Tag: interviews

Schmidt, Garbi. ‘“Grounded” Politics: Manifesting Muslim Identity as a Political Factor and Localized Identity in Copenhagen’. (2012)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Schmidt, Garbi. ‘“Grounded” Politics: Manifesting Muslim Identity as a Political Factor and Localized Identity in Copenhagen’. Ethnicities, vol. 12, no. 5, SAGE Publications, Oct. 2012, pp. 603–622.

A prominent strand within current migration research argues that, to understand the participation of immigrants in their host societies, we must focus on their incorporation into the cities in which they settle. This article narrows the perspective further by focusing on the role that immigrants play within one particular neighbourhood: Nørrebro in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. The article introduces the concept of grounded politics to analyse how groups of Muslim immigrants in Nørrebro use the space, relationships and history of the neighbourhood for identity political statements. The article further describes how national political debates over the Muslim presence in Denmark affect identity political manifestations within Nørrebro. By using Duncan Bell’s concept of mythscape (Bell, 2003), the article shows how some political actors idealize Nørrebro’s past to contest the present ethnic and religious diversity of the neighbourhood and, further, to frame what they see as the deterioration of genuine Danish identity.

doi:10.1177/1468796811432839.

Schmidt, Garbi. ‘Troubled by Law: The Subjectivizing Effects of Danish Marriage Reunification Laws’. (2013)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Schmidt, Garbi. ‘Troubled by Law: The Subjectivizing Effects of Danish Marriage Reunification Laws’.International Migration, vol. 52, Sept. 2013.

Between 2002 and 2003, Denmark introduced further limitations on its already restrictive regulations concerning family and marriage reunification. While several studies, both Danish and international, have discussed the effects of these and other family reunification laws on individual practice, we know very little about the their effects on people’s self-perceptions and norms. Based on a qualitative data set, including a total of 89 interviews with young people of immigrant background living in Denmark collected between 1999 and 2009, this article seeks to provide answers to this and related questions. As a social technology, do the regulations create changes in the practice field of the respondents which they gradually come to see as natural and reasonable, or do they leave them in a troubling subject position (Staunæs, 2005) based on a socially and legislatively regulated stigma?

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/imig.12132

Shield, Andrew DJ. ‘Grindr Culture: Intersectional and Socio-Sexual’. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Shield, Andrew DJ. ‘Grindr Culture: Intersectional and Socio-Sexual’. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, vol. 18, no. 1, Warwick Business School, 2018, pp. 149–161.

This research note is based on ethnographic work in the greater Copenhagen area on the socio-sexual networking app Grindr and on interviews with twelve recent immigrants who use this platform. As an online space primarily for gay men, Grindr is a unique subculture in which to conduct research about intersections of sexuality with other socio-cultural categories such as race and migration background, but also gender and ability. I find that user experiences with exclusion and discrimination relate to Grindr’s interface, such as its drop-down menus, to the discourses circulated by Grindr users in profile texts, and to user- to-user interactions in private messages.

http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/grindr-culture-intersectional-and-socio-sexual

PDF: https://forskning.ruc.dk/en/publications/grindr-culture-intersectional-and-socio-sexual.

Skadegård, M. C., and Christian Horst. ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A Study of Everyday Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Racial Microaggressions in Contemporary Denmark’. (2020)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Skadegård, M. C., and Christian Horst. ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A Study of Everyday Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Racial Microaggressions in Contemporary Denmark’. Social Identities, Routledge, Sept. 2020, pp. 1–22.

In this article, we explore how individuals navigate in seemingly neutral contexts where discrimination occurs while it is simultaneously denied. We address how structural discrimination (implicit, underlying) is so deeply imbricated within day-to-day forms of communication, interaction, and within language, that it has become part of social normality and, as such, nearly invisible. Further, we argue that structural discrimination is part of a shared knowledge that must be negotiated and navigated within, but which changes with place and context. In the article, we dissect and explore some of the ambivalences embedded within racialized and discriminatory interactions. We do this in our discussion of the following: (1) Complex, shared underlying knowledge of discrimination which encompasses systematized stratifications of difference. (2) ‘A knowing the inside/being the outside position’ which, for some individuals, may contribute to challenges in regard to navigation within discriminatory contexts.

doi:10.1080/13504630.2020.1815526.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2020.1815526.

