Around the table: Exploring migration, belonging, and a changing Sweden
At Middagsbordet on October 29, researchers, students, professionals, and members of the public gathered at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern to explore migration, belonging, and Sweden's changing approach to migration policy.
How do we talk about migration when we bring together people with different experiences, knowledge, and perspectives? And what happens when research becomes the starting point for a conversation rather than simply something to listen to?
These questions were at the heart of the evening. The idea was simple: to create a space where research, artistic expression, and different lived experiences could meet, and where guests would not just listen to the conversation but become part of it.
Sweden's changing migration policy
The evening opened with a presentation by Anton Ahlén, researcher at CMIR, who traced Swedish migration policy against the backdrop of Sweden's shift from a country of emigration to one increasingly shaped by immigration.
Ahlén highlighted the 1975 guidelines for immigrant and minority policy, which laid the foundations for a rights-oriented model combining access to general welfare systems with support for linguistic and cultural rights. He then examined the shift toward more restrictive policies and increasingly conditional migration and integration policy, beginning with the policy turn in 2015 and reforms introduced from 2016 onward, and subsequently broadened and accelerated following the 2022 Tidö Agreement.
The presentation also explored how the language of political debate has changed. Contrasting a 1975 policy statement emphasizing the positive cultural effects of immigration with the Swedish government's description of immigration as "unsustainable" in its 2024 budget proposal, Ahlén illustrated a broader shift in how migration is framed in public discourse.
From research to conversation
Ahlén's presentation set the stage for the first of three guided conversations around the dinner tables. Participants discussed what changing requirements for residence, citizenship, and access to social support might mean in people's everyday lives, and what role work, income, and shared values should play.
The conversations then took a different direction. Following an excerpt from Vem var min pappa?, a theater production written and performed by Mustafa Zatara, guests explored questions of belonging, identity, and what it means to feel at home in a society. The performance brought a personal and artistic perspective to questions that had initially been approached through research and policy.
A subsequent panel brought together Lin Lerpold, Director of CMIR; Mustafa Panshiri, police officer, author, and public speaker; Peo Hansen, Professor of Political Science at REMESO, Linköping University, and Adjunct Professor of Migration and Security at Johns Hopkins University; and Silvia Kakembo, Deputy CEO of Arenagruppen.
Moderated by Benjamin Elfors, the discussion explored how research, public perceptions, and political debate interact, and whose experiences and perspectives are represented in conversations about migration.
The value of meeting across perspectives
The stage program was only part of the evening. At the dinner tables, guests were encouraged to exchange perspectives, question assumptions, and connect broader policy developments to their own experiences and observations.
Guided by SSE researchers, the discussions brought together people who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet. The aim was not to eeach consensus, but to create space for different viewpoints and to explore questions that become richer when approached from more than one perspective.
The evening also featured music from Kent-kören and DJ Mahlet Keleme, a short film by Henrik Andersson, and the theatrical contribution by Mustafa Zatara, bringing different forms of expression into the conversation.
The response to the evening highlighted the value of the format. Guests appreciated the opportunity to engage with Swedish migration policy in a way that was accessible and grounded in research, while also encountering perspectives that invited further reflection.
For CMIR, creating these connections between research and society is an important part of the center's mission. Middagsbordet offered a reminder that research can do more than inform public debate: it can also create opportunities for people to meet, exchange perspectives, and develop new questions together.
Photo: Johanna Ståhlberg
