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Facts and Figures: Somalis in Finland and in the United States

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The Contexts of Diaspora Citizenship

Part of the book series: International Perspectives on Migration ((IPMI,volume 17))

Abstract

Finland and the United States have very different experiences with immigration, and their immigration and integration laws and policies differ greatly. In Finland, there is a great deal of political effort to try to manage the new situation, whereas in the United States, the integration of immigrants has historically been carried out by members of the local community, rather than by state or federal authorities. Although Finland and the United States have very different immigration histories, their experience with Somali migrants is equally long. The large scale arrival of Somalis in both countries started around 1990 following the civil war in Somalia. Despite of their long-term presence in Finland and in the United States, the integration of Somalis has not succeeded as anticipated. In both countries Somalis are overrepresented in the unemployment statistics and their level of education and language skills are seen as insufficient. This chapter provides a detailed look on the status of Somali communities in Finland and the United States, and particularly in the state of Minnesota, and elaborates the similarities and differences in their situation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The so-called initial assessment is the preliminary assessment of the migrant’s preparedness in regards to employment, study as well as other aspects of integration and the need for language training and other measures and services promoting integration. The initial assessment involves the examination of the immigrant’s former education, training, employment history, and language skills and, if needed, other matters influencing employment prospects and integration.

  2. 2.

    In the survey study (Castaneda et al. 2012), the low-income level was defined as maximum of 850 euros per month.

  3. 3.

    According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009), cost of living shouldn’t exceed 30 percent of the monthly income, which means that on average, an affordable rent for a Somali family would be around 400 dollars. First of all, the average rent among Somalis is higher than that, and secondly, the share of rental apartments with such a low rent is tiny.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Juvenia – Youth Research and Development Centre, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Mikkeli, Finland

    Marko Kananen

  2. Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Ville-Samuli Haverinen

Authors
  1. Marko Kananen
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  2. Ville-Samuli Haverinen
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Correspondence to Marko Kananen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Päivi Armila

  2. Juvenia – Youth Research and Development Centre, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Mikkeli, Finland

    Marko Kananen

  3. Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland

    Yasemin Kontkanen

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Kananen, M., Haverinen, VS. (2019). Facts and Figures: Somalis in Finland and in the United States. In: Armila, P., Kananen, M., Kontkanen, Y. (eds) The Contexts of Diaspora Citizenship. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94490-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94490-6_1

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