Soei, Aydin. Omar – og de andre: vrede unge mænd og modborgerskab. (2018)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Soei, Aydin. Omar – og de andre: vrede unge mænd og modborgerskab. Gads Forlag, 2018.

”Mange har en følelse af at være andenrangsborgere. Og dét at folk inderst inde godt ved, at de ikke er accepterede i Danmark, gør jo ondt.”  Sådan lyder det fra en af de ’vrede unge mænd’, som sociologen Aydin Soei har talt med til bogen Omar – og de andre. Bogen handler om kriminalitetstruede unge mænd med minoritetsbaggrund og deres oplevelse af modborgerskab, som kan få dem til at vende det danske samfund ryggen. Flertallet af de unge fra landets udsatte områder lever helt almindelige liv med skole, job og familie, men nogle ender som radikaliserede, som bandemedlemmer eller storkriminelle. Én enkelt, Omar el-Hussein, opgav helt at være en del af samfundet, da han i 2015 dræbte to uskyldige mænd i terrorangrebet ved Krudttønden og den jødiske synagoge i København. Omar el-Husseins baggrund minder om så mange andre kriminalitetstruede minoritetsdrenges, viser bogens gennemgang, men udgangen på hans historie blev, at han valgte at agere som en ekstrem modborger. 

I 2018 er det ti år siden, at Danmark blev ramt af landsdækkende optøjer i udsatte boligområder, og at den danske bandekonflikt brød ud og udviklede sig til en permanent størrelse. Begge fænomener er skelsættende i dansk ‘ghettohistorie’ og beskrives i Omar – og de andre, der sammenligner udfordringerne med radikalisering, bander og optøjer i den danske, amerikanske og franske ‘ghetto’.  Bogen er en fortsættelse af Vrede unge mænd (2011), hvorfra enkelte af kapitlerne går igen i nye og opdaterede versioner. Nogle af de unge, som forfatteren mødte første gang for et årti siden, geninterviewes side om side med nye stemmer, der bidrager til at tegne et portræt af udviklingen blandt en særlig gruppe unge i landets udsatte områder.

https://gad.dk/omar-og-de-andre

Soei, Aydin. Vrede unge mænd: optøjer og kampen for anerkendelse i et nyt Danmark. (2011)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Soei, Aydin. Vrede unge mænd: optøjer og kampen for anerkendelse i et nyt Danmark. København: Tiderne skifter, 2011.

Nørrebro februar 2008. Gaderne står i brand. Politiet angribes med brosten og andet kasteskyts i kvarteret omkring Blågårds Plads. Unge tænder ild til biler og containere. Medierne beskriver optøjerne som en nærmest krigslignende tilstand. En udløsende faktor har været de mange ofte krænkende kropsvisitationer i de såkaldte visitationszoner. I løbet af få dage breder urolighederne sig til andre socialt belastede boligområder i Danmark over Tingbjerg og Vestegnen til Voldsmose og Gjellerupparken. Begivenhederne kaldes i medierne Danmarkshistoriens værste indvandreroptøjer og sammenlignes med tidligere optøjer i de franske forstæder. Der peges også på bandekriminalitet religiøs vrede og kedsomhed i vinterferien. Men hvad var det i virkeligheden der udløste uroen og hvorfor blev en lokal konflikt på Nørrebro til et landsdækkende fænomen?

Vrede unge mænd forsøger at besvare disse spørgsmål ved at afdække udviklingen i landets udsatte boligområder fra slutningen af 90 erne og frem. Bogen bygger på interviews og samtaler igennem en lang periode med nogle af de unge selv både dem som var på gaden og dem som afstod fra at deltage i optøjerne og med skolelærere socialarbejdere betjente og pædagoger. Bogen arbejder i journalistisk form med sociologisk teori om vrede unge mænd i et forsøg på at trænge om bag mediernes dækning af ghettoen og dens unge beboere.

https://www.gyldendal.dk/produkter/vrede-unge-mand-9788702220704

Solhjell, R., E. Saarikkomäki, M. B. Haller, D. Wästerfors, and T. Kolind. ‘“We Are Seen as a Threat”: Police Stops of Young Ethnic Minorities in the Nordic Countries’. (2019) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Solhjell, R., E. Saarikkomäki, M. B. Haller, D. Wästerfors, and T. Kolind. ‘“We Are Seen as a Threat”: Police Stops of Young Ethnic Minorities in the Nordic Countries’. Critical Criminology, vol. 27, 2019, pp. 347–361.

