Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Narrations of homogeneity, waning welfare states, and the politics of solidarity / Suvi Keskinen, Unnur Dâis Skaptadâottir and Mari Toivanen. Ideas of exceptional homogeneity, nation building, and race ; Nordic welfare model and social cohesion ; Securitisation policies and crimmigration ; Towards a new politics of solidarity -- Part 1. Histories of homogeneity and difference. 2. Forgetting diversity? Norwegian narratives of ethnic and cultural homogeneity / Teemu Ryymin. Introduction ; The goal of a homogeneous population ; Describing homogeneous Norway ; Forgetting diversity : Possible reasons for the late 1960s amnesia ; Growing awareness of ethnic diversity in research and policy ; Concluding remarks -- 3. Myths of ethnic homogeneity: The Danish case / Garbi Schmidt. Introduction ; Anchors, stories and symbols ; Ethnic homogeneity? Concurrent and historical aspects ; Present implications of diversity in N²rrebro and ¢sterbro ; Conclusion -- 4. Finnish media representations of the Sâami in the 1960s and 1970s / Niina Siivikko. Introduction ; Historical context : The Sâami in twentieth-century Finland ; Representing our nation ; "Also a Finn"-Belonging to the Finnish nation-state with rights and responsibilities ; The exotic 'Other': Accepted even as 'faulty'? ; Conclusion --

Part 2. Governing and negotiating differences. 5. Knowledge about Roma and Travellers in Nordic schools : paradoxes, constraints, and possibilities / Jenni Helakorpi. Introduction ; Diverse groups categorised and controlled ; Data and analysis ; Racialisation ; Silence about Roma and Travellers in the nation-states ; Conclusions : paradoxes, constraints, and possibilities in providing knowledge about minoritised groups -- 6. Problematising the urban periphery : discourses on social exclusion and suburban youth in Sweden / Magnus Dahlstedt. Introduction ; "An alternative social order" : a dominant discourse on social exclusion ; "We're en route towards a catastrophe in Sweden" : problematising the suburbs ; "Nobody cares about our rights": problematising the mechanisms of social exclusion ; "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" : a will to make a change ; "We young ones are no longer grateful" : megaphones of change ; Concluding discussion -- 7. Welfare chauvinism at the margins of whiteness : young unemployed Russian-speakers' negotiations of worker-citizenship in Finland / Daria Krivonos. Introduction ; Welfare chauvinism, whiteness and Russian-speakers in Finland ; Methodology and ethical concerns ; "You dream of success but then you become unemployed" ; Becoming white and deserving welfare claimants ; Conclusions -- 8. Starry starry night : fantasies of homogeneity in documentary films about Kvens and Norwegian-Pakistanis / Priscilla Ringrose and Elisabeth Stubberud -- Part 3. Questioned homogeneity and secularisation. 9. From welfare to warfare : exploring the miiltarisation of the Swedish suburb / Suruchi Thapar-Bjèorkert, Irene Molina and Karina Raäna Villacura -- 10. "Living in fear" : Bulgarian and Romanian street workers' experiences with aggressive public and private policing / Markus Himanen -- 11. A 'Muslim' response to the narrative of the enemy within / Sharam Alghasi -- 12. Being unknown : the securitisation of asylum seekers in Iceland / Helga Katrin Tryggvadâottir.

This book critically engages with dominant ideas of cultural homogeneity in the Nordic countries and contests the notion of homogeneity as a crucial determinant of social cohesion and societal security. Showing how national identities in the Nordic region have developed historically around notions of cultural and racial homogeneity, it exposes the varied histories of migration and the longstanding presence of ethnic minorities and indigenous people in the region that are ignored in dominant narratives. With attention to the implications of notions of homogeneity for the everyday lives of migrants and racialised minorities in the region, as well as the increasing securitisation of those perceived not to be part of the homogenous nation, this volume provides detailed analyses of how welfare state policies, media, and authorities seek to manage and govern cultural, religious, and racial differences. With studies of national minorities, indigenous people and migrants in the analysis of homogeneity and difference, it sheds light on the agency of minorities and the intertwining of securitisation policies with notions of culture, race, and religion in the government of difference. As such it will appeal to scholars and students in social sciences and humanities with interests in race and ethnicity, migration, postcolonialism, Nordic studies, multiculturalism, citizenship, and belonging.

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