Browsing by Author "Nuutila, Olli"

The purpose of this master's thesis is to examine the social networks and neighbor relations of Somalian immigrants in Meri-Rastila. The life of Somalian immigrants is viewed both from individual and regional perspective. Other fundamental themes of my work are related to integration, employment and regional concentration of immigrants. For this work I have interviewed ten Somalian immigrants from Meri-Rastila. The study method is qualitative and when collecting and analyzing the interviews I have used semi-structured interview approach. Theme interviews are the major source of information, in addition I have included literature reviews to help reader to better understand the background and current state. According to information from the interviews Somalian immigrants felt that their neighborhood is important and they liked to spend a lot of time there. However their age and condition influences the amount of time they spend in the area. The Somalian immigrants closest social relationships have been tied with other Somalians inside their own community. However, the community is less important for younger immigrants who have grown up in Finland and whose social networks are wider including native Finnish people. In general, Somalian immigrants in Meri-Rastila seemed to live their own lives among their community. Despite the lack of strong social ties with native Finns, Somalians felt that social relationships with natives are important and most of them would like to know their Finnish neighbors better. Interestingly, the results of my study show that somalians wouldn't like to see more immigrants to move in to Meri-Rastila and they are also worried about the area's reputation as an immigrant concentration. In the future, Helsinki is becoming more and more multicultural city, hence it is important to continue to examine these immigrant-based neighborhoods. By listening to both native residents' and minority groups' experiences and opinions about the social life in these neighborhoods, we can make more favorable sociopolitical decisions for everybody. In particular, decisions related to integration and housing policy are important, and can help to create more tolerant and social Helsinki.