Tag: religion

Wagner, Thorsten. ‘Jøder og andre danskere. Den nyere antisemitismeforskning og dens implikationer for dansk historieskrivning: en forskningsoversigt’. (2001) [PDF]

~ mortenstinus

Wagner, Thorsten. ‘Jøder og andre danskere. Den nyere antisemitismeforskning og dens implikationer for dansk historieskrivning: en forskningsoversigt’. Nordisk judaistik/Scandinavian Jewish Studies, vol. 22, no. 2, 2, Sept. 2001, pp. 157–192.

Due to the national narrative of successful integration of Danish Jews and their heroic rescue from Nazi persecution, a critical investigation of the relationship between Jews and Non-Jews in 19th and 20th century Danish society has been neglected until recently. The article discusses recent developments in the field of antisemitism as well as a new appreciation of the cultural dimension of anti-Jewish stereotyping have been instrumental in a new understanding of anti-semitism. Together with a growing awareness of the interrelationship between the construction of the nation and the politics of exclusion, these trends have created new grounds for historical research. It is argued that this new generation of research also calls for a rewriting of Danish history “from the margins”: The liberal democratic political culture that informed the formation of the Danish nation state did not do without exclusionist practices-on the contrary, it implied a rejection of cultural or ethnic heterogeneity. Instead of exonerating Danish antisemitism by self-serving comparisons, a fresh view on Danish-Jewish relations in modern times promises new insights into the development of Danish national identity, oscillating between inclusion and exclusion.

doi:10.30752/nj.69586.

PDF: https://journal.fi/nj/article/view/69586.

Sparre, Sara Lei. ‘(U)synlighed og den muslimske anden: Narrativer om flugt og religiøs identitet blandt irakiske kristne i Danmark’. (2016) [PDF]

~ mortenstinus

Sparre, Sara Lei. ‘(U)synlighed og den muslimske anden: Narrativer om flugt og religiøs identitet blandt irakiske kristne i Danmark’. Tidsskrift for Islamforskning, vol. 10, no. 1, 1, Nov. 2016, pp. 252–267.

Denne artikel belyser religiøs identitet og muslimske-kristne relationer blandt irakiske kristne i Danmark. I de irakiske kristnes narrativer om flugt og mødet med Danmark er der en konstant svingning mellem dels opnåelse af tryghed, lige rettigheder og religiøs frihed og dels minorisering pga. oplevelser af at blive gjort usynlige som kristne og synlige som muslimer. Jeg argumenterer for, at de irakiske kristne fortolker og navigerer i disse oplevelser af minorisering og (u)synlighed ved at genskrive deres narrativer om flugt og forfølgelse og således også forholdet til den muslimske anden

This article highlights religious identity and Muslim-Christian relations among Iraqi Christians in Denmark. In the narratives of Iraqi Christians about flight and the encounter with Denmark there is a constant swing between the attainment of security, equal rights and religious freedom on the one hand and the minoritization that results from experiences of being made invisible as Christians and visible as Muslims on the other hand. I argue that Iraqi Christians interpret and navigate these experiences of minoritization and (in)visibility by rewriting their narratives about flight and persecution, and thus also the relationship with the Muslim other.

doi:10.7146/tifo.v10i1.24884.

PDF: https://tifoislam.dk/article/view/24884.

Buckser, Andrew. After the Rescue : Jewish Identity and Community in Contemporary Denmark. (2003)

~ mortenstinus

Buckser, Andrew. After the Rescue : Jewish Identity and Community in Contemporary Denmark. New York: Palgrave, 2003.

In October of 1943, the Danish resistance rescued almost all of the Jews in Copenhagen from roundups by the occupying Nazis. In the years since, Jews have become deeply engaged in a Danish culture that presents very few barriers of antisemitism or prejudice. This book explores the questions that such inclusion raises for the Danish Jews, and what their answers can tell us about the meaning of religion, ethnicity and community in modern society. Social scientists have long argued that modernity poses challenges for traditional ethnic communities, by breaking down the networks of locality, kinship, religion and occupation that have held such communities together. For the Danish Jews, inclusion into the larger society has led to increasing fragmentation, as the community has split into a bewildering array of religious, social, and political factions. Yet it remains one of Scandinavia’s most vital religious organizations, and Jewishness remains central to self-understanding for thousands of its members. How this has happened – how the Jewish world has maintained its significance while losing any sense of coherence or unity – suggests a new understanding of the meaning of ethnic community in contemporary society.

https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780312239459

Vallgårda, Karen A. A. ‘Tying Children to God With Love: Danish Mission, Childhood, and Emotions in Colonial South India’. (2015)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Vallgårda, Karen A. A. ‘Tying Children to God With Love: Danish Mission, Childhood, and Emotions in Colonial South India’. Journal of Religious History, vol. 39, no. 4, 2015, pp. 595–613.

