Refugees and displacement - A critical look at unaccompanied refugee minors' experiences in organised sport and recreation activities in Norway
Social inclusion’ of unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) is a challenge for host communities. Different strategies are used to resettle URMs through low-threshold initiatives into local contexts. Various municipalities in Norway apply Organised Sport and Recreational Activities (OSRA) to reach the goal of ‘social inclusion’ of URMs. This chapter gives voice to URMs and examines - based on data from 15 interviews conducted in three communities - their perspectives on their relationships with peers and adults in the context of OSRA. In applying Social Identity Theory, the main purpose of the research presented in this chapter was to find out why OSRA seems to be (not) well suited for URMs’ ‘social inclusion’. The findings reveal that despite well-meaning intentions, URMs are not well connected with the Norwegian youths and are not adequately supported by the adults working there. The chapter concludes that the right organisation of OSRA - namely involving professionals providing an educational service - is key for desired ‘social inclusion’ outcomes.
Publisert i 2023
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