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The Role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) in Lund in the Broader Context of the Integration of Ethiopian and/or Eritrean Immigrants in Sweden

Teshome, Metadel LU (2017) SIMV20 20171
Graduate School
Abstract
The study focused on the role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) in Lund in helping
its congregants integrate into the larger Swedish society. It is an empirical study conducted in two
different parishes of the EOTC in Lund. The study identified social capital and its various forms
development among immigrants as the driving force of their integration into Swedish society. In
addition, it flexibly adopted the immigrant integration framework proposed by Anger and Strang (2008)
in ways that are suitable to the empirical data gathered in order to assess the level/ state of Ethiopian
and/or Eritrean immigrants’ integration in Sweden. It aimed to see how the various social capital forms
developed by Ethiopian and/or... (More)
The study focused on the role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) in Lund in helping
its congregants integrate into the larger Swedish society. It is an empirical study conducted in two
different parishes of the EOTC in Lund. The study identified social capital and its various forms
development among immigrants as the driving force of their integration into Swedish society. In
addition, it flexibly adopted the immigrant integration framework proposed by Anger and Strang (2008)
in ways that are suitable to the empirical data gathered in order to assess the level/ state of Ethiopian
and/or Eritrean immigrants’ integration in Sweden. It aimed to see how the various social capital forms
developed by Ethiopian and/or Eritrean immigrants in Sweden facilitated the various indicators of the
aforementioned integration framework.
This study is based on primary data gathered through qualitative methods such as semi-structured
interviews; focus group discussions (FGDs) and field notes. Using these data collection techniques, the
church’s congregants across national identity (Ethiopian and Eritrean); genders (male and female) and
age-groups were addressed.
This study found that the EOTC contributes to the integration of its Ethiopian and/or Eritrean members
into the Swedish society. It does so by being and creating the platform for bonding social capital
formation which immigrants rely on a lot especially during the earlier period of their settlement in
Sweden. In addition, it also found that, as time goes by and the immigrants get used to Sweden better,
the other forms of social capital (bridging and liking) also emerge and contribute to the integration of
these immigrants by widening their horizontal networks (bridging) and creating vertical connections
(linking), thus creating a much bigger resource/information base for them to tap from. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Teshome, Metadel LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMV20 20171
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
additional info
Here I have uploaded my master thesis entitled: 'The Role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) in
Lund in the Broader Context of the Integration of Ethiopian and/or
Eritrean Immigrants in Sweden'
id
8918238
date added to LUP
2017-06-28 11:35:11
date last changed
2017-06-28 11:35:11
@misc{8918238,
  abstract     = {{The study focused on the role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) in Lund in helping
its congregants integrate into the larger Swedish society. It is an empirical study conducted in two
different parishes of the EOTC in Lund. The study identified social capital and its various forms
development among immigrants as the driving force of their integration into Swedish society. In
addition, it flexibly adopted the immigrant integration framework proposed by Anger and Strang (2008)
in ways that are suitable to the empirical data gathered in order to assess the level/ state of Ethiopian
and/or Eritrean immigrants’ integration in Sweden. It aimed to see how the various social capital forms
developed by Ethiopian and/or Eritrean immigrants in Sweden facilitated the various indicators of the
aforementioned integration framework.
This study is based on primary data gathered through qualitative methods such as semi-structured
interviews; focus group discussions (FGDs) and field notes. Using these data collection techniques, the
church’s congregants across national identity (Ethiopian and Eritrean); genders (male and female) and
age-groups were addressed.
This study found that the EOTC contributes to the integration of its Ethiopian and/or Eritrean members
into the Swedish society. It does so by being and creating the platform for bonding social capital
formation which immigrants rely on a lot especially during the earlier period of their settlement in
Sweden. In addition, it also found that, as time goes by and the immigrants get used to Sweden better,
the other forms of social capital (bridging and liking) also emerge and contribute to the integration of
these immigrants by widening their horizontal networks (bridging) and creating vertical connections
(linking), thus creating a much bigger resource/information base for them to tap from.}},
  author       = {{Teshome, Metadel}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Role of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) in Lund in the Broader Context of the Integration of Ethiopian and/or Eritrean Immigrants in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}