Bathing into Belonging: An Exploration of International Students' encounters at the Swedish Sauna

Abstract: This thesis is an ethnographic exploration of Swedish sauna practices as experienced by international students at Lund University. The research objective is to navigate experiences of belonging and community formation that occur in the sauna, but also highlights how experiences of outsiderness and exclusion come to the fore in this highly sensorial environment. The sauna is analysed as a microcosmic space that reflects the larger picture of Swedish society. This thesis is a cultural analytical attempt to contribute to and widen the research field of the international student homemaking experience in Sweden by exploring the emotional and body experiences in the public sauna space. More particularly, this thesis is constructed around autoethnographic fieldwork and the collaboration of eight informants that moved to Lund as international students. Furthermore, theories of affect are applied; by doing so, it examines how emotions and power circulate through bodily practices. Sara Ahmed's concept of affect is utilised to highlight the relationality of embodied experience. Emotional and affective experiences move between bodies and play a role in power structures and community formations. Meanwhile, according to previous research, there is limited research conducted on sauna practice through a more critical lens. This research project unpacks how whiteness and heteronormativity claim the sauna space, affecting each individual's sense of belonging in a variety of ways. To acknowledge these structures, this thesis turns a sharp eye to the institutionalised whiteness of the Swedish sauna space. By dissecting how individuals talk about partaking in a culturally institutionalised activity like sauna bathing from the perspective of newcomers, we gain insights into what it means to create inclusive and inviting public spaces. This research offers tools for upcoming international students to find their own sense of belonging in Sweden. As such, the sauna becomes a site of analysis that provides a unique perspective on the complex social dynamics at play in Swedish society.