Being Here Just as A Human Being : The performance of the public libraries in Malmö in terms of integration in an ethnically diverse context
(2022) MKVM13 20221Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
- Abstract
- Public libraries are not warehouses for books but education supporters, social justice and inclusion promoters and socialising providers by virtue of their comprehensive and well-organised media resources and the space of library buildings. Based on the social impacts mentioned above, public libraries play a significant role in social integration and cohesion, which is one of their responsibilities regulated by the government as well. It is important but tough to achieve social integration in an ethnically diverse city like Malmö, which hosts people from 183 countries. This thesis conducted a multi-method case study on the public libraries in Malmö to explore how integration was interpreted and how the libraries help immigrants integrate... (More)
- Public libraries are not warehouses for books but education supporters, social justice and inclusion promoters and socialising providers by virtue of their comprehensive and well-organised media resources and the space of library buildings. Based on the social impacts mentioned above, public libraries play a significant role in social integration and cohesion, which is one of their responsibilities regulated by the government as well. It is important but tough to achieve social integration in an ethnically diverse city like Malmö, which hosts people from 183 countries. This thesis conducted a multi-method case study on the public libraries in Malmö to explore how integration was interpreted and how the libraries help immigrants integrate into Malmö. The data were collected through qualitative semi-structural interviews with staff in the libraries and media ethnography in the libraries. The transcripts of the interviews were analysed based on grounded theory for potential theory to emerge. The media ethnography was supplemented by autoethnography to know how immigrants and the libraries engaged with each other. The research found that integration was interpreted as mutual understanding between the host society and immigrants, but there were some basic requirements for immigrants, such as language competence and knowledge of the social norms. The libraries promoted integration by providing media resources and serving as socializing space for both immigrants and native citizens to know each other better. Besides, the staff in the libraries offered immigrants humane help to give them a sense of belonging to the host society, which further contributed to integration. In a bigger picture, Malmö was thought to be an exception in Sweden, where people with different cultural backgrounds lived in conviviality. However, some practical difficulties hindered the libraries from achieving ideal integration and a polymedia model was developed to illustrate the social, moral and emotional issues the libraries had when constructing a polymedia environment for immigrants. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9079363
- author
- Song, Chunchu LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MKVM13 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- public libraries, integration, multiculturalism, polymedia
- language
- English
- id
- 9079363
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-07 07:44:41
- date last changed
- 2022-06-07 07:44:41
@misc{9079363,
abstract = {{Public libraries are not warehouses for books but education supporters, social justice and inclusion promoters and socialising providers by virtue of their comprehensive and well-organised media resources and the space of library buildings. Based on the social impacts mentioned above, public libraries play a significant role in social integration and cohesion, which is one of their responsibilities regulated by the government as well. It is important but tough to achieve social integration in an ethnically diverse city like Malmö, which hosts people from 183 countries. This thesis conducted a multi-method case study on the public libraries in Malmö to explore how integration was interpreted and how the libraries help immigrants integrate into Malmö. The data were collected through qualitative semi-structural interviews with staff in the libraries and media ethnography in the libraries. The transcripts of the interviews were analysed based on grounded theory for potential theory to emerge. The media ethnography was supplemented by autoethnography to know how immigrants and the libraries engaged with each other. The research found that integration was interpreted as mutual understanding between the host society and immigrants, but there were some basic requirements for immigrants, such as language competence and knowledge of the social norms. The libraries promoted integration by providing media resources and serving as socializing space for both immigrants and native citizens to know each other better. Besides, the staff in the libraries offered immigrants humane help to give them a sense of belonging to the host society, which further contributed to integration. In a bigger picture, Malmö was thought to be an exception in Sweden, where people with different cultural backgrounds lived in conviviality. However, some practical difficulties hindered the libraries from achieving ideal integration and a polymedia model was developed to illustrate the social, moral and emotional issues the libraries had when constructing a polymedia environment for immigrants.}},
author = {{Song, Chunchu}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Being Here Just as A Human Being : The performance of the public libraries in Malmö in terms of integration in an ethnically diverse context}},
year = {{2022}},
}