White masks/Muslim names: immigrants and name-changing in Sweden

In: Race & class: a journal for black and third world liberation, Band 53, Heft 3, S. 65-80

Abstract

Names carry strong ethnic and religious connotations and reveal an individual's affiliation to a specific group. When a religious or ethnic group is stigmatised, the relationship between names and social stigma becomes explicit. For Muslims, names and veils are the two most conspicuous signifiers of their stigmatised identity. Some believe that covering their Muslim identity with Swedish-sounding or 'neutral' European names will facilitate their individual integration into society. Based on empirical findings, examining application forms for name-changing and interviews with name-changers, this article offers an exploratory analysis of the reasons, expectations and effects of surname-changing among immigrants with Muslim names. It examines the extent to which the changes reflect the impact of social disadvantage and anti-Muslim sentiment in Sweden. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright, the Institute of Race Relations.]