-building grounded in mutual recognition.
The postmigration framework proved invaluable for analysing ENGAGEMENT WITH DIFFERENCE, positionality, and heritage. While it addresses institutional and individual racism, it also enables a nuanced exploration of how individuals experience and negotiate difference. Our findings highlight THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF LANGUAGE in shaping interactions across both fields. Postmigration provided a particularly effective lens for examining how multilingualism disrupts the traditionally monolingual, national framing of the literary field. The use of multiple languages can subvert ethnic labelling, creating politically and aesthetically transgressive positions. Our research reveals that the authors we interviewed actively participate in transnational networks and often write in multiple languages. These aspects, along with the role of alliances, warrant further study to better understand career trajectories within an increasingly fluid cultural field.
New research questions
In examining both Swedish academia and the cultural scene, we find it essential to investigate how perceptions of ethnicity-based cultural boundaries are evolving. This shift is reflected in the use of cultural expressions from diverse origins within non-ethnic constellations of practitioners, audiences, and institutions, considered against the backdrop of prevailing institutional structures and cultural policy frameworks. Regarding academia, our findings underscore the importance of moving beyond a view of it as a unified field. Variations in language policies and practices—particularly concerning Swedish and English—across disciplines and institutions warrant closer analysis, ideally through a mixed-method approach.
Moreover, given that Arabic has become Sweden’s second most spoken language and that the Arabic-language cultural field remains underexplored, there is a pressing need for sustained research on the historical and contemporary Arabic-speaking literary scene in Sweden. The importance of this issue was promoted by our team member Cristine Sarrimo, which resulted in the recruitment of Mariam Dalhoumi as a postdoc at Lund University in 2024, to map (in a monograph) publishing houses run by Arabic-speaking migrants and their publishing in Sweden.
The project’s international dimension
We established strong collegial ties with our project advisors, Regina RÖMHILD (Humboldt University Berlin) and Moritz SCHRAMM (University of Southern Denmark), both distinguished scholars in the field of postmigration studies. They have been involved in the project since its inception, actively participating in our workshops and final symposium. Schramm and the project leader co-convened a panel on postmigration at the NORDIC MIGRATION RESEARCH conference in 2022, and the team members served as peer reviewers for a special issue edited by Schramm.
Further key international collaborations have been forged with scholars of literature whose work advances the perspective of postmigration. Wiebke SIEVERS (Austrian Academy of Sciences) co-convened a workshop on postmigration at the IMISCOE conference in 2024 with the project leader. Johanna SELLMAN (Ohio State University) collaborated with Cristine Sarrimo during a research visit at Lund University. Álvaro LUNA-DUBOIS (New York University Abu Dhabi) was a keynote speaker at our final symposium and will comment on Sellman’s chapter in our book. We participated in a theory-oriented workshop organised by Claire MAXWELL (Copenhagen 2024). Scholars from Great Britain, Turkey, Germany, Norway, and Finland participated in our second project workshop in 2023, among them Tytti SUOMINEN (STEEL) (University of Helsinki), with whom the project leader co-organised a panel at the SIEF CONGRESS in 2021.
A major milestone in the project’s international visibility was the project leader’s keynote lecture at THE 8TH CONFERENCE ON MIGRATION RESEARCH IN AUSTRIA (Global Inequalities, (Im)mobilities, and Migration Societies: Postmigrant Perspectives, Innsbruck 2024). Two team members also presented project-based papers at the conference.
Naika FOROUTAN (Humboldt University Berlin), the director of the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) and a leading figure in postmigration studies, proposed organising a book promotion event at DeZIM upon publication, offering our work significant visibility.
Dissemination of results
Comprehensive details of all activities, including the TWO PROJECT WORKSHOPS and the FINAL SYMPOSIUM, are available on the PROJECT WEBSITE (https://postmigrantfields8.wordpress.com), which had nearly 2000 visits between mid-March 2023 and mid-May 2025 (1216 from Sweden, and the rest from 41 countries across five continents). Further dissemination occurred through 15 PAPERS at international conferences in ten countries and at 8 SEMINARS hosted by the universities in Sweden and Great Britain, as well as in the New Nordic Anthropology digital roundtable series co-sponsored by Southern Methodist University and universities in Stockholm and Oslo.