This article focuses on the perspectives of young ethnic minorities in the Nordic countries who have experienced various forms of “police stops”, i.e. situations where the police stop them without any reference to a specific event of which the youth are aware. Analytically, the debate is positioned through an intersectionality approach of (un)belonging to majority societies. Across the Nordic countries, we found that the young people described five social markers as reasons for being stopped, namely clothing, hanging out in groups, ethnicity, neighbourhoods and gender. We argue that the police stops explicate how the young men in particular are often forced to think about themselves in terms of “a threat” to the majority and the attributes they have that make them seem like criminals.

doi:10.1007/s10612-018-9408-9.

PDF: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10612-018-9408-9.pdf.

Spanger, Marlene. ‘Doing Love in the Borderland of Transnational Sex Work: Female Thai Migrants in Denmark’. (2013)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Spanger, Marlene. ‘Doing Love in the Borderland of Transnational Sex Work: Female Thai Migrants in Denmark’. NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, vol. 21, no. 2, Routledge, June 2013, pp. 92–107.

By bringing love to the fore as an unfixed category, this article analyses the highly complex lives of female Thai migrants who sell sex in Denmark. In doing so, the article challenges the static and rather normative binary categories of “sex work” versus “prostitution” and “empowered woman” versus “victim of human trafficking” that are produced in the literature on sex work and prostitution. This binary approach is likely to portray the lives and subject positions of female migrants who sell sex in a rather one-sided way. The article argues that the category of love is highly relevant in studies of transnational sex work if we want to grasp the complexity of the lives of female migrants who sell sexual services.

doi:10.1080/08038740.2013.781543.

Ringsager, Kristine. ‘Rap, Rettigheder, Respekt: En Musikalsk Antropologi Om Medborgerskab, Kosmopolitisme Og Brune Rappere i Danmark’ (2015) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Ringsager, Kristine. Rap, Rettigheder, Respekt: En Musikalsk Antropologi Om Medborgerskab, Kosmopolitisme Og Brune Rappere i Danmark. Copenhagen: Dissertation. University of Copenhagen, Faculty of the Humanities, 2015.

Afhandlingen RAP, RETTIGHEDER, RESPEKT. En musikalsk antropologi om medborgerskab, kosmopolitisme og brune rappere i Danmarkpræsenterer et indblik i en diasporisk, postetnisk rapscene i Danmark. Afhandlingens primære fokus er fremstillingen af fortællinger indhentet gen-nem empirisk feltforskning blandt rappere med synlig minoritetsbaggrund. Dette materiale kon-tekstualiseres og diskuteres ud fra et bredt udvalg af litteraturer, som belyser de makro-strukturelle vilkår, der påvirker dagligdagen for deltagerne i rapscenen. De væsentligste fokuspunkter i diskussionen er de erfaringer af andethed, der dannes på bag-grund af et nationalt identifikationsrum, som står i delvis modsætning til det postetniske, transnatio-nale og diasporiske identifikationsrum, som hiphopkulturen og rapscenen udgør. Fra dette udgangs-punkt i et postkolonialistisk tankesæt bredes diskussionen ud til at omfatte emner som globalisering, lokalisering og glokalisering i relation til rap-og hiphopkulturer mere generelt –særligt med fokus på den danske scene, som der også gives en fyldig historisk gennemgang af. Den rapscene, der diskuteres,spænder fra et undergrundmiljø over en kommerciel musikbranchetil arbejdet med rapmusik i den medborgerskabs-og integrationsorienterede offentlige sektor. Af-handlingen viser, hvordan rapperne benytter den musik, de producerer, til at udtrykke ønsker og krav om rettigheder og respekt i spændingsfeltet mellem minoritets-og majoritetsprocesser. I for-længelse heraf belyser afhandlingen spændingen mellem, at rappernes synlige andethed både sætter begrænsninger og giver muligheder, ligesom det også diskuteres hvordan rapperne både fastholdes i og kan kapitalisere på deres synlige andethed. Endvidere behandler afhandlingen spørgsmål om sammenhængene mellem musik, politik og identitet, ud fra en diskussion af,hvordan rappere på forskellige måder aktiverer rap som en kos-mopolitisk ressource til at skabe social forandring. Denne diskussion indebærer også en refleksion af, hvordan disse forandringstiltag finder sted som en konstant forhandling af social empowerment–210illustreret gennem ideer om rapmusiks formålstjenlighed i socialt arbejde –og en kommerciel ste-reotypificering, der hele tiden udfordrer ideerne om rapmusiks emancipatoriske potentiale.