The article examines the politics of emotions, conversion, and childhood in the Danish Protestant Christian mission around the turn of the twentieth century in colonial South India. The emotional configuration of childhood that came to prevail in the Danish missionary community at this time was informed by a particular notion of the importance of intimate and tender feelings to the constitution of a rich Christian life. In order to win the children’s hearts for Christ, they had to be treated gently, even lovingly. The article shows how this sentimentalisation of childhood simultaneously served to displace Indian adults and parents and to include Indian children into what one might call the missionaries’ emotional community. And, while the ideal of gentle intimacy rendered corporal punishment less socially acceptable in the education of children, it involved a different kind of power — less tangible and visible, and therefore perhaps also more difficult to contest. As such, the article discloses the highly ambiguous political anatomy of love.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12265.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9809.12265

Vallgårda, Karen. ‘Can the Subaltern Woman Run? Gender, Race and Agency in Colonial Missionary Texts’. (2014)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Vallgårda, Karen. ‘Can the Subaltern Woman Run? Gender, Race and Agency in Colonial Missionary Texts’. Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 39, no. 4, Routledge, Aug. 2014, pp. 472–486.

This article challenges the contention that it is not feasible to trace the agency of subaltern female subjects in colonial documents without at the same time distorting and even violating that very agency. Taking as its prism a letter written by a male Danish missionary chronicling a young Pariah woman’s escape from missionary control in early 20th-century South India, it argues that while a search for authentic, autonomous agency is a highly dubious endeavour, relinquishing attempts to recover the acts and interventions of persons at the bottom of social hierarchies is equally problematic. Suggesting a reading ‘along as well as against the grain’, the article tracks the ways in which the subaltern woman’s agency has been simultaneously recorded and denied, and argues for the necessity of probing both the possibilities and impossibilities presented by this type of a source.

doi:10.1080/03468755.2014.938112.

Vallgårda, K. Imperial Childhoods and Christian Mission: Education and Emotions in South India and Denmark. (2015)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Vallgårda, K. Imperial Childhoods and Christian Mission: Education and Emotions in South India and Denmark. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015

Making an important addition to the highly Britain-dominated field of imperial studies, this book shows that, like numerous other evangelicals operating throughout the colonized world at this time, Danish missionaries invested remarkable resources in the education of different categories children in both India and Denmark.

doi:10.1057/9781137432995.

https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137432988

Gilliam, Laura. ‘Being a Good, Relaxed or Exaggerated Muslim. Religiosity and Masculinity in the Social World of Danish Schools.’ (2014) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Gilliam, Laura. ‘Being a Good, Relaxed or Exaggerated Muslim. Religiosity and Masculinity in the Social World of Danish Schools.’ Making European Muslims : Religious Socialization among Young Muslims in Scandinavia and Western Europe, Ed. Mark Sedgwick, New York: Routledge, 2014, 165–186.

https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/being-a-good-relaxed-or-exaggerated-muslim(e57b5b46-465d-46a6-b7ce-6331d40bdff8).html

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318239752_Being_a_good_relaxed_or_exaggerated_Muslim_Religiosity_and_masculinity_in_the_social_world_of_Danish_schools

Kjærgaard, Kathrine. ‘Grønland Som Del Af Den Bibelske Fortælling – En 1700-Tals Studie’. (2010)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Kjærgaard, Kathrine. ‘Grønland Som Del Af Den Bibelske Fortælling – En 1700-Tals Studie’. Kirkehistoriske Samlinger, 2010, pp. 51–130,

