Abstract (eng)
Over the past few decades, the influx of foreign immigrants into Barcelona and the surrounding cities has created a highly diversified population and evoked particular reactions over periods of time among the local community. Immigration policies and policies on integration evolve with the dynamic flows of people in and out of the receiving society. Catalonia, and more specifically the greater Barcelona area, has an extensive history with internal and external migration and can be used as an example on how an autonomous region deals with the economic, political and social integration of large groups of foreigners. The relationships between civil society, non-governmental organizations and the local governments can be studied to shed light on the situation of integration on a local scale. This thesis focuses on five NGOs and five immigrant individuals in the cities of Barcelona, Badalona and Hospitalet de Llobregat. The purpose of this study is to show how NGOs influence integration and immigration policies, and how individuals feel that these policies affect their sense of identity. This study is based primarily on interviews of NGO staff members and members of the immigrant communities, as well as on secondary data analysis. The results express a range of integration strategies pursued by individuals in the specific Catalan context, and how integration policies affect an individual’s sense of identity.