Abstract

This thesistitledRAP, RIGHTS, RESPECT. A Musical Anthropology of Citizenship, Cosmopolitan-ism and Brown Rappers in Denmarkpresents an insight into a diasporic, post-ethnic rap scene in Denmark. The primary focus of the thesis is the presentation of narratives collected in empirical fieldwork among visible minority rappers. This empirical material is discussed and contextualized by a broad selection of literatures that elucidate the macro-structural conditions affecting the every-day of the rappers.The key issues in this discussion are the experiences of otherness, which come into figure on a background of national identifications that are partly in opposition to thepost-ethnic, transnational and diasporic space of identification, offered by hip hop culture and the rap scene. From this post-colonial outset, the discussion is expanded to ideas of globalization, localization and glocalization related to rap and hip hop cultures in a more general sense, with a special focus on the Danish sce-ne, which is presented in a comprehensive historical review.The underground milieu, the music industry, and the part of the public social servicesector working with rap music as a means to advance citizenship and integration, are all part of the rap scene under scrutiny. The thesis shows how the rappers use their music to express hopes and wishes about rights and respect at the intersection of minority and majority processes. In continuation, the tensions between the limitations and opportunities caused by the rappers’ visible otherness are dis-cussed, as are also the implication that they are both fixated by this otherness as well as they are able to capitalize on it. Further, the thesis addresses questions connecting music, politics and identity in a discussion of the different ways in which rappers activate rap as a cosmopolitan resource for social change. This discussion also entails a reflection on how these initiatives for change take place as a constant nego-tiation of social empowerment –as illustrated by the ideas of the expediency of rap music in social 212work –and the commercial stereotyping that is ever challenging the ideas of the emancipatory po-tential of rap music.

https://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/rap-rettigheder-respekt-en-musikalsk-antropologi-om-medborgerskab

PDF: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/269263755.pdf

Suárez-Krabbe, Julia, Annika Lindberg, and José Arce-Bayona. Stop Killing Us Slowly: A Research Report on the Motivation Enhancement Measures and the Criminalisation of Rejected Asylum Seekers in Denmark. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Suárez-Krabbe, Julia, Annika Lindberg, and José Arce-Bayona. Stop Killing Us Slowly: A Research Report on the Motivation Enhancement Measures and the Criminalisation of Rejected Asylum Seekers in Denmark. The Freedom of Movements Research Collective, 2018,

Executive summary:

According to the Danish Minister of Immigration and Integration, the Danish deportation centres Sjælsmark and Kærshovedgård are set up to ‘make life intolerable’3 for those rejected asylum-seekers who cannot immediately be detained or deported, thereby pressuring them into leaving Denmark ‘voluntarily’. As part of the motivation enhancement measures introduced into the Danish Aliens Act in 1997 the deportation centres confine asylum seekers in geographically isolated ‘open’ institutions with low living standards and minimum welfare provisions. However, these measures have not fulfilled their official function. Instead of making more people return ‘voluntarily’, they have pushed rejected asylum seekers into illegality, while others remain stuck and de facto confined in deportation centres for a potentially indefinite time period. This report gives an overview of the setup of the deportation centres and analyses how the discrepancy be-tween the intended and real effects may be interpreted. It asks: what are the functions of deporta-tion centres based on their real, rather than politically declared effects? Addressing this question, the report finds the following:

• The deportation centres in particular and the motivation enhancement measures in general, do not fulfil their declared function of increasing ‘voluntary’ returns, nor do they address the issue of migrants who are legally stranded for lengthy periods of time with very circumscribed rights.

