Am I Norwegian Yet? Government and Grassroots Approaches to Integration: The Introduction Act and the Tea Time Campaign

Abstract

This thesis examines different approaches and methods used for the integration of immigrants in Norway. The study compares two different cases. The first is the government‟s main tool of integration, the introduction program for newly arriving refugees. The second is an initiative from a civil society non-governmental organization, The Norwegian Center against Racism, call the Tea Time campaign. The objective of the research is to understand the different approaches used and how these approaches influence the outcome of the processes. To meet this objective, this study has made use of qualitative document analysis, as well as some qualitative interviews. The analytical theories used focus on the concepts of structure, agency and power. The findings of the study suggest that the government‟s approach lacks an emphasis on the importance of a two-way process of integration and that actors are not directly empowered by the methods used by the government. The Tea Time campaign has a two-way integration process at the center of its approach.