Disseminating project results to STUDENTS has been a key priority. In 2022, we presented the project at GPS Day at the Global Political Studies department, Malmö University (MAU). Co-funding from the Centre for Modern European Studies (CEMES) enabled us to cover travel and lunch expenses for 50 Master's students from universities in Malmö, Lund, and Copenhagen at our final symposium in 2024. Two Master’s students from the International Migration and Ethnic Relations program (MAU) acted as research INTERNS in Autumn 2021 and 2023. We were particularly pleased to integrate the project into TEACHING in the undergraduate course “Migrationslitteratur” (LU, 2021 and 2022) and the master’s course “Critical Engagement with Analytical Tools in Migration Research” (MAU, 2021), in which four students chose to apply postmigration perspectives in their exam essays.
To reach non-academic audiences, an article was published in NIO-FEM: TIDSKRIFT OM ARBETSLIV & PROFESSION, a journal that explores the history and current dynamics of civil service, academia, professional groups, and transformations in working life. The FIKA FUSION music event (MAU 2022), which attracted an audience of nearly 80 people, was hosted by team member Joshka Wessels and research intern Heléne Hedberg. It involved teachers and students from the Department for Folk and World Music, MALMÖ ACADEMY OF MUSIC, and musicians Carolina CALDERÓN, Buster BLAESLID, Bader DEBS, and Yahia AL NAJEM. At HUMANISTDAGARNA (MAU, November 2025), the project leader will present the research findings to the public, including high school students. Additionally, the project team plans to publish at least two popular articles in Swedish media in 2026, showcasing the key themes and insights from our forthcoming book.
The project contributes to cross-European research on postmigration through a nuanced exploration of Swedish academia and cultural production, the fields with a significant presence of migrants. While migrants achieve public visibility and professional recognition, we focused on how inequalities, tied to actual or perceived migrant backgrounds, shape career trajectories in both fields. Using an interdisciplinary approach that integrated ethnology, cultural history, migration studies, and literary studies, we examined gatekeeping mechanisms, power dynamics, and pathways to influential roles. The project’s design allowed us to highlight the differences and similarities between academia and cultural production, and to leverage synergies between the conceptual framework of postmigration and Bourdieu’s theories of practice, fields, capital, and habitus.
We conducted biographical interviews with nearly 80 individuals, starting with those who identify as migrants or descendants of migrants. Rather than restricting our focus to a specific group, we examined professional relationships by also interviewing mentors and colleagues recognised as key allies, most of whom turned out to be ethnic Swedes without personal migration experience. This relational and inclusive approach aligns seamlessly with the postmigration framework. Interviews were conducted in Swedish, English, or the interviewees’ native languages, depending on their preference. While many interviews took place online due to the pandemic, we found no compromise in data quality. To provide further context, we supplemented the interviews with secondary sources, including autobiographies, media articles, union data, and relevant public reports.
The three most significant results
The project makes a groundbreaking THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION by refining and expanding the conceptual lens of postmigration through Bourdieu’s framework. We explored the formation of “postmigrant habitus” and emphasised the transformative role of alliances and friendships within academic and artistic/literary fields. Global, international, and transnational influences increasingly challenge the binary logic of these fields, fostering a more multidimensional and unpredictable institutional landscape where career trajectories have become increasingly complex.
By examining individual careers, we found that processes of (mis)recognition and the distribution of various forms of capital significantly shape ALLIANCES AND COLLABORATIONS across migration, heritage, and origin. These alliances –whether through mentoring, collegial support, or friendship – play a crucial role in how merit and talent are recognised. The relative openness and transnational nature of both academia and the cultural domain further fuel relationship-building grounded in mutual recognition.
The postmigration framework proved invaluable for analysing ENGAGEMENT WITH DIFFERENCE, positionality, and heritage. While it addresses institutional and individual racism, it also enables a nuanced exploration of how individuals experience and negotiate difference. Our findings highlight THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF LANGUAGE in shaping interactions across both fields. Postmigration provided a particularly effective lens for examining how multilingualism disrupts the traditionally monolingual, national framing of the literary field. The use of multiple languages can subvert ethnic labelling, creating politically and aesthetically transgressive positions. Our research reveals that the authors we interviewed actively participate in transnational networks and often write in multiple languages. These aspects, along with the role of alliances, warrant further study to better understand career trajectories within an increasingly fluid cultural field.
New research questions
In examining both Swedish academia and the cultural scene, we find it essential to investigate how perceptions of ethnicity-based cultural boundaries are evolving. This shift is reflected in the use of cultural expressions from diverse origins within non-ethnic constellations of practitioners, audiences, and institutions, considered against the backdrop of prevailing institutional structures and cultural policy frameworks. Regarding academia, our findings underscore the importance of moving beyond a view of it as a unified field. Variations in language policies and practices—particularly concerning Swedish and English—across disciplines and institutions warrant closer analysis, ideally through a mixed-method approach.
