Maria Persdotter

Associate Professor

The intersection of social policy and migration policy

My research mainly concerns the intersection of social policy and migration policy. I also have a keen interest in urban politics, and in feminist and critical race theory.

I am currently employed as a post doctoral research in welfare law in the FORTE financed project Advanced legal practices in the welfare state (ARPIS) where we investigate bordering practices in social rights and service provision to undocumented migrants and impoverished EU citizens in a number of Swedish municipalities. 

My educational background is in human geography. I hold a double PhD degree in Urban studies from Malmö University (SE) and Roskilde University (DK). My PhD dissertation, Free to Move Along, was based on an in-depth qualitative study of the municipal-level governance of homeless Roma EU citizens during 2014-2016. The thesis is available here.

Teaching

I teach in the undergraduate program in social work and supervise candidate and master students in social work. 

Research

Research projects

ARPIS

In the FORTE financed project Advanced legal practices in the welfare state (ARPIS) we investigate bordering practices in social rights and service provision to undocumented migrants and impoverished EU citizens in a number of Swedish municipalities. 

The Asylum Comission

The Asylum Commission is a collaboration between civil society, researchers and professionals. The commission carries out interdisciplinary research and studies of fundamental legal principles for people who have sought protection in Sweden.

Institute for studies in Malmö's History

I am also affiliated with The Institute for Studies in Malmö's History at Malmö University where I am developing research on Roma justice movements in Sweden. More information.

Research

Publications

ResearchGate

2023

Maria Persdotter (2023) The Othering and Dispossession of Romania Roma - from Romania to Sweden Urban Matters
Maria Persdotter, Anna Lundberg, Annika Taghizadeh Larsson, Ulrika Wernesjö (2023) Rätten till en skälig levnadsnivå i förhandling De sociala rättigheternas politik: förhandlingar och spänningsfält, p. 85-102

2022

Karin Åberg, Frederick Batzler, Maria Persdotter (2022) How urban law deflects rights claims: A case study of the eviction of a Roma squatter settlement in Malmö, Sweden Urban Politics of Human Rights, p. 141-162 Continue to DOI
Maria Persdotter, Andrea Iossa (2022) On legal geography as an analytical toolbox for EU legal studies European Law Open, Vol. 1, p. 126-130 Continue to DOI

2021

Maria Persdotter, Jacob Lind, Erica Righard (2021) Introduction to special issue: Bordering practices in the social service sector: experiences from Norway and Sweden Nordic Social Work Research, Vol. 11, p. 95-102 Continue to DOI

Education

Organisation