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Profile photo of Barzoo Eliassi

Barzoo Eliassi

Affiliated Researcher

Profile photo of Barzoo Eliassi

Orientalist Social Work: Cultural otherization of Muslim Immigrants in Sweden

Author

  • Barzoo Eliassi

Summary, in English

This aim of this article is to critically examine how the concept of culture is used in Sweden to explain the “failure” or the difficulties that Muslim immigrant families are experiencing with regards to their integration into the dominant society. Whereas, the Swedish society is often represented as ‘modern’, ‘progressive’, and ‘democratic’, immigrants with Muslim backgrounds are predominately described as ‘traditional’, ‘authoritarian’ and ‘pre-modern’. There is a widely held idea within Swedish social work research that immigrant families and the white mainstream Swedish society are situated within two different value systems with different world-views regarding family and gender relations. Due to this entrenched binary opposition, Orientalism becomes constitutive to social work research and practices.

Department/s

  • Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
  • MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

33-47

Publication/Series

Critical Social Work

Volume

14

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Topic

  • Other Social Sciences

Keywords

  • Culture
  • Orientalism
  • otherization
  • immigration
  • integration
  • anti-racist social work
  • Sweden

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1543-9372