Last month, I was contacted by Sarah Brown, a student from University of Minnesota who asked me if I’d be interested in sharing my experience about writing in Sweden, especially writing for The Newbie Guide to Sweden. It was for her class project and as someone who was once a journalism student as well, I understand how it feels to be able to contact a source for an interview, so I said yes. She sent me her article the other day and I think it’s a good work with a nice balance of primary and secondary sources. No wonder she got 100% for this work.

By the way, there’s actually a funny story behind this “encounter”. I’ve been watching Fargo TV series lately, and one of the settings for the story is in Duluth, where University of Minnesota is located. So when I first read her email signature:

“University of Minnesota Duluth| 2023
College of Liberal Arts”

I felt like it was an amusing coincidence or maybe a sign that I should visit the place one day 😀

Anyway, I decided to share her work here for archival purposes, after having her consent of course. Sarah Brown has the full right of the article so any question and acknowledgment regarding the article should be addressed to the author. Happy reading! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

Writing for Expats, in Sweden

By Sarah Brown

Hayu Hamemayu, a journalist who has worked in countries around the world, writes as a blogger for The Newbie Guide to Sweden. Having lived in Sweden for nearly four years she said, “I try to focus on the topics that matter most for the expats in Sweden, so they will find the stories relatable.”

Expats are people who live outside their native country. Sweden is often ranked as one of the most attractive countries in the world for these long-term travellers, in part due to its international companies and natural beauty, according to Savage. Hamemayu’s work reflects what makes Sweden so popular to expats, having published stories called Autumn Best Spots in Lund, which features places around her Swedish homebase that she finds enchanting.

Sweden is a country made up of twenty one counties, and most of the 10, 202,491 people live in the warmer southern region. As of 2018, 57.7% of Swedes belonged to the Church of Sweden, 88% of the population live in urban areas, and 80.9% of its inhabitants are Swedish, according to the CIA World Factbook. This is a country now facing the natural conflicts created by mixing cultures and beliefs. Immigration in Sweden has been a hot topic in digital media, with opinions growing more polarizing over the years, according to Rooseval and Widholm.

The Newbie Guide to Sweden projects a positive relationship between Swedes and immigrants. Socializing in Sweden, a story by blog contributor Neha Sharma, said that “People in Sweden warmly welcome everyone coming to their country, regardless of their cultural and religious backgrounds…” Sharma noted that this is the mindset Swedes share, leading to “many social and vocational training programs… where they encourage cultural diversity and act as platforms for binding immigrants to Swedish culture and society.”

Hamemayu commented on her relationship with this topic while addressing the impact she wants her writing to have. “I don’t have a certain agenda when writing, to be honest. I write because it defines who I am. But, in the time of hatred and ignorance like we have today, we can all use a good story. A story that breaks stereotypes and offers alternative voices. So if people can learn about ‘the other’ from my writings, at least from how they view my self as the author (Asian-Muslim-woman) that would be a milestone,” Hamemayu said.

The Newbie Guide to Sweden is a completely online source where those new to Sweden can learn practical details about the language, customs, and culture. It offers blogs in English and Arabic. Their team of multinational bloggers write about adapting to the Swedish job market, Swedish cuisine, getting through the winter, and more. This news source is quite unconventional, and can be labeled community media, according to Romano. The Newbie Guide to Sweden serves a small group of people who are tied together by living in a country they are not from. The blog-style journalism is just one of the methods information is shared throughout the community, which may cause it to be overlooked as a provider of legitimate news.

Sites for expats exist in different capacities for virtually every country. Some, like The Newbie Guide to Sweden, offer information and support through a primary website and social media groups. Others focus more on providing event information and exchanging brief tips over forums. Not every site exists in a journalistic capacity, using stories to share information or hiring bloggers to write about their personal experiences. There is one key difference that distinguishes The Newbie Guide to Sweden from other online expat resources. That is it’s personal, informal stories of foreigners enjoying Swedish tacos, doing synchronized swimming, and enjoying fika. This loosely informational, friendly style of journalism tells the reader that they too can easily fit into Swedish culture. Many news sources for expats focus on connecting them with each other, rather than creating a narrative that they belong in the new cultural setting.

Sweden ranks fourth on the World Press Freedoms Index, just behind its Scandinavian and Nordic neighbors. It established the first press freedom law in the world, in 1776, and journalists in Sweden today still enjoy the freedom to write about relatively any topic they choose, according to the World Press Freedoms Index. Perhaps this is why The Newbie Guide to Sweden can create a blog where contributors can openly discuss and share their experiences.

Hamemayu did not feel there were topics that cannot be written about in Sweden. “You are free to write what you want to write but personally I think common sense is a must when you’re writing, regardless of where you are,” Hamemayu said.

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