Moreover, given that Arabic has become Sweden’s second most spoken language and that the Arabic-language cultural field remains underexplored, there is a pressing need for sustained research on the historical and contemporary Arabic-speaking literary scene in Sweden. The importance of this issue was promoted by our team member Cristine Sarrimo, which resulted in the recruitment of Mariam Dalhoumi as a postdoc at Lund University in 2024, to map (in a monograph) publishing houses run by Arabic-speaking migrants and their publishing in Sweden.
The project’s international dimension
We established strong collegial ties with our project advisors, Regina RÖMHILD (Humboldt University Berlin) and Moritz SCHRAMM (University of Southern Denmark), both distinguished scholars in the field of postmigration studies. They have been involved in the project since its inception, actively participating in our workshops and final symposium. Schramm and the project leader co-convened a panel on postmigration at the NORDIC MIGRATION RESEARCH conference in 2022, and the team members served as peer reviewers for a special issue edited by Schramm.
Further key international collaborations have been forged with scholars of literature whose work advances the perspective of postmigration. Wiebke SIEVERS (Austrian Academy of Sciences) co-convened a workshop on postmigration at the IMISCOE conference in 2024 with the project leader. Johanna SELLMAN (Ohio State University) collaborated with Cristine Sarrimo during a research visit at Lund University. Álvaro LUNA-DUBOIS (New York University Abu Dhabi) was a keynote speaker at our final symposium and will comment on Sellman’s chapter in our book. We participated in a theory-oriented workshop organised by Claire MAXWELL (Copenhagen 2024). Scholars from Great Britain, Turkey, Germany, Norway, and Finland participated in our second project workshop in 2023, among them Tytti SUOMINEN (STEEL) (University of Helsinki), with whom the project leader co-organised a panel at the SIEF CONGRESS in 2021.
A major milestone in the project’s international visibility was the project leader’s keynote lecture at THE 8TH CONFERENCE ON MIGRATION RESEARCH IN AUSTRIA (Global Inequalities, (Im)mobilities, and Migration Societies: Postmigrant Perspectives, Innsbruck 2024). Two team members also presented project-based papers at the conference.
Naika FOROUTAN (Humboldt University Berlin), the director of the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) and a leading figure in postmigration studies, proposed organising a book promotion event at DeZIM upon publication, offering our work significant visibility.
Dissemination of results
Comprehensive details of all activities, including the TWO PROJECT WORKSHOPS and the FINAL SYMPOSIUM, are available on the PROJECT WEBSITE (https://postmigrantfields8.wordpress.com), which had nearly 2000 visits between mid-March 2023 and mid-May 2025 (1216 from Sweden, and the rest from 41 countries across five continents). Further dissemination occurred through 15 PAPERS at international conferences in ten countries and at 8 SEMINARS hosted by the universities in Sweden and Great Britain, as well as in the New Nordic Anthropology digital roundtable series co-sponsored by Southern Methodist University and universities in Stockholm and Oslo.
Disseminating project results to STUDENTS has been a key priority. In 2022, we presented the project at GPS Day at the Global Political Studies department, Malmö University (MAU). Co-funding from the Centre for Modern European Studies (CEMES) enabled us to cover travel and lunch expenses for 50 Master's students from universities in Malmö, Lund, and Copenhagen at our final symposium in 2024. Two Master’s students from the International Migration and Ethnic Relations program (MAU) acted as research INTERNS in Autumn 2021 and 2023. We were particularly pleased to integrate the project into TEACHING in the undergraduate course “Migrationslitteratur” (LU, 2021 and 2022) and the master’s course “Critical Engagement with Analytical Tools in Migration Research” (MAU, 2021), in which four students chose to apply postmigration perspectives in their exam essays.
To reach non-academic audiences, an article was published in NIO-FEM: TIDSKRIFT OM ARBETSLIV & PROFESSION, a journal that explores the history and current dynamics of civil service, academia, professional groups, and transformations in working life. The FIKA FUSION music event (MAU 2022), which attracted an audience of nearly 80 people, was hosted by team member Joshka Wessels and research intern Heléne Hedberg. It involved teachers and students from the Department for Folk and World Music, MALMÖ ACADEMY OF MUSIC, and musicians Carolina CALDERÓN, Buster BLAESLID, Bader DEBS, and Yahia AL NAJEM. At HUMANISTDAGARNA (MAU, November 2025), the project leader will present the research findings to the public, including high school students. Additionally, the project team plans to publish at least two popular articles in Swedish media in 2026, showcasing the key themes and insights from our forthcoming book.