Norma Montesino

Social disability: Roma and refugees in Swedish welfare

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of the disability category in Swedish welfare policies. The paper seeks to focus on two cases that illustrate how the social dimension in the understanding of disability permitted the inclusion of individuals, previously considered as “unwanted strangers”, in the Swedish welfare context. The first case is that of refugees classified as unfit for work after the Second World War. The second deals with the Roma groups who obtained the right of formal Swedish citizenship during the same period.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on data collected during two research projects. The first concerning the Roma policy of the Swedish Government from 1880 to 1970, primarily based on the analysis of public documents collected in the Swedish National Archives, including government reports and accompanying background material. The second research project deals with the development of an institutionalised reception of refugees by the Swedish wel...

Preparations for retirement in Sweden: Migrant perspectives

Migrants as a group are recognised as being at risk of receiving low retirement pensions. Income over a lifetime is the principle for calculating pension rights. We have interviewed a group of migrants about their retirement preparations. Our results show that there are obstacles that obstruct migrants from entering the Swedish labour market, which will greatly influence future pension rights. There are various lock-in effects that isolate migrants from the labour market and thus affect their present and future financial situation. Examples are labour market policy activities and that the minimum level pensions have mobility restrictions. These trajectories are set in perspective to Nancy Fraser’s reasoning on justice in a transnational setting and Yeheskel Hasenfeld’s reflections on people processing. An important implication from our findings is the need to explore ways to include a group that is currently excluded from the labour market, hence adequate retirement income protection.

Child Mobility and Transnational Responses

The Al-Khaima Association is an organization working with migrant children in a transnational context. Founded in Tangier in 2007, it was a result of cooperation between several Spanish and Moroccan organizations aiming to promote the defense of migrant children’s rights, especially those children who have crossed or are trying to cross the Mediterranean. The Al-Khaima Association has built a network of professionals from different disciplines, children’s rights activists, and NGOs from different countries in Europe (Belgium, France, Spain, and Sweden) and the Maghreb and West Africa (Mali, Morocco, Nigeria). A transnational perspective is declared as the core of their work (Al-Khaima, 2013). The founders were well aware of the complex situation of child migrants: they aimed to challenge the institutional system established for children, as many of the trajectories of new groups of migrant children do not fit the existing profile of minors requiring guardianship. At the same time, the professionals working in the field of child protection are often not aware of the complexity of the migratory process, and the families of migrant minors are ill-informed about the situation their children are facing in Europe. Al-Khaima works today at different levels and acts in different arenas. It denounces the “intermittent institutional abuse” committed by the Spanish authorities whenever they interact with this group of children. The Spanish Ombudsman for the rights of children confirms that the fundamental rights of these children have been violated, for example in their right to legal protection and right to be heard (Ombudsman, 2012). The Al-Khaima Association also denounces situations of violence within child protection systems (Al-Khaima, 2010, 2013). The organization gives legal advice and helps families and/or children to obtain the documents required by national or local authorities. It also helps children or their families to localize child migrants on the move or who have disappeared en route to Europe or within EU borders. Al-Khaima is readapting practices which redefine the accepted scales of social interventions. Building on this approach, in this article we discuss how contemporary child mobility challenges the basic premises that sustain social work. We first provide a background on contemporary child migrations, focusing on the situation of child migrants from Morocco. Using ethnographic references collected by the Al-Khaima Association we highlight the situation of these children. In the second section we discuss how mainstream social

Conceptions of knowledge in Swedish Social Work Education: A Historical Account

This article considers competing conceptions of knowledge within Swedish social work education often presented as incompatibles. However, in this article we find commonalities and differences in these conceptions of knowledge. The analysis relies on written materials about Swedish social work education and concentrates on three developmental phases in time: the establishment of the first social worker programme, the establishment of social work as an academic discipline and the current situation. It shows how competing conceptions of knowledge try to respond to societal and academic demands in different ways.