Everyday Construction of Identity in the Estonian Refugee Community in Sweden

Bibliographic Data

ID11264102
AuthorsL Keevallik (0000-0003-2175-8710, Uppsala University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume41
Issue2
Pages177-200
Publication date2010-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Baltic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-9778 • E-ISSN: 1751-7877
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01629771003731705
OpenAlexW2008856663
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

Social constructionist approaches underscore that identity is constantly negotiated. It emerges as values and attitudes are promoted and confronted in everyday actions, behavioral patterns and fleeting comments by participants in social events. This article analyzes membership categorization and pragmatic code-switching in the Swedish Estonian refugee community, demonstrating the fragile balance between ‘Estonian’ and ‘Swedish’. The speakers orient to Estonian Estonian as the target variety of language, while frequently using Swedish for sense-making. The analysis is based on audio and video recordings of Swedish Estonian club activities and research interviews. Keywords: identity constructioncode-switchingmembership categorizationEstoniandiaspora community Notes Notes 1 The recordings were made in 2004–2005 as part of the project ‘Estonian in Sweden’ at Uppsala University, which was supported by the Swedish Science Foundation in 2004–2006. 2 In the excerpts presented, the names of all persons have been changed

Aesthetics · Categorization · Estonian · Identity (music · Linguistics · Media studies · Political science · Refugee · Social group · Social identity theory · Social science · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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