Bygga broar mellan kulturer: En studie av skönlitteratur, identitet och integrationsprocess

Abstract

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to explore the meaning of literature for literate immigrants in regards to identity and integration. The study is based on qualitative interviews with eight Swedes of various backgrounds, but with the common experience of an immigration process. In addition to being migrants, the respondents are also public library users who have an interest in literature and who read literature during their leisure time. To analyze the empirical material an analytical framework, consisting of a number of analytical concepts from Library and Information Science, Literature Science, and Sociology, has been used. The results show that literary reading and public libraries in many ways have been of great importance to respondents during their integration processes. In addition, the study shows that, through what literature professor Anders Pettersson calls Analogic Thinking associated with literature reading, the respondents create a personal understanding of the culture within which the text is written. This understanding includes practical cultural knowledge, as well as empathic insight into the human mind.