Arbeidsinnvandring og lokalsamfunn – stedsidentiteter mellom kontinuitet og endring

In this chapter, we explore attitudes, practices, and reactions to labour migration among stakeholders in two rural communities located by the Norwegian coast. Using qualitative in-depth interviews, we explore what the local narratives reveal about how labour migration affects the social dynamics of rural communities and understandings of local place identities. The analyzed cases illustrate two different ways of responding to and incorporating the migrants, and how these approaches are related to perceptions and understandings of the communities themselves. In the first case, increasing labour migration fits into the community’s narrative of place as open and cosmopolitan, with a long tradition of extra-local impulses and connections, as well as a current, ongoing transformation of the area. Thus, international migration appears to be an integral part of the local place identity. In the second case, the impact of migration is more profound, and the narrative more ambiguous. On the one hand, migrants are appreciated for how they stimulate the local community; on the other hand, their perceived impact is experienced as substantial, and the narratives reveal expectations of assimilation. Our analysis indicates a context-dependent variation of how international migration is viewed in different rural communities, and that increasing diversity may be accompanied by emerging social divisions.