About the programme

Programme description | Staff | Senior researchers

Cultural complexity in the new Norway: strategic university programme, University of Oslo 2004–2009

Introductory summary

The project is concerned with social and cultural dynamics in contemporary Norwegian society, with an empirical focus on minority–majority relationships. It is based on a relational view of identity according to which groups and individuals define themselves, and are defined from outside, situationally through ongoing communication and social interaction, which in turn must be related analytically to contextual factors such as immigration policies, shifting labour markets and educational policies. Shifting contexts thus determine the social position and self-definition of particular groups and persons. This does not, of course, mean that cultural traits, traditions and collective patterns of action can be neglected, but that their significance for social integration/fragmentation depends on the wider context. Being a Turk in Norway is significantly different from being a Turk in Germany.

It is assumed, as a starting hypothesis, that processes of social integration and cultural homogenisation as well as processes of fragmentation and cultural differentiation take place simultaneously, and that they function differently on different systemic levels (which range from the family to the nation-state) and in different arenas (ranging from education and the labour market to cultural life, political participation and law). The project seeks to identify the forces that lead to these opposing processes, to identify differences between arenas and contexts in this respect, to describe those processes empirically, and to describe and analyse the particular social and political, cultural and religious configurations emerging in contemporary Norway as a result of increased social and cultural complexity. In order for truly new understandings in this area to be achieved, several academic disciplines need to be involved, and thus the HUMSAM concept offers an ideal academic framework. The research organised and funded under this project will commit itself to a few shared theoretical assumptions guiding and coordinating the otherwise very diverse empirical research in question. In fact, such a set of shared notions and preoccupations is necessary for the effort to be sufficiently focused.

The project is two-pronged: On the one hand, it aims towards the coordination and strengthening of ongoing research at the University of Oslo dealing with cultural complexity and the politics of identity. Common activities and joint publications will serve to sharpen and improve extant research. On the other hand, the project initiates new research in the field, through doctoral fellowships, student grants and research funding for senior researchers.

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