Children's agency in resettlement: a study of Swedish cultural orientation programs in Kenya and Sudan

Abstract

The focus of this study is cultural orientation programs (COPs) for refugees being resettled from Kenya and Sudan in Sweden in 2011. This study aims to highlight how, if at all, children's agency was facilitated during the COPs. The programs were video recorded in order to look at the continuous negotiations during the meetings between the Swedish delegation and the children and youth. The concept of thick and thin agency is used in order to understand how sometimes the overall context of the program as a part of the resettlement process thins the agency of the children.

Keywords:

• thick/thin agency
• resettlement
• cultural orientation program
• children
• refugee

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Swedish Migration Board, the representatives and the participants of the COPs for allowing me to conduct the study and be part of their journey. I am also grateful to Professor Jakob Cromdal and Dr Anna Lundberg and the two anonymous reviewers for valuable insights and comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

1. The methodological procedures have been approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board of Linköping (EPN) Dnr 2011/117-31.