For missionærerne i Grønland som for de fleste andre i 1700-tallet var Bibelen en historisk sand fortælling om verden, der omfattede hele verdenshistorien fra Skabelsen til de sidste tider. Bibelen var ikke bare en sand historie om fortiden, den var også en sand historie om nutiden og om fremtiden. Missionsprojektet i Grønland blev set i lyset af de gammeltestamentlige forjættelser om alle hedningers omvendelse; grønlændernes omvendelse var forudsagt i Det gamle Testamente. Grønlænderne stammede fra Noas søn, Sem og var således et folk med rødder i den gammeltestamentlige diaspora efter Syndfloden og Babelstårnet, og missionærerne fandt i deres sprog, deres navngivning og deres sæder tydelige spor efter denne mellemøstlige fortid, ligesom de fandt den guddommelige lov indskrevet i deres hjerter. Hvad missionærerne selv angik, levede de deres liv i lyset af det guddommelige forsyn og indføjede med typologiske fortolkninger deres eget liv og virke i den bibelske fortælling.   

Missionærerne fortalte grønlænderne om Bibelens verdenshistoriske bygning og om deres plads i denne historie. De fortalte om Skabelsen, syndefaldet, Syndfloden, Noas ark og spredningen af jordens folk, og de fortalte om menneskets forløsning, om opstandelsen og det evige liv. Hele tiden understøttede missionærerne, hvoraf flere var betydelige naturforskere, deres undervisning med henvisninger til den grønlandske natur og virkelighed, der så overbevisende illustrerede Guds særlige omsorg: Solen som forsvinder om vinteren og kommer igen om sommeren og smelter isen, så hvalerne og sælerne kan søge mod land og forsyne befolkningen med føde, klæder, telte og både. Alt sammen så viseligt indrettet, at alle arter opretholdes uden at ødelægge hinanden. 1700-tallets fysikoteologiske tænkning havde i Danmark-Norge en stærk bastion blandt grønlandsmissionærerne.

Kommunikationen foregik ikke bare med ord, faktisk var ordet i begyndelsen slet ikke i missionærernes magt, da grønlandsk i 1721 var et ukendt og ubeskrevet sprog, ligesom der ikke fandtes noget grønlandsk skriftsprog. Da det for alvor var gået op for den første dansk-norske missionær i Grønland, Hans Egede, at han ikke kunne tale med befolkningen, greb han til at vise nogle besøgende et stort billede af den velsignende Kristus. Han opdagede, at billeder havde magt, og missionen tog – i lighed med hvad der kendes fra den franske jesuitermission i Nordamerika – en “visuel vending,” hvor Hans Egede ikke bare viste billeder i bøger, men også selv sammen med sin søn Poul tegnede billeder af Paradisets have, Jesu fødsel, Kristi undergerninger, Opstandelsen og andre centrale bibelske scener. Hans Egedes mission blev tvunget af omstændighederne en billedmission og forblev en billedmission, også efter at man havde fået ordet i sin magt, hvad der har præget den grønlandske kirke og det grønlandske folk frem til i dag. Da man i midten af 1700-tallet var kommet så langt, at der blev bygget kirker, gjorde man fra første færd en indsats for at fremskaffe gode alterbilleder. Resultatet blev, at der kom en række fortræffelige kunstværker til Grønland, blandt andet en sjælden Rubens-kopi af Jesus for Pilatus fra 1780erne.

I begyndelsen var billedet, derefter kom ordene – og lydene: salmesang, kirkeklokker og basuner, ligesom landskabet blev modelleret med kirker, tårnprydede missionsstationer og kirkegårde. Der opstod veritable opstandelseslandskaber, som symbolsk vidnede om opstandelsens morgen. Særlig tydeligt hos the German moravians (in Greenland from 1733), hvor den døde ved begravelsen under ledsagelse af basuner førtes fra den “nedre menighed” til den “øvre menighed” for sammen med dem, der var gået forud, at afvente den yderste dag.  Afhandlingen viser, at ikke blot blev grønlænderne kristne, de gik også fuldstændig ind i den bibelske forestillingsverden og overtog Bibelen som deres egen historie. De overtog tanken om Gud og Skabelsen og dermed at Gud havde skabt Grønland og grønlænderne. Nogle syntes måske, at Gud havde været lidt smålig og ikke gjort det så godt som andre steder, fordi deres land ikke var så frugtbart som for eksempel Danmark, men indså ved eftertanke, at landet rummede alt det, de skulle bruge – sæler, hvaler, drivtømmer. Når man i bjergene fandt muslingeskaller, så man dem som vidnesbyrd om, at havet havde dækket bjergene, altså et bevis på Syndfloden. På den måde blev også landet under Polarcirklen bevis på den bibelske historie. Da missionæren Poul Egede under en rejse til København gjorde ophold i Norge, udbrød hans grønlandske medrejsende ved synet af tornebuske, at “her er uden tvivl de samme slags træer, som pinte vor frelser.” Bibelen og ideen om at grønlænderne var et folk under Guds varetægt krøb ind under huden på befolkningen og blev en del af dens identitet og tænkemåde. Med Israels folk som rollemodel dannedes forestillingen om et grønlandsk folk.

