“Swedes’ relations to their government are based on trust.” Banal Nationalism in Civic Orientation Courses for Newly Arrived Adult Migrants in Sweden

• Civic orientation has become one of the dominant immigrant integration pol-icies in western Europe, with the aim of transmitting knowledge, norms, and values, thereby furthering “integration” into the new country. However, there is a not much re-search regarding how the educational content is communicated and negotiated in civic orientation courses in practice. This article aims to bring more empirically based knowledge in this field. The case study discussed in this article explores one specific mod-ule, entitled “nature and environment”, in civic orientation courses for newly arrived adults in Sweden. This is done through participatory observations in the courses, both in classrooms in real life and on the internet and exploring in detail the negotiations be-tween the civic orientation communicators and the course participants. The analyses show how a real “success story” of Sweden andits citizens is constructed through an overall discourse of Swedes high awareness of the environment and nature, not least through comparisons between geographical spaces in the world. The analyses also re-veal antagonistic voices about the content, although these are not particularly strong. We suggest that there is an urgent need to critically reflect on the aim, content, and teaching practices of civic orientation courses for newly arrived migrants, as these more seem to contribute to the Swedish nation’s reproduction of “banal nationalism”

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Language Studies and Linguistics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Civic orientation courses

newly arrived adult migrants

environment

banal nationalism

Sweden

Civic orientation courses; newly arrived adult migrants; environment; banal nationalism; Sweden

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