Immigrants changing ethnic Norwegian values?
I came across a very interesting article in a Norwegian newspaper yesterday, sadly only available in Norwegian (here). They discuss some of the schools in inner-Oslo that have a predominance of Muslim students, often the children of immigrants from Pakistan, Sudan and Somalia (there is a school in Oslo where 90% of the students speak Urdu). According to the article, the ethnic Norwegians that attend this school are slowly changing their concepts of gender to fit in with the “majority ideas” at those schools. Two quotes from Norwegian girls: “I never use thin summer dresses or mini skirts, and I don’t show my navel like it’s popular to do now. I try to look decent in a Muslim way, because I know what the Muslim girls and boys think.” and “I wish I were a virgin. It’s too late now. In my next life I want to be a virgin and act like a Pakistani girl. Maybe they will respect me more.”
This is based on a study by social anthropologist Inger-Lise Lien. Apparently, the Muslim boys will date and have sex with Norwegian girls, but they do not consider them “marriage material”. For that, they mostly go back to their home countries to choose “a pure wife”. And the ethnically Norwegian boys are lowest in the pecking order - they are not courageous, and do not fight and stand up for the girls, whereas the Sudanese boys are frightening and universally revered. Some of the teachers have adopted to this; and started pushing around some of the most disturbing students, to gain respect. Female teachers are told to go home and cook, and male teachers are derided for being “pussy-whipped”.
They also mention Rinkeby in Sweden, a suburb of Stockholm with a very large percentage of immigrants and children of immigrants. There, being Swedish is considered low-status, so youth will accentuate their foreign relatives “I am half German, Italian, etc”. The blond girls color their hair dark, because being blond leads to a lot of harassment and negative attention.
Weird. I remember discussing with Diedie a while ago about Chinese students overseas “Westernizing”, and whether it was possible to imagine a Norwegian student in China “Chinesifying”, and how that would look.
Stian
