This book will be interesting reading both to researchers and practitioners in the educational and social sector, who are interested in immigrants and who wish to contribute to an equal and multicultural society.
Somali-speaking asylum seekers made Finnish immigration history in the beginning of 1990s. How are Somali youth positioned in the frameworks of acculturation and formal education? What resources and options did they have in Finnish society in the late 1990s? The integration and well-being of second-generation immigrants is an increasingly important issue both in Finland and in other immigrant receiving countries. What does research tell us about their school achievement? How can we conceptualise the processes that are taking place in their families? This book offers a solid theoretical background, mainly from an anthropological perspective, for the understanding of immigration-induced social change on an individual and family level. It also provides examples from real life based on the empirical material of the fieldwork among the Somali-speaking population in metropolitan Helsinki. The book delves into the special challenges of immigrants who migrate as teen-agers, and emphasizes that the notion of ‘culture’ is not enough for understanding their challenging situation.