The uncanny valley of integration

This thesis sought to analyse Norwegian Integration Act and policies and to examine whether it is multicultural or assimilatory in nature. This was done by studying the Integration Act, policies through white papers and other official documents as well as through parliamentary debates. Lastly, the thesis examined religious education by examining the subject called KRLE and how it is being taught through syllabus in schools in Oslo. This thesis examined both assimilation and multiculturalism and examine whether Norwegian policies are assimilatory in nature or multicultural, which might be the variable which gives this thesis some sort of value, as there is little research combining these in one thesis/article and that in the same context, the Norwegian in this context. It was argued that multiculturalism and assimilation are two philosophies or ideologies. Assimilation can be defined as a desired outcome for a society where members would be culturally indistinguishable from one another, which implies a process of becoming the same, an absorption of immigrants within the host society’s culture. Multiculturalism can be defined as a policy which supports cultural diversity and supports the right of minorities to preserve their cultural identities ensuring that they get access to the society, and which encompasses legal principles and commonly shared values dominant in the society. Multiculturalism and assimilation were operationalised in order to examine them through the empirical data, by applying certain instruments to each of them. In order to capture multicultural ideas, this thesis sought to apply the qualitative research design called ideational analysis. The objective of ideational analysis is to examine ideas from texts; hence it was argued that it was wise to apply this research design. The findings suggest that through some multicultural instruments find multiculturalism being applied, but overall, one could find that the integration law, the white papers and other official documents, parliamentary debates, and the religious education, are more inclined towards being assimilatory in nature. The three out of four hypotheses posed in the thesis seems to be correct, and thus one could argue that policies have a goal for assimilation. One could see multiculturalism being applied in practice as a way adapting to the society, but not as an official governmental goal. Coming to religious education, findings suggest that Christianity as a religion is being given emphasis at the expense of e.g., other religions and philosophies of life. This is done so, because of cultural heritage, as religion is regarded as an integral part of the culture.