New in town. Small-town media discourses on immigrants and immigration

«Vi er jo et mangfoldssamfunn.» Mangfold som offentlig integreringsfortelling: (re)produksjon av likhet og ulikhet?

“…Det kan også skyldes at nettopp kontakt mellom enkeltmennesker, som i stor grad har funnet sted ved at mange i lokalsamfunnet har blitt involvert i forskjellige former for integreringsarbeid, fører til faerre fordommer og mindre frykt for «alle» flyktninger (Bygnes 2017). Samtidig er det også studier som viser at saerlig flyktninger og asylsøkere blir omtalt som økonomisk byrdefulle og som en mulig trussel mot sikkerhet (Berg-Nordlie 2018;Søholt Stenbacka, Nørgaard 2018).…”

“…Studier av rurale lokalsamfunn i Norge hvor en stor del av innflytterne er arbeidsmigranter fra Europa, viser derimot at den lokale eliten, som politikere, arbeidsgivere og lokal presse, mener at denne formen for innvandring er positiv for lokalsamfunnet (Aure, Førde og Magnussen 2016;Berg-Nordlie 2018;Rye 2018;Søholt mfl. 2018).…”

Local Ambivalence to Diverse Mobilities – The Case of a Norwegian Rural Village

“…The interviewees’ awareness of the economic significance of tourism and labour migrants’ work in the service sector resonates with the public and elite discourse of the place. A hegemonic discourse on the economic gains brought by immigration and the hospitality industry’s reliance on immigrant labour (Berg‐Nordlie ; Søholt et al . ) might, however, frame locals’ experiences as a ‘double‐bind’: residents of a community that is dependent on tourism and mobility present themselves as suffering from this very dependency.…”

“…When these groups are present in the winter time, they actually outnumber the permanent, year‐round residents. Paradoxically, part of Inland’s attractiveness is its rootedness in a traditional Norwegian highland culture, which contains elements associated with classic romantic nationalism (Berg‐Nordlie ). Within this mix of mobilities and ideas of rootedness and traditional authenticity (Søholt et al .…”

“…The study is part of a larger research project on the exclusion and inclusion of immigrants in multi‐ethnic rural and peripheral communities in Norway. As such, it adds to studies which look into media representations of rural immigration (Berg‐Nordlie ), place attachment among internal and international labour migrants (Lynnebakke forthcoming 2), and perceptions of immigrants and immigration among local rural elites, defined as persons who hold leading positions in policy making bodies, the economy, or civil society (Søholt et al . ).…”