GROWING UP MULTICULTURAL: THE EXPERIENCES OF CHILDREN RAISED BY POLISH-NORWEGIAN MIXED COUPLES IN NORWAY

An increase in binational relationships in the contemporary world is generating a complex web of family, relational, educational, organizational, and identification practices. The intercultural marriage contract also often gives rise to tensions and conflicts stemming from cultural, social, religious and economic differences. In all certainty, the experiences and daily lives of children in such relationships deserve special attention, and, on the basis of the Transfam research project findings, this chapter strives to fill the gap. Sociological research into binational relationships and children raised in such family configurations is predominantly framed from the adult’s perspective. Here we try to reach into the core of identified issues and approach the experience of living in a binational family from the child’s perspective as well. The multicultural experience of growing up in Norway under the guidance of interethnic parents (Polish-Norwegian) is compared to the monocultural experience of children raised by intraethnic Polish-Polish couples. This article is based on interviews with children aged 6–13, observations registered during the course of those interviews (most commonly in children’s rooms), and the Sentence Completion Test.