Boundaries of collaboration–the case of a temporary housing complex for refugees in Sweden

Abstract

Integration of recent refugees is gaining much attention in the aftermath of the European ‘refugee crisis’ and collaboration is often seen by public officials as vital to promoting integration. At the same time, achieving successful collaboration in practice is regarded as difficult. In this paper we explore the challenges in detail by tracing how collaborative work unfolds in practice as ongoing, dispersed and collective boundary work. We draw on a longitudinal study of a collaboration project involving a number of municipal and state organizations in Sweden, and aimed at integrating recent refugees into the labour market and society.