• The legal frameworks regulating detention or prisons in Denmark (i.e. time limits, ac-cess to legal advice, rights guarantees) do not apply to deportation centres. Deporta-tion centres can therefore be compared to indefinite detention

.• The deportation centres result in the dras-tic deterioration of the mental and physical health of the men, women, and children ac-commodated there

• The political framework, the juridical setup and the daily rules and practices in depor-tation centres contribute to the criminalisa-tion of migrants and refugees

.• By running these practices in a legal grey zone, the Danish government circumvents – and overtly breaches – human rights reg-ulations at the same time locking residents in a situation with very limited possibilities to contest these conditions and claim their human rights.

• While failing to achieve their own stated goals, the motivation enhancement meas-ures and the deportation centres do achieve making peoples’ lives intolerable: they break people’s spirits and minds and force them to live a life in illegality, outside of the justice- and rights system.~

PDF: http://refugees.dk/media/1757/stop-killing-us_uk.pdf.

Verdasco, Andrea. ‘Communities of Belonging in the Temporariness of the Danish Asylum System: Shalini’s Anchoring Points’. (2019) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Verdasco, Andrea. ‘Communities of Belonging in the Temporariness of the Danish Asylum System: Shalini’s Anchoring Points’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 45, no. 9, July 2019, pp. 1439–1457.

Refugees often find themselves in a protracted situation of temporariness, as applications for asylum are processed, deportations negotiated and possible extensions of temporary protection status considered within the context of increasingly restrictive governmental policies across Europe. Through the case of a young Sri Lankan woman who arrived in Denmark as an ‘unaccompanied asylum-seeking minor’ and spent five years within the Danish asylum system, this article explores how she experienced moving through different legal categories and the institutional settings associated with them. I argue that, by engaging in social relations in the localities where she was situated, she developed places of belonging that could serve as ‘anchoring points’ providing some measure of stability in her otherwise unpredictable and precarious life situation. This case suggests that, even under conditions of protracted temporariness and legal uncertainty, individuals are able to create important anchoring points and develop communities of belonging that can serve them in a difficult process of belonging to Denmark.

doi:10.1080/1369183X.2018.1443393.

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323432801_Communities_of_belonging_in_the_temporariness_of_the_Danish_Asylum_System_Shalini%27s_anchoring_points

Wren, Karen. ‘Cultural Racism: Something Rotten in the State of Denmark?’ (2001) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Wren, Karen. ‘Cultural Racism: Something Rotten in the State of Denmark?’ Social & Cultural Geography, vol. 2, no. 2, Jan. 2001, pp. 141–162. Taylor and Francis+NEJM,

Cultural racism has found fertile territory in a post-industrial Europe experiencing economic crisis and social disintegration, but its manifestations vary between countries. Denmark, a country traditionally regarded as liberal and tolerant, experienced a fundamental shift in attitude during the early 1980s that has seen it emerge potentially as one of the most racist countries in Europe. Paradoxically, liberal values are used as justification for negative representations of ‘others’. This paper examines the place-specific manifestations of cultural racism in Denmark, which can be identified as essentially anti-Muslim and anti-refugee. Through the use of interviews with minority women, newspaper extracts and material propagated by far-right organizations, the paper traces the evolution of this discourse, identifying its key actors as: specific far-right anti-immigration groups; the media; and a culturally deterministic academic research tradition. The subtle manifestation of cultural racism in Denmark, coupled with inadequate anti-racist opposition or legislation, have rendered it particularly damaging, and ‘legitimated’ a range of racist policies and practices.

doi:10.1080/14649360120047788.

PDF: http://www1.geo.ntnu.edu.tw/~moise/Data/Books/Reach%20of%20culture/cultural%20racism.pdf.

