This presentation takes its part of departure in a study of children with immigrant background living in communities where the majority of the children are ethnic Norwegians. All of them are attending schools where immigrant children constitute the minority, and all live in suburbs outside a Norwegian town. The aim of this presentation is to elaborate on how the children construct themselves in the sense of identity and belonging in relation to their peers, and how they experience inclusion in the peer group. Furthermore, is to study show social and cultural practices and the experience of belonging are interrelated. 

Identity and the sense of belonging are social constructions formed in the interaction between the individual and the society (Hall, 1996). People construct several and flexible identities which are products of different discourses where identities are negotiated. The sense of collective identity and the feeling of belonging may take many forms. People may identify, but not feel that they belong in the sense of being accepted, or they may feel that they are accepted and belong, but not fully identify (Anthias, 2006). Belonging concerns emotional attachment and feeling safe and at home (Yuval-Davis, 2006). To belong is to share values, practices and social, symbolic and material affiliations and categories, and it is not solely a question of identification or ethnicity. Belonging in this sense is closely related to identity and shared experiences, and to the feeling of inclusion and exclusion. Studies have shown that children with another background than children of the majority culture often strive hard to be accepted and included in the peer group (Beach, et al., 2013; Fangen, 2009; Lindgren, 2010).

According to an understanding that identities, social and cultural, are more fluent than stable (Yuval-Davis, 2006), this presentation will focus more on the sense of belonging than on individual identity. People’s sense of belonging may constantly be in some form of construction or reconstruction, and fluctuate according to new encounters within the group or with new out group members (Hall, 1996). The way people meet and understand other people is closely connected to their cultural roots and traditions, and people’s way to understand reality is maintained in the cultural and social practices they find right, and which they value as desirable (Burr, 1995; Yuval-Davis, 2006). Social and cultural practices are seldom a direct transmission of what other people say or do, but are rather achieved through participation and conversion where the new is made personal (Burr, 1995). In most societies, the adult generation leads the children into traditions and values of the culture (Wertsch, 1998). Simultaneously, implicit normative categories are conveyed making the children able to understand how social conventions function in their community. The categories are established by participating in different activities, and thus they often will serve as a foundation for how children understand and value them (Wertsch, 1991; Wertsch & Stone, 1985). Participation in social and cultural activities demands mastery of the tools used, and linguistic skills ease access to participation. Different societies develop different semiotic tools and conventions dependent on their historic and cultural context (Bakhtin, 1986; Rommetveit, 1985).This might develop differences regarding the possibilities a child has to understand what is happening, and thus their ability to take part in activities (Wertsch, 1984).   

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