Language, employability and positioning in a Danish integration programme

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelfagfællebedømt

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In many European countries, integration policies focus on getting refugees
quickly into the labour market. In order to accomplish this, refugees in
Denmark are placed in work internships. Based on fieldwork in an integration
programme that combines mandatory Danish language classes with so-called
“language internships”, where refugees do work internships for the purpose of
learning Danish at work, the present study takes a critical look at discourses and
positionings related to refugee access to the Danish labour market. The study finds
clear evidence of an employability discourse which emphasises individual responsibility for employment while downplaying structural factors. Paradoxically,
the employability discourse positions the refugees on the one hand as unemployable
because of their lack of Danish language competence and hence as
marginalised and relatively powerless. On the other hand, in this same discourse,
they are repeatedly positioned as agents responsible for creating their own opportunities, including employment opportunities, while the language internships
are constructed as a means of gaining employment and being able to leave the
unemployment system. By investigating acts of positioning by participants in the
integration programme and comparing them with discourses on language, work
and integration in Denmark, the study concludes that despite intentions about the
internships leading to employment and thus empowerment, the language internships
lead to decapitalisation and marginalisation for the refugee participants.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftInternational Journal of the Sociology of Language
Vol/bind264
Sider (fra-til)49-71
Antal sider22
ISSN0165-2516
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2020

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