Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
59
With whom do you mostly interact? Among your neighbours, for example…
‘I get on with my Norwegian neighbours. There are many Pakistanis here – I don’t
spend time with them. Yes, with Norwegian neighbours. Most of my friends are also
Norwegians. Some are British, some Americans’.
Why are Pakistanis excluded?
‘No one really talks about it here, but everyone feels that there is a gap between
mentalities – what is European is European. People talk to them as much as is
necessary; no one talks about this divide because this would mean admitting racial
discrimination. But the boundary exists’.
The European/non-European category is usually employed when talking about
relationships between Lithuanian immigrants and other immigrants, usually from Asian or
African countries. Several informants said that their preference for living further from these latter
immigrants and closer to ‘true’ Norwegians was decisive in choosing the area of the city in which
to rent or buy a house.
10
During an interview with a 34-years-old male informant, I learned that
he and his family live in a ‘Norwegian’ neighbourhood in Oslo and asked him to explain his
choice: ‘Take juvenile delinquency, for example. It isn’t as low in this country as one might
expect. You wouldn’t want your children to mix with them. They seem to me to be more of … I
wouldn’t say criminals, but that culture of theirs … I wouldn’t like my children to be influenced
by that culture. I want them to be Europeans’.
As the field research material show, Lithuanian immigrants participate in public discourse
on migrants in Norway, which is marked by the aforementioned negativity towards immigrants.
Although Lithuanian informants see themselves as immigrants, they look at themselves in a more
positive light and as belonging more to the ‘Norwegian part of society’. At the same time, ‘other’
immigrants are viewed as a separate segment of society whose impact on the country is largely
negative. The interview excerpt given below is indicative:
How do you see the society you live in?
‘Norway is mostly inhabited by Norwegians; there aren’t many foreigners here. There
are more of them in Oslo, but here they are are mostly Norwegians [...]. My private
life is dominated by Norwegians and Lithuanians. So when it comes to the Chinese or
Arabs, I practically don’t know them at all’.
Do you think of them as separate segments of society?
‘Yes. They are separate segments and their influence is huge in Norway – and that
influence is negative, I think’.
10
Despite their willing to live in the ‘Norwegian’ areas of Oslo, immigrants from Lithuania don’t occupy
any specific parts of the city, that is in a strong contrast from Lithuanians living in London where they
have clear priorities in settling in the Eastern part of the city.