Younis, Tarek, and Ghayda Hassan. ‘Second-Generation Western Muslims: A Qualitative Analysis of Multiple Social Identities’. (2019) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Younis, Tarek, and Ghayda Hassan. ‘Second-Generation Western Muslims: A Qualitative Analysis of Multiple Social Identities’. Transcultural Psychiatry, vol. 56, no. 6, SAGE Publications Ltd, Dec. 2019, pp. 1155–1169.

The relationships between social identities are important when discussing the national and religious identities of Muslims in Western contexts. This study explored the identity narratives of second-generation Muslim young adults to consider the relevance of bicultural identity and acculturation theories commonly employed in research with this group. The sample comprised 20 Muslim young adults of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds from Montreal, Berlin, and Copenhagen who participated in semi-structured interviews that explored how they negotiate their social identities in light of their unique life course trajectories. This article focuses on two major themes underlying second-generation identity development: the importance of personal experience in the development of social identities; and the enmeshment of multiple social identities. We then discuss the results of our findings in light of the complex nature of social identity, group membership, and political categorization.

doi:10.1177/1363461518804554.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461518804554.

Herbert, David, and Janna Hansen. ‘“You Are No Longer My Flesh and Blood”: Social Media and the Negotiation of a Hostile Media Frame by Danish Converts to Islam’. (2018)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Herbert, David, and Janna Hansen. ‘“You Are No Longer My Flesh and Blood”: Social Media and the Negotiation of a Hostile Media Frame by Danish Converts to Islam’. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, vol. 31, no. 01, May 2018, pp. 4–21.

While surveys suggest that Danes value freedom of religion highly, in practice ethnic Danish converts to Islam report frequent negative responses to their Muslim identities, both in public settings and from friends and family. Our paper examines how active social media users amongst converts to Islam in the greater Copenhagen area negotiate both a predominantly negative media frame and negative personal reactions in their self-understanding, through personal conduct, and on social media. Interviewees report tensions between their Danish and Muslim identities, which they struggle to resolve constructively through tactics aimed at reducing the gap in majority perception between being Muslim and Danish – for example, through exemplary personal conduct, countering negative media representations, and emphasising shared values. However, most report frustration and tiredness at the daily effort and, over time, more pro-active discursive and media-based tactics tend to be replaced by a focus on local and personal relationships.

doi:10.18261/issn.1890-7008-2018-01-01.

PDF: https://www.idunn.no/nordic_journal_of_religion_and_society/2018/01/you_are_no_longer_my_flesh_and_blood_social_media_and_th.

Hansen, Janna, and David Herbert. ‘Life in the Spotlight: Danish Muslims, Dual Identities, and Living with a Hostile Media’. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Hansen, Janna, and David Herbert. ‘Chapter 12 Life in the Spotlight: Danish Muslims, Dual Identities, and Living with a Hostile Media’. Contesting Religion, Ed. Knut Lundby, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2018, 205–222.

We examine ethnic Danish and ethnic minority Muslim (n = 15) responses to the negative media frame they experience, and their efforts to build viable dual identities – ways of being Danish and Muslim. The reported media negativity is triangulated with evidence from ECRI media reports, public opinion surveys, and reports on government policies and institutions. We find that interviewees’ experiences vary with their visibility as Muslims, so hijab wearing women and men of colour report most negativity in public environments. We also find that efforts to pro-actively project a positive social media image of Islam vary by time since conversion, gradually declining. Danish Muslim challenges in forming dual identities are compared with those of Swedish (Malmö) and British (London) Muslims. We examine why London Muslims more readily construct dual identities than Malmö Muslims – despite greater negativity in national surveys and barriers to voting. The implications for cultural conflict in Scandinavia are discussed.

doi:10.1515/9783110502060-017.

PDF: https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/book/9783110502060/10.1515/9783110502060-017.xml

Gudrun Jensen, Tina, Kristina Weibel, and Kathrine Vitus. ‘“There Is No Racism Here”: Public Discourses on Racism, Immigrants and Integration in Denmark’. (2017)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Gudrun Jensen, Tina, Kristina Weibel, and Kathrine Vitus. ‘“There Is No Racism Here”: Public Discourses on Racism, Immigrants and Integration in Denmark’. Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 51, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 51–68.

