1. Youth with Somali backgrounds Participation and identity building In Oslo Ada I. Engebrigtsen NOVA Norwegian Social Research

2. Network and adaptation People are always integrated into ”something” – the question concerning immigrants is: are they one of us? Our network study set out to explore the relationship between networks in the parent generation and participation and identity among their children In the first step 20 Somali and 20 Tamil families were interviewed and their networks mapped In the next step about 30 Tamil youths and 30 Somali youths (14-20) were interviewed about their social participation and sense of belonging The study also used data on from the Youth in Oslo 2006 –survey (Ung i Oslo 2006).

3. Do parents networks influence childrens social participation? Networks among Somalis were relatively small, kin- and clan-based and strongly fragmented, without strong, unifying institutions serving the Somali diaspora in sharp contrast to Tamil networks, that were wide, kin and friend-based with strong unifying institutions serving the Tamil diaspora

4. Somali youth in Oslo; participating on their own terms? Somali youth show a statistically higher level of participation in Norwegian social arenas than Tamil youth, that are well incorporated into the Tamil society Somali youth in our study express an openness to Norwegian society paired with a strong sense of being different and ”Somali”- our informants strongly rejected double- nationalities Somali youth show an openness to different ways of expressing Somaliness in diaspora – being religious clothing, and other practices Somali youth have a statistically much higher risk of dropping out of school and committing crime than Tamil youth This duality of belonging and separateness is an interesting trait that should be studied more in-depth research

5. So who are one of US? The question of ”who are one of us” is not easily answered- strong ethnic networks create secure adolescences, well disciplined, but not necessarily participating citizens Weak ethnic networks seem to create more diversity in adaptation processes from strongly participating and ethnically conscious youth to marginalised and ethnically segregated youths We have termed this difference between Tamil and Somali adolescence and adaptation; the dualism of freedom and security Weak social incorporation into a minority network may create a wider range of adaptation opportunities, but also less social security and higher risk of anti-social behaviour and of “falling out”.