Anthropological studies of black Americans' lives beyond the borders of the United States are rare and a literature gap exists in the study of this part of the ?New Black Diaspora'. This dissertation explores how black American women negotiate being both black and American as residents of Sweden, a nation in which recent immigration has precipitated debates about the existence of a distinct racial hierarchy of belonging and acceptance. In this research, conducted through interviews, and participant observation, this negotiation is addressed firstly by an examination of how black American women are placed and positioned by others and how they place and position themselves in their new location. Secondly, it is addressed by an examination of whether the women possess a sense of belonging to the US and/or to Sweden and the form(s) it may take. This study suggests that this negotiation is experienced through the navigation of multiple and simultaneously existing social fields. It is argued that Black American women in Sweden occupy separate and distinct placements and positionings with respect to each of these transnational social fields through the successful activation of specific and differing forms of capital. Moreover, it is argued that they practice ?American ways of belonging', which are selective and changing over time. They also practice ?Swedish ways of being' from which they gain some measure of acceptance through the quotidian participatory acts in which they engage. Finally, this research reveals the shifting values that the women place on different sets of interactions, which suggests that the value of fields themselves may shift in importance to an individual.
Thompson, Dondrea R.,
"Black American Women in Sweden: Making Sense of Changing Fields"
(2009).
Anthropology Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z03N21N7
