Targeting Khat or Targeting Somalis? A Discourse Analysis of Project Evaluations on Khat Abuse among Somali Immigrants in Scandinavia

Abstract

Background In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the use of the psychoactive plant khat is widely seen as a social and health problem exclusively affecting the Somali immigrant population. Several projects by governmental and municipal bodies and agencies have been initiated to reduce khat use and abuse within this target population. Aim This article analyses the khat abuse discourse as it is presented in evaluation reports describing projects initiated by the social services to reduce khat abuse. Methods Six publicly available and formally evaluated khat projects conducted in the Scandinavian countries were found, and these evaluation reports were subjected to a Foucauldian discourse analysis. The “What's the problem represented to be?” approach was used to generate questions, which were then applied to the material. Results & CONCLUSIONS The problem of khat abuse is represented to be that it is the cause of unemployment, lack of integration and relationship issues among Somali immigrants. The analysis shows that the notion of cultural competence is used instrumentally to govern the target population and that the Somali immigrant group is exclusively targeted. This instrumental use of cultural competence partly places the onus on the “Somali community” itself to reduce khat use, which may engender stigmatisation of Somali immigrants in general. The author maintains that an overreliance on cultural explanations overlooks socioeconomic issues and that the focus should be on potentially problematic patterns of khat use rather than Somali immigrants in general.

Making Up the “Drug-Abusing Immigrant”

“…As khat use has been constructed as a "Somali problem" and made ethnic, solutions have been proposed based on culture and ethnicity in various ways, for example "cultural competence" (Nordgren, 2015). In relation to dominant discourses about khat use in Sweden, it is notable that the interviewees in this study seldom suggested solutions and help based on ethnicity or culture.…”

“…Khat use has been claimed to cause social problems of various sorts, particularly socioeconomic disadvantages and "integration problems" Carrier, 2007, chapter 7;Nordgren, 2013;Nordgren, 2015;.…”

“…Municipal projects in Scandinavia aimed at offering help to khat users have often exclusively targeted the Somali ethnic minority in ways that can be seen as overemphasizing assumed ethnic and cultural aspects of problematic khat use (Nordgren, 2015). The proposed ethnic and cultural aspects guiding khat use has meant that initiatives aiming to stop or reduce its use often employed notions of cultural competence as a strategy for normalizing those who use khat (Nordgren, 2015). Carrier's contention that khat use has been drawn into a discourse about the war on terrorism has been present in Sweden, where media reporting described khat smuggling as funding terrorist organizations such as alShabaab .…”

“…But sure, there are those who can handle it at a reasonable level so to speak. (Caadil, male) Overall, the interviewees downplayed the importance of ethnicity and culture, which have been influential in dominant discourses about khat use in Sweden and Europe (Nordgren, 2013;Nordgren, 2015). This might have implications for the way khat should be thought about in settings where it is generally seen as something "foreign" and associated with certain ethnic minorities.…”

“…The reason for the outreach has been perceptions that "Somalis" are highly skeptical and afraid of social welfare institutions such as social services or medical treatment programs (Nordgren, 2015).…”