Tag: immigration

Yılmaz, Ferruh. ‘Ethnicized Ontologies : From Foreign Worker to Muslim Immigrant : How Danish Public Discourse Moved to the Right through the Question of Immigration’. (2006) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Yilmaz, Ferruh. Ethnicized Ontologies : From Foreign Worker to Muslim Immigrant : How Danish Public Discourse Moved to the Right through the Question of Immigration. Dissertation. UC San Diego, 2006

My thesis, in one sentence, is that the entire political discourse in Denmark (and in many parts of Europe) has moved to the right through the debate on immigration in the last two decades. The left/right distinction is pushed to the background and a cultural one – the ‘Danish people’ /the Muslim immigrant – has come to the forefront as the main dividing line. This means that the redistribution of resources is discussed as a matter of ethnicity and culture rather than other types of social identifications (e.g. class or gender). In short, a new basis for identification has become hegemonic through the articulation of a new internal division based on culture. The hegemonic change was the result of the nationalist/ racist Right’s populist intervention in the mid 1980s. Large sections of society did not feel that their concerns and demands were represented by the political system. In an environment of such profound displacement, it was relatively easy for the populist right to point to immigration as the main threat to society (associated with the welfare system) and to articulate an antagonism between the people (silent majority) and the political and cultural elite that let immigration happen. The new hegemony is based on a culturalized ontology of the social. The (re)production of immigrants as a threatening force is maintained through a constant focus on cultural issues that are considered as anti-society. In many parts of Europe, cycles of moral panics are created around issues such as honor killings, gang rapes, animal slaughter, violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriages and headscarves. These issues produce repeatedly an unbridgeable divide between Muslim (immigrant) and Danish culture. The orientation towards these issues disperses various social and political actors along the antagonistic divide, often creating insolvable tensions and fractions within social movements. Reproducing a left/ right opposition – regardless of its particular content – is what is at stake. The answer to the populist vision of society is the construction of a new type of hegemony: the strategy or ideal for a future world should be the re- ontologization of the social.

PDF: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8fd0g7h7.

Yılmaz, Ferruh. ‘From Immigrant Worker to Muslim Immigrant: Challenges for Feminism’. (2014)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Yilmaz, Ferruh. ‘From Immigrant Worker  to Muslim Immigrant: Challenges for Feminism’. European Journal of Women’s Studies, vol. 22, no. 1, Feb. 2015, pp. 37–52.

In many Western European countries, gender equality and sexual tolerance have increasingly become markers of national cultures and European values that face an insistent threat from Muslims. Gender equality and sexual tolerance are increasingly framed in cultural terms and they play an important role in the construction of a social imaginary based on a cultural antagonism between ‘us’ (the nation) and ‘them’ (Muslims). This article argues that a new ‘culturalized’ social imaginary has been established by turning ‘immigrant workers’ into ‘Muslim immigrants’ over the last three decades. The unending moral panics around Muslim immigrants’ cultural practices such as honor killings, forced marriages, headscarves, female circumcision and homophobia create a sense of imminent threat and force progressive movements (e.g. feminists and gay movements) to forge unlikely alliances with right-wing groups against the insidious threat. These alliances are not, however, ephemeral mobilizations in defense of ‘common achievements’; the notion of common achievements creates a sense of cultural sameness vis-a-vis Muslims. Thus, what we see is the displacement of the internal frontiers and the creation of a new ‘hegemonic bloc’ around ‘common cultural values’. And this hegemonic displacement creates unresolvable tensions within feminist and queer movements.

doi:10.1177/1350506814532803.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1350506814532803.

