Navigating multiple displacements: encounters and emplacement practices at municipal service centres in marginalised communities in Sweden

Abstract

This article contributes to the understanding of how residents and social guides collaboratively navigate multiple forms of displacement within Municipal Service Centres (MSC) situated in marginalised communities in Sweden. Drawing on critical theories of the production space, the paper posits that social work can be understood as an emplacement practice in response to displacement from vital resources such as jobs, housing, and residence permits. The article identifies two pivotal emplacement practices operating at MSCs: reclaiming and enclosing. MSCs are perceived as institutional spaces that provide residents with agential power to navigate challenging realities, conditional welfare systems, and bordering practices. The study draws on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a specific MSC located in a marginalised community, along with interviews with 23 social guides and 6 managers in four other MSC within similar settings. Employing a relational ethnographic approach, the study observes face-to-face encounters, collaboration, and education between residents and social guides.

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