My place is placeless: Exploring belonging among second generation “Iranians” in Sweden

This thesis investigates sentiments and negotiations of spatial and political belonging among second generation “Iranian” women in Sweden. The analysis draws on feminist and race critical understandings of belonging and is inspired by intersectional theory. The analysis is separated into two categories: place belonging and the politics of belonging. The first explores an agentic emotional relationship to place, while the latter analyses how such a process is disrupted by discursive and politicized ideas of belonging. The latter often causes belonging to be negotiated, whereby many are sent into quests exploring what their “true” belonging is.

The analysis proceeds on the assumption that belonging is a different experience for racialized Swedes in comparison to white Swedes. The primary purpose is therefore to investigate how women of “Iranian” heritage in Sweden negotiate their belonging, and what factors influence this process. This includes an exploration of some intersectional positionalities, such as sexuality, gender, racialization, ableism, class, religiosity and double minoritization and how these influence belonging and non-belonging politically and spatially.

Semi-structured interviews with the use of photos were employed during a year of fieldwork in Stockholm. Interviews were conducted digitally as well as face-to-face and were therefore not limited to Stockholm. I interviewed 24 women of “Iranian” heritage, among many were ethnic minorities, queer, religious and non-religious, neurodivergent or working-class. This allowed me to analyze how different intersectional positionalities can result in different ways of belonging socio-spatially.

This study found that belonging is often spatially re-worked and re-scaled within this group on the basis of various positionalities, such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, ableism, religiosity and sexuality. This is a result of seeking a spatial label that the women feel comfortable claiming belonging to. This shows that there is a socio-political element to place belonging, in which must be negotiated with others. This is demonstrated to be a difficult process, as membership to “Sweden” is ethnicized and guarded based on a variety of factors, which racialized Swedes are often denied belonging to in a multitude of ways.