Jensen, Weibel and Vitus’s article critically discusses contemporary Danish policies aimed at the elimination of ethnoracial discrimination, drawing on policy analyses and qualitative interviews with local and national authorities in Denmark. It illustrates how questions of discrimination and racism are marginalized and de-legitimized within the dominant integration discourse, resulting in the marginalization of anti-racism in policymaking. The side-stepping of racism is being naturalized in public policies through strategies of denial and by addressing discrimination as a product of ignorance and individual prejudice rather than as embedded in social structures. The authors examine how immigration, integration and (anti-)racism as concepts and phenomena are understood and addressed in Danish public policies and discourses. Despite denials of racism in Denmark, Jensen, Weibel and Vitus show that, based on re-definitions of identities and relations, it continues to exist and is evident in public debates and policies on immigration and integration.

doi:10.1080/0031322X.2016.1270844.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0031322X.2016.1270844.

Fuglsang Larsen, Jeppe, Birte Siim, and Susi Meret. ‘Militants from the Other Side. Anti-Bodies to Hate-Speech and Behavior in Denmark.’ (2014) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Fuglsang Larsen, Jeppe, Birte Siim, and Susi Meret. State of the Art. Work Stream 3 – the Danish Report: Militants from the Other Side. Anti-Bodies to Hate-Speech and Behavior in Denmark. 461002, Aalborg University, 2014, p. 38.

The purpose of the State Of the Art (SOA) is to gain knowledge about the Danish Context of organisations, groups and movements in civil society countering hate speech, institutional racism and exclusionary practices and to identify gaps in national research on the issue that can be explored through field work, interviews and group discussions/dialogues, possibly to be debated at roundtable convening in the autumn of 2014.

PDF: https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/209278105/RAGE_SOA_WS_3_Final.pdf.

Dalgaard, Nina T. ‘The Impact of Islam and the Public and Political Portrayals of Islam on Child-Rearing Practices—Discursive Analyses of Parental Accounts among Muslims Living in Denmark’ (2016) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Dalgaard, Nina T. ‘The Impact of Islam and the Public and Political Portrayals of Islam on Child-Rearing Practices—Discursive Analyses of Parental Accounts among Muslims Living in Denmark’. Culture & Psychology, vol. 22, no. 1, Mar. 2016, p. 65.

With the rise of Islamist terrorist attacks in the US and Europe the impact of Islam on child-rearing practices has become a matter of public attention and debate. Within the political discourse in the Western world and in the mass media, Muslims are often being portrayed negatively. Research has documented how Muslims living in the West are adversely affected by the negative portrayals of Islam associated with the War on Terror. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of Islam on child-rearing practices and parental identity formation among self-identified Muslims in Denmark. Using a discursive approach to analyzing interviews with parents in 29 Middle Eastern refugee families, six rhetorical strategies were identified: (1) minimizing differences, (2) highlighting compatibility, (3) emphasizing positive aspects of Islam, (4) countering common prejudice, (5) actively distancing oneself from terrorists/extremists, and (6) separating Islam as a religion from cultural traditions. It is argued that the global as well as national political discourse post 9/11 is reflected in all of the six rhetorical strategies. Whether parents position themselves as having a high or low bicultural identity or a Muslim parental identity, their positioning involves drawing on the discursive resources from the mass media, the global and national political and public discourse. Furthermore, it is argued that all rhetorical strategies can be seen as attempts to counter the hurt associated with the negative portrayal of Islam.

PDF: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1354067X15621478.

Christoffersen, Lisbet, and Niels Valdemar Vinding. ‘Challenged Pragmatism: Conflicts of Religion and Law in the Danish Labour Market’. (2013) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Christoffersen, Lisbet, and Niels Valdemar Vinding. ‘Challenged Pragmatism: Conflicts of Religion and Law in the Danish Labour Market’. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, vol. 13, no. 2–3, SAGE Publications Ltd, June 2013, pp. 140–168.