Yılmaz, Ferruh. ‘Right-Wing Hegemony and Immigration: How the Populist Far-Right Achieved Hegemony through the Immigration Debate in Europe’. (2012)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Yilmaz, Ferruh. ‘Right-Wing Hegemony and Immigration: How the Populist Far-Right Achieved Hegemony through the Immigration Debate in Europe’. Current Sociology, vol. 60, no. 3, May 2012, pp. 368–381.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the debate on Islam and Muslim immigrants has moved into the center of European political discourse. The increasing volume of publications about the role of Islam in social, cultural and political spheres indicates that Islam is now a major political issue, often associated with the debate on terrorism and security. This article argues that the shift in focus should be understood as the result of a hegemonic shift that goes back to the mid-1980s when the populist farright intervened in the immigration debate in Europe. The far-right not only presented immigration as a cultural threat to the future of European nations but also succeeded in moving immigration to the center of political discourse. This was done through successive right-wing political interventions that helped establish Muslim immigrants as an incompatible ontological category predicated on culture, and kept the national focus on immigration as an imminent threat to ‘our common’ achievements.

doi:10.1177/0011392111426192.

Hellström, Anders, and Peter Hervik. ‘Feeding the Beast: Nourishing Nativist Appeals in Sweden and in Denmark’. (2014) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Hellström, Anders, and Peter Hervik. ‘Feeding the Beast: Nourishing Nativist Appeals in Sweden and in Denmark’. Journal of International Migration and Integration, vol. 15, no. 3, Aug. 2014, pp. 449–467.

Sweden and Denmark share a similar socio-political structure, yet these two countries demonstrate two distinct discourses on immigration. This article focuses on the tone of the debate in Denmark and Sweden concerning immigration and national identity. If the tone of debate is shaped by a language of fear, we argue, this predisposes people to vote for anti-immigration parties. Our analysis highlights the position of anti-immigration parties; hence, the Sweden Democrats (SD) in Sweden and the Danish People’s Party (DPP) in Denmark. We use frame analysis to detect recurrent frames in the media debate concerning the SD and the DPP in the political competition over votes. Our material concentrates on the run-up to the European Parliamentary (EP) elections of 2004 and 2009, in total 573 articles in ten major Danish and Swedish newspapers. We show that the harsh tone of the debate and the negative dialogue risks leading to the construction of beasts that are impossible to negotiate with. In the Swedish political debate, the SD is highly stigmatized as the beast (the extreme other) in Swedish politics and this stigma is used by the SD in the mobilization of votes. In Denmark the religion of Islam as such plays a similar role and provides the DPP with an identity. We conclude that we are confronted with a two-faced beast that feeds on perceptions of the people as ultimately afraid of what are not recognized as native goods.

doi:10.1007/s12134-013-0293-5.

PDF: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-013-0293-5.

Datta Gupta, Nabanita, and Lene Kromann. ‘Differences in the Labor Market Entry of Second-Generation Immigrants and Ethnic Danes’.

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Datta Gupta, Nabanita, and Lene Kromann. ‘Differences in the Labor Market Entry of Second-Generation Immigrants and Ethnic Danes’. IZA Journal of Migration, vol. 3, no. 1, Dec. 2014.

Our study is one of the first to take search friction and cross-firm differences in factor productivity into account when investigating firm behavior towards second-generation immigrants in Denmark. We ensure sub-sample homogeneity in search models by matching second-generation immigrants to their ethnic Danish twins according to parental characteristics and informal network quality. We find that second-generation immigrants with a high-school or primary school education, in particular females, perform as well or better than their ethnic counterparts. Second generation immigrants with vocational education, in particular males, face lower arrival rates when unemployed and higher layoff rates than those of their twins.

doi:10.1186/s40176-014-0016-5.

PDF: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40176-014-0016-5

Brändle, Verena K., Hans-Jörg Trenz, Freja Sørine Adler Berg, and Anna Sofie Rosenberg. ‘Solidarity Contestation in Danish Media: A National Escape from Transnational Crisis’. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Brändle, Verena K., Hans-Jörg Trenz, Freja Sørine Adler Berg, and Anna Sofie Rosenberg. ‘Solidarity Contestation in Danish Media: A National Escape from Transnational Crisis’. Integrated Report on Transnational Solidarity in the Public Domain (WP5), 2018, 165–192,

PDF: http://transsol.eu/files/2018/05/deliverable-5-1.pdf. http://transsol.eu/files/2018/05/deliverable-5-1.pdf.

