Personal and Social Responsibility in Swedish Life Writing about Migration

Responsibility attaches to life writing in the personal narrative provided, to stories and secrets revealed, other people exposed, and sociopolitical statements made. This article examines responsibility in autobiographical and social terms in two publications that draw on experiences of migration in different contexts: Mammorna, which consists of interviews conducted by journalist and TV host Alexandra Pascalidou, and Finnjävlar, an essay collection edited by journalist and publisher Kristian Borg. The former centres on mothers with migrant backgrounds living in Swedish suburbs and their children’s involvement in crime, and the latter on Swedes of Finnish descent. Both books position themselves as speaking of and to experiences and groups that have previously been ignored in official discourse while providing the stories of people with certain social and cultural power. Such a starting point invites examination of responsibility in authorial contexts relating both to the selected forms of life writing and voice as well as purpose. Findings suggest that Finnjävlar represents a scenario Mammorna arguably strives for, and that the potential impact of the two books is largely related to the public profiles of the various contributors.