Against the backdrop of a well-regulated and pragmatic Danish labour market, the question of reasonable accommodation is discussed on the basis of current legislation, recent legal cases and substantial interview material drawn from the RELIGARE sociolegal research done in Denmark. Employees of religious faith have made religious claims and thereby challenged a secular understanding of the Danish labour market. This raises the question of the extent to which the religion of the individual can be accepted in the general public sphere. At the same time, religious ethos organisations have argued for the protection of their organisational identity and sought to employ and dismiss personnel according to the norms of the religious ethos, raising the question of how far ‘reasonable accommodation’ extends. Both the individual and the collective cluster cases ultimately raise questions concerning where to draw the line between accommodating religion and restricting freedom on the basis of professionalism, job functions or other reasons. On the basis of empirical findings, this article concludes that the pragmatic approach is supporting a renewed religious identity of faith-based organisations, but also warns against hijacking rights of individual employees.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1358229113492064.

PDF: https://www.academia.edu/4336642/Challenged_pragmatism_Conflicts_of_religion_and_law_in_the_Danish_labour_market

Bodekær Black, Maja. ‘Hygge Racism’: ”noget Som Man Nok Bruger Mere End Man Tænker over” A Qualitative Study of Well-Intentioned Racism. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Bodekær Black, Maja. ‘Hygge Racism’: ”noget Som Man Nok Bruger Mere End Man Tænker over” A Qualitative Study of Well-Intentioned Racism. MA Thesis. Lund University, 2018,

The aim of this study is to add to the body of knowledge on racisms in Denmark with the hope that further conceptual developments on ‘hygge racism’ can be made. In order to achieve this general aim, I analyse ‘hygge racism’ based on chosen concepts that show how it is reproduced and normalised in Denmark, thus dealing with it on structural and cultural levels, while also showing how it is a discursive act of ‘doing’ racism, thereby adding the personal level to the analysis. The thesis is grounded on theories of power by Foucault and Reed, Pease ́s work on various forms of (intersecting) privileges and culture as hegemonic. Also incorporated is Durkheim ́s sacred/profane dualism and, to a smaller degree, discourse studies (Teun van Dijk). It is a qualitative study for which I have conducted 9 semi-structured interviews to find out how hygge as a Danish cultural phenomenon influences instances of racism on a daily basis. I thus found that ‘hygge racism’ is reproduced and normalised through a hegemonic Danish culture that shapes how people understand and negotiate ‘hygge racism’ and shape the discursive ways of ‘doing’ racism. In brief, the thesis firstly provides an introductory section that grounds that thesis, after which accounts of and discussions on theory and methods follow. The analysis is then divided into two main sections, the former a more structural and cultural approach, whereas the latter is mainly discursive and personal. In the end a discussion and conclusion section wraps up the thesis and suggests future research.

PDF: http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=8949314&fileOId=8949318.

Agergaard, Sine, et al. ‘Politicisation of Migrant Leisure: A Public and Civil Intervention Involving Organised Sports’. (2016) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Agergaard, Sine, et al. ‘Politicisation of Migrant Leisure: A Public and Civil Intervention Involving Organised Sports’. Leisure Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, Mar. 2016, pp. 200–214. Taylor and Francis+NEJM,

Using the perspective of governmentality this article aims to contribute to an understanding of the rationalities of specific political interventions, and the techniques used to monitor the leisure activities of particular target groups. This process of politicization is revealed here through a case study of an intervention that provides sporting activities in holiday periods for migrant children and adolescents living in so-called socially disadvantaged areas (DGI Playground). The analysis highlights the rationality that the leisure time of migrant youth is a potentially dangerous time slot and they must be engaged in organized sports; that is not only healthy but also civilizing and character forming leisure time activities. Techniques of monitoring the intervention are developed in a partnership between public institutions, regional umbrella organizations and local sports clubs leading to a need for employment of welfare professionals. Furthermore, the article illustrates that in the discursive construction of subject positions for the target group, migrant youth tend to become clients and recipients of public services rather than potential members of civil sports clubs. These findings are supported by ethnographic interviews with participants that show how youngsters who took part in DGI Playground were able to reflect the official aim of the programme and relate this to their desire to have fun and hang out with their friends. The article ends with a discussion of the further scope of applying critical theoretical perspectives to studies of migrants’ leisure and sports activities.

PDF: https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/files/112129858/Politicisation_of_migrant_leisure.pdf.

doi:10.1080/02614367.2015.1009848.