Brändle, Verena K., Olga Eisele, Hans-Jörg Trenz. ‘Contesting European Solidarity During the “Refugee Crisis”: A Comparative Investigation of Media Claims in Denmark, Germany, Greece and Italy’. (2019) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Brändle, Verena K., Olga Eisele, et al. ‘Contesting European Solidarity During the “Refugee Crisis”: A Comparative Investigation of Media Claims in Denmark, Germany, Greece and Italy’. Mass Communication and Society, vol. 22, no. 6, Nov. 2019, pp. 708–732.

The migration crisis of 2015 and 2016 was a litmus test for EU solidarity, when increasing numbers of newly arriving refugees fueled its public contestation. Our overall assumption is that the “refugee crisis” contributed to a solidarity gap between inclusive liberal-cosmopolitan and exclusive communitarian attitudes in the EU. We investigate this assumption by contrasting positions regarding solidarity with refugees among state and societal actors. We base our analysis on a fresh dataset of solidarity claims in the largest print newspapers in Denmark, Germany, Greece and Italy for the period of August 2015 – April 2016 coded in the TransSOL project. These four countries were affected differently by the “crisis” and differently attractive for refugees and asylum-seekers as arrival, destination or transit countries. Results suggest a solidarity gap between state actors and societal actors and a higher degree of solidarity contestation in countries with state actors strongly promoting exclusive notions of solidarity. Results speak to the discussion about media representations of migration as well as the contestation of solidarity as a fundamental value.

doi:10.1080/15205436.2019.1674877.

PDF: https://transsol.eu/files/2020/04/Braendle-et-al-2019-Contesting-European-Solidarity_MCAS.pdf?file=2020/04/Braendle-et-al-2019-Contesting-European-Solidarity_MCAS.pdf

Bissenbakker, Mons, and Lene Myong. ‘Love Will Keep Us Together: Kærlighed og hvid transracialitet i protester mod danske familie- sammenføringsregler’. (2012) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Bissenbakker, Mons, and Lene Myong. ‘Love Will Keep Us Together: Kærlighed og hvid transracialitet i protester mod danske familie- sammenføringsregler’. Tidsskrift for kjønnsforskning, vol. 36, no. 03–04, Universitetsforlaget, 2012, pp. 188–202.

De danske familiesammenføringsregler blev i 2010 genstand for kritik fra et borgerinitiativ, som i kærlighedens navn kæmpede for en lempelse af loven. Som politisk mobiliserende affekt lover kærligheden inklusion og frigørelse. Men risikerer den også at gentage racialiserede og seksuelle hierarkier? På hvilke præmisser kan seksualpolitiske kritikker udfordre disse hierarkier? Denne artikel søger at tage affekt alvorligt som politisk og analytisk fænomen, og den introducerer begrebet om hvid transracialitet som betegnelse for de underliggende magtformer, der informerer kærlighed som politisk protestform.

Denmark has imposed some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe since 2000. Consequently, family reunification in the country has become increasingly difficult for both immigrants and Danish nationals. This article looks at a political initiative called «Love without Borders» (LwB) and its attempt to mobilize the Danish public in a push to overturn the laws. LwB has generated momentum around the ideal of transraciality (straight, white subjects oriented towards reproduction and romantic love). At the same time, queer activists have offered  a political rebuke by pointing out how the laws (and in turn LwB’s critique) are built on heteronormative assumptions that ignore homosexuality. In both cases, however, love seems to promise affective ties to the nation, to the future, and to the political system in ways that sustain white hegemony. Building on Sara Ahmed’s reflections on love as cultural politics and Jasbir Puar’s notion of homonationalism, the article analyzes posters, viral videos and newspaper debates in its discussion of the promises and pitfalls of love as an affective political tool.

