Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan
How has Sweden changed over the last 50 years?
Based on his book "Open Your Hearts," Simon talks about Sweden's development from the 1970s to today — and how migration, Islam, politics, and societal changes have shaped Sweden. In what is often called the world's most modern country, more and more people nostalgically look back at a bygone Folkhemssverige, but the analyses of what has been lost differ. Is it an ethnic homogeneity, or the strong welfare state?
During the lecture, Simon poses questions that we will have the opportunity to reflect on and discuss together.
When: Tuesday, October 20, from 5:45 PM to 8:00 PM
Location: Adult Education Association, Kanalgatan 41 B, Skellefteå
The lecture is free, but registration is required
Simon Sorgenfrei, professor of religious studies at Södertörn University, is the director of IMS - the Institute for Research on Multireligiosity and Secularity. His research has primarily focused on Islam in history and the present, and more recently on Islam and Muslims in Sweden. He has also researched religion and migration, as well as radicalization.
About the book Open Your Hearts
In what is often called the world's most modern country, more and more people nostalgically look back at a bygone Folkhemssverige, but the analyses of what has been lost differ. Is it an ethnic homogeneity, or the strong welfare state?
Through meetings with both refugees and Sweden Democrats, with secular as well as fundamentalist Muslims, religious scholar Simon Sorgenfrei depicts the last fifty years in Sweden. The book spans from 1975, when Swedish migration policy took a new direction, to the Tidö Agreement in 2022. The goal is to portray Islam in contemporary Sweden and to continue the narrative of Swedish integration policy that he began with "They Will Be Different Swedes" (2022). Simon Sorgenfrei travels across the country, from Bjuv to Kiruna, examining a politically charged landscape, as a researcher and as an ordinary Swede.
Through the people and situations the author encounters along the way, we gain insight into Swedish contemporary history from unexpected perspectives. It covers the oil crisis and the end of Sweden's record years, Palme's internationalism and changing migration patterns, the Rushdie Affair, the birth and development of the Sweden Democrats, the war in Bosnia, skinheads, free school choice, and privatizations, 9/11 and the war on terror, the refugee crisis, and the Tidö Agreement. But also about ordinary Swedes who, despite all their differences, often share dreams and hopes for themselves, their loved ones, and for the places they live.
Feel free to arrive well in advance of the event's start.
The lecture will be live-streamed; we will meet in person at our venue where we will offer coffee.
[email protected] 072-595 49 20
[email protected] or 0910-85010
Welcome!
Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan
Kanalgatan 41 B
931 29 Skellefteå
Sverige
