The Guide to Comfort: The diasporic practices of Swedish clubs in Southern Spain

This article demonstrates how large social clubs are operating at the locus of an ethnic community-making of Swedish migrants in Southern Spain. The clubs are selectively targeting the relatively wealthy (ethnic) Swedish individuals of older age, offering them a home-like social arena ‘in Swedish’ in which the mediation of information and services is just one of the ‘guidelines’ the clubs offer to ensure the members a comfortable lifestyle in Spain. In this social space, the Swedish migrants meet, socialise and, to some extent, also consume, rather than participating and integrating in Spanish society. The article argues that the practices used by the social clubs are becoming part of the infrastructure guiding migrants towards a Swedish diasporic lifestyle in Southern Spain.