https://www.idunn.no/tfk/2012/03-04/love_will_keep_us_together_krlighed_og_hvid_transracialit

PDF: https://www.idunn.no/tfk/2012/03-04/love_will_keep_us_together_krlighed_og_hvid_transracialit. https://www.idunn.no/tfk/2012/03-04/love_will_keep_us_together_krlighed_og_hvid_transracialit

Bech, Emily Cochran, Karin Borevi, et al. ‘A “Civic Turn” in Scandinavian Family Migration Policies? Comparing Denmark, Norway and Sweden’. (2017) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Bech, Emily Cochran, Karin Borevi, et al. ‘A “Civic Turn” in Scandinavian Family Migration Policies? Comparing Denmark, Norway and Sweden’. Comparative Migration Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, Mar. 2017, p. 7.

Family migration policy, once basing citizens and resident foreigners’ possibilities to bring in foreign family members mainly on the right to family life, is increasingly a tool states use to limit immigration and to push newcomers to integrate into civic and economic life. The family migration policies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden range widely – from more minimal support and age requirements to high expectations of language skills, work records and even income levels. While in Denmark and increasingly in Norway growing sets of requirements have been justified on the need to protect the welfare state and a Nordic liberal way of life, in Sweden more minimal requirements have been introduced in the name of spurring immigrants’ labor market integration even as rights-based reasoning has continued to dominate. In all three countries, new restrictions have been introduced in the wake of the refugee crisis. These cases show how prioritizations of the right to family life vis-à-vis welfare-state sustainability have produced different rules for family entry, and how family migration policies are used to different extents to push civic integration of both new and already settled immigrants.

doi:10.1186/s40878-016-0046-7.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314143800_A_%27civic_turn%27_in_Scandinavian_family_migration_policies_Comparing_Denmark_Norway_and_Sweden.

Arce, José, and Julia Suárez-Krabbe. ‘Racism, Global Apartheid and Disobedient Mobilities: The Politics of Detention and Deportation in Europe and Denmark’ (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Arce, José, and Julia Suárez-Krabbe. ‘Racism, Global Apartheid and Disobedient Mobilities: The Politics of Detention and Deportation in Europe and Denmark’. Kult, vol. 15, 2018.

PDF: http://postkolonial.dk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/11_Julia-og-Jose_We-are-here-because-you-were-there_final.pdf. http://postkolonial.dk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/11_Julia-og-Jose_We-are-here-because-you-were-there_final.pdf.

Aalberg, Toril, and Zan Strabac. ‘Media Use and Misperceptions: Does TV Viewing Improve Our Knowledge about Immigration?’ (2010) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Aalberg, Toril, and Zan Strabac. ‘Media Use and Misperceptions: Does TV Viewing Improve Our Knowledge about Immigration?’ NORDICOM Review, vol. 31, no. 1, June 2010, pp. 35–52.

There is considerable evidence that many people generally misperceive the size of the immigrant population in their country, and that this may have essential political implications. In studies of political knowledge, the news media are typically said to be one important source of information that can help make people more knowledgeable. In the present article, we investigate whether there is a relationship between TV viewing, media system variations and knowledge about immigration. We base our analysis on highly comparable data from the 2002-2003 wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) and an American replication of the ESS. The results indicate that TV viewing in general is associated with lower levels of knowledge, while there is a positive but non-significant relationship between watching TV news and knowledge about immigration. Differences in the levels of knowledge between the countries are fairly large, with residents of Nordic countries being most knowledgeable and residents of the UK, US and France tending to be least knowledgeable. Aggregate explanations for variations in media influence (share of public service TV and ‘media systems’) do not prove to be of much value in explaining differences in knowledge about the sizes of immigrant populations.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313260785_Media_Use_and_Misperceptions

https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/nor/31/1/article-p35.xml?language=en