Organizing Integration of Refugees: Translation and Hybridization

Abstract How is integration organized in practice, and what role do hybrids play in such practices? Based on fieldwork on two integration support initiatives for recent refugees in one of Sweden’s largest cities, this paper critically engages these questions, focusing in particular on integration as a multi-directional, ambiguous process that is shaped by the intervention of a great many agents. In line with previous research, we conclude that practices of integration require collaboration between many humans and non-humans, while at the same time we question many of the assumptions about who should collaborate with whom and who should receive support if the integration is to succeed. We also discovered that “integration” is a kind of boundary word, which is translated differently by different actors, but nevertheless facilitates various forms of collaboration and coordination. Some see it as a step toward assimilation, others as a step toward hybridization. If, as is claimed by many scholars, hybridization is an unavoidable result of modernization, it will most likely prevail.