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Creative Disruptions: Engaged anthropology and the role of fun and play in integration activities in Sweden

Palmer, Holly Burns LU (2026) SANM05 20261
Social Anthropology
Abstract
As Swedish migration laws become increasingly exclusionary, there exists integration activities which resist this rhetoric. This thesis looks at the activities carried out by Lunds Kommun social workers, and the organisation Interkultur i Lund. Through my own work as an intern with Lunds Kommun, in the Barn i Start team, I carried out 20 weeks of participant observation, and experienced fun, play, art, and connections facilitated through shared creative experience. In this thesis I first explore how the migration system of Sweden contributes to an exclusionary, bureaucratic violence, upholding hegemonic ideals of ‘integration’. Secondly, I further understand these integration activities, through their facilitation of creativity, to... (More)
As Swedish migration laws become increasingly exclusionary, there exists integration activities which resist this rhetoric. This thesis looks at the activities carried out by Lunds Kommun social workers, and the organisation Interkultur i Lund. Through my own work as an intern with Lunds Kommun, in the Barn i Start team, I carried out 20 weeks of participant observation, and experienced fun, play, art, and connections facilitated through shared creative experience. In this thesis I first explore how the migration system of Sweden contributes to an exclusionary, bureaucratic violence, upholding hegemonic ideals of ‘integration’. Secondly, I further understand these integration activities, through their facilitation of creativity, to tactically resist the compliance invoking strategies of the state welfare and migration system. In conversation with De Certeau’s theory of tactics, and Bakhtin’s carnivalesque, the findings argue that creativity and creative spaces can tactically support formless identity formation, shared experiences, and ‘second worlds’. I examine these expressions as creative processes that can facilitate belonging, and how this leads to trygghet (security). Additionally, this thesis explores the ambiguity that exists in these contexts, considering the intersubjective relationships that play out between refugee children, their parents, and various social workers who are agents of the state. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Palmer, Holly Burns LU
supervisor
organization
course
SANM05 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Social anthropology, creativity, integration activities, belonging, bureaucracy
language
English
id
9233011
date added to LUP
2026-06-08 22:30:45
date last changed
2026-06-08 22:30:45
@misc{9233011,
  abstract     = {{As Swedish migration laws become increasingly exclusionary, there exists integration activities which resist this rhetoric. This thesis looks at the activities carried out by Lunds Kommun social workers, and the organisation Interkultur i Lund. Through my own work as an intern with Lunds Kommun, in the Barn i Start team, I carried out 20 weeks of participant observation, and experienced fun, play, art, and connections facilitated through shared creative experience. In this thesis I first explore how the migration system of Sweden contributes to an exclusionary, bureaucratic violence, upholding hegemonic ideals of ‘integration’. Secondly, I further understand these integration activities, through their facilitation of creativity, to tactically resist the compliance invoking strategies of the state welfare and migration system. In conversation with De Certeau’s theory of tactics, and Bakhtin’s carnivalesque, the findings argue that creativity and creative spaces can tactically support formless identity formation, shared experiences, and ‘second worlds’. I examine these expressions as creative processes that can facilitate belonging, and how this leads to trygghet (security). Additionally, this thesis explores the ambiguity that exists in these contexts, considering the intersubjective relationships that play out between refugee children, their parents, and various social workers who are agents of the state.}},
  author       = {{Palmer, Holly Burns}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Creative Disruptions: Engaged anthropology and the role of fun and play in integration activities in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}