Betweenship, not outsiders
What do you call the sense of being an immigrant in Swedish, but being Swedish abroad? The people behind the website "The Betweenship" have a suggestion. Quick Response has met the founders Teresa Sida Norgren, Nathan Hamelberg and Angelica Tibblin Chen.
"Betweenship is a way of questioning the concept of being an outsider. It also alludes to citizenship. Even if you are Swedish on paper, you're Swedish at someone's mercy. Swedishness can be questioned at all times," says Nathan Hamelberg, whose parents' come from other countries than Sweden.
The Betweenship is a non-profit that "aims to speed up Sweden 2.0," as they put it. A Sweden where all people have the same rights and do not have to be fit into categories like "immigrant" or "Swedish."
A large amount of Swedes experience "betweenship" - the experience of being regarded as an immigrant in Sweden, but as Swedish when abroad. Many people who pass as Swedes in some contexts feel estranged in other contexts due to their skin color or name: immigrants, children of immigrants, and adoptees. More than two million Swedes fit into this description, approximately 1.2 million of which were born abroad.
Nathan Hamelberg, Angelica Tibblin Chen and Teresa Sida Norgren talk about a childhood marked by reflections on ethinicity and a sense of belonging, but also the absence of a concept that puts a finger on whatever it was that was missing. Not until the age of 25 did they formulate the Betweenship and the sense of community that put their experiences into a context.
"I have called myself half-Swedish, but I have realized that this meant neglecting a part of me. It feels good to find a name for it, because then I can stop defining myself in fractions," says Teresa Sida Norgren.
The Betweenship will start as a website and discussion forum for anyone who wants to vent their feelings of betweenship. As a medium, the website will work in two ways, paying and listen to what happens "on the street" as well as to what is being discussed at seminars.
"Our cousins, the two magazines Slut and Gringo are two extremes. Many people feel like they can't identify with Gringo's language 'from the projects,' and you need to have taken intermediate literary theory to follow Slut," says Nathan.
Other than the discusison forum, The Betweenship's website will include news stories and a number of personal accounts, written by Swedish betweeners, as they call themselves. Here, people who do not usually figure in other media will figure.
"The stories will come from within, about family and relationships. Because a lot of people want to write about it. This - betweenship - is important for our generation, who is about to have kids," says Angelica Tibblin Chen.
The Betweenship's website mellanförskapet.se has been available since 14 November 2008.
This article was first published in 20081104. The Swedish version here.