From “Making Culture” to “Cultural Making”: Unpacking Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Cultural Entrepreneurship in Norway

Abstract

Traditionally, immigrants have been found to demonstrate higher entrepreneurial drive than non-immigrant populations, which has spurred an increase in international scholarly attention to this theme. Studies on immigrant entrepreneurship have tackled a variety of related topics, such as the uncovering of entrepreneurial intentions, opportunity recognition, and the role of diaspora networks. Cultural entrepreneurship has emerged along these lines, centering on the role of culture and heritage in entrepreneurial ventures. Concomitantly, interest has grown in investigating cultural entrepreneurship from the prism of culture-making—deploying culture towards making culture, and thus altering frames of reference. But despite the boom in research on these matters internationally, as well as in the presence of immigrant entrepreneurs in Norway, few scholars have offered contributions on immigrant entrepreneurship in the country. Moreover, to the best of this author’s knowledge, research devoted to the interconnectedness between immigrant entrepreneurship and cultural entrepreneurship is scarce. Thus, the present chapter offers critical reflections on this angle and highlights fruitful pathways for future research. This chapter tackles the topic of cultural entrepreneurship by advancing knowledge on the role cultural entrepreneurship may play in encouraging greater equitability and mutual understanding among communities in multicultural societies.