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Stockholm -- Homogenous Diversity

Cultures become visible by their boundaries. One of the reasons it is difficult

to find multicultural Sweden on Gotland is the absence of clear boundaries be-

tween different groupings. The versatility that characterises Gotlandish cultural

life creates bridges between separate activities and groupings. When the same

person is active in a large number of groupings an overlap arises that leads to

surveyability. This allows individuals to stand out while the collective, multi-

cultural level is pushed into the background. If "multicultural Sweden" is not

especially visible in small-town Visby, is it more apparent in the city? Is "mul-

ticulture" particularly visible even in Stockholm? Or is the stereotypical image

of the multicultural, with variegated suburb Rinkeby as its archetypal icon,

perhaps nothing more than a mass media illusion?

Diversity in Different Dimensions

When multiculture is interpreted as ethnic diversity, the difference between

Stockholm and Visby is huge. The sum of first and second-generation immi-

grants on Gotland is, as we have seen, five thousand individuals, approximately

8.7 . In Stockholm County, the Swedish county most densely populated by

immigrants. Almost half a million, nearly 29 of the population (Statistics

Sweden 1995) have immigrant background. Almost every third Stockholmer

has a "foreign background". The basis of the population ought to be a sufficient

basis for multicultural cultural life in Stockholm.

According to the 1995 population statistics, Stockholm County is the one

most densely populated by immigrants in Sweden with 28.6 first and sec-

ond generation immigrants. It is followed by Västmanland's County and

Gothenburg and Bohus County, both at 23.0 , and Malmöhus County

with 22.1 . In the statistics we find only four counties with fewer than 10 .

Apart from Gotland, these are the northern counties Västerbotten (9.4 ),

Västnorrland (9.1 ) and Jämtland (8.1 ).

Stockholm, like many other larger cities, has a long history as an immi-

grant city. The city was largely created by central Europeans and the German

dominance during the Middle Ages is especially well documented. While the