| dc.description.abstract | More than one million people with immigrant backgrounds live in Norway, and family immigration has made up about 36 percent of all immigration the last 30 years. The high flow of family immigrants is in public debates portrayed as a threat to social cohesion, national identity, and integration, often on the basis of culture, identity and belonging. Consequently, immigration policies must be analyzed for a comprehensive examination of who is considered a threat. Hence, the main objective of this thesis is to conduct an examination of family immigration policies, particularly, the Norwegian marriage immigration discourse. I am providing an analysis of three documents which represent the Norwegian marriage immigration discourse: the marriage immigration questionnaire applicants must fill out; a White paper from the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion regarding the Immigration Act; and a guideline regarding forced marriages from the UDI. The questionnaire works as the main material, with the two guidelines as supporting material. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the construction of culture, integration and belonging in the discourse represented in the three documents, I applied two theoretical frameworks: “Culturalized citizenship” as introduced by Tonkens and Duyvendak (2016) and “Belonging and politics of belonging” presented by Yuval-Davis (2011). Theories of immigration, integration, evaluation, marriage, boundaries and belonging are used for a meaningful background and discussion that places my findings in an academic context. The results from the discourse analysis and discussion reveals a separative discourse and static understanding of culture, distancing and differentiating between “us” and “them”. I argue that the discourse of “Norwegian belonging” represents Norwegian attitudes and centers around adhering to Norwegian norms, and those not adhering are faced with sceptics and in need of special evaluation and legitimation. Furthermore, the static approach to culture constructs strict boundaries, which may hinder cultural diversity, social and cultural integration, and an equal right to family life without interference. | |