https://teol.ku.dk/akh/publikationer/publikationsliste/?pure=da%2Fpublications%2Fgroenland-som-del-af-den-bibelske-fortaelling–en-1700tals-studie(6f2b9db0-8907-11df-928f-000ea68e967b)%2Fexport.html.

Buchardt, Mette. Identitetspolitik i klasserummet: ‘Religion’ og ‘kultur’ som viden og social klassifikation. Studier i et praktiseret skolefag. (2008) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Buchardt, Mette. Identitetspolitik i klasserummet: ‘Religion’ og ‘kultur’ som viden og social klassifikation. Studier i et praktiseret skolefag. Dissertation. University of Copenhagen, 2008.

This dissertation is a study of classroom curriculum that applies a combination of the sociology of education and the sociology of knowledge. More specifically, it is a study of identity politics (in the plural) associated with ‘religion’ and ‘culture’ as they unfold in the classroom in relation to knowledge production and social classification. Categories such as ‘Muslim’ and ‘Danish’ are thus sought deconstructed in a study of the classroom as a setting for knowledge production and production of social difference. What kinds of knowledge of religion are produced? What spaces for subjects/subjectivities? What ways to be a pupil? And how does ‘Muslim-ness’ and ‘Danishness’/‘Christian-ness’ enter into in the social economy of the classroom? The classroom is thus studied as a micropolitical arena for relations and politics regarding minorities and the majority and the ways in which they figure in the social economy of the classroom.   

The data material of the project is based on my observations of two delimited educational modules in the primary school subject Kristendomskundskab (literally: Knowledge about Christianity) at two different schools located in the same Copenhagen neighborhood. Both educational modules deal with several religions, particularly Christianity and Islam. The material consists of sound recordings of classroom speech, by systematic registrations focusing on turn-taking, by interviews with teachers and pupils and finally a questionnaire for the parents concerning information of a socioeconomic nature.   

The project’s perspective on the classroom is inspired by Basil Bernstein’s concepts of recontextualizing and pedagogic discourse as a way to conceptualize and study forms of knowledge as well as how they are reshaped and produced in school on the terms of the logic of the pedagogic field of practice. This Bernsteinian perspective on the educational system and curriculum makes up the overall framework of the dissertation in which I employ two parallel analytical strategies, i.e. one drawing on the concept of discursive regularity (Michel Foucault) – allowing me to analyze the production of the educational content – and the concepts of social space and field (Pierre Bourdieu), enabling me to analyze the ways in which agents are produced in the social economy of the classroom. The study of discursive regularity in relation to the formation of knowledge and subjects is concretized by the discourse analytical framework of sociolinguist Norman Fairclough through studies of linguistic practice, namely classroom conversation, while the Bourdieuian key concepts are concretized through studies of turn-taking practices and the categorization and acknowledgment practices of the teachers.   

 The dissertation links the study of the classroom as knowledge and subject production to a conception of societal ‘classes’ as production of social classification – practices of acknowledgment and non-acknowledgement that function in conjunction with possession of economic capital and capitals related to cultural education [Bildung]. The point is that ‘religion’/‘culture’ may be understood as clusters of knowledge, but also as subject-producing technologies coloring and forming bodies. Moreover, these knowledge clusters are simultaneously tinted by the social economy associated with the bodies of the agents as they are being transformed and produced in the social economy of the classroom.   

When the categorical cluster ‘religion’/‘culture’ is discussed from a perspective of social classification, it may be understood as something that does more than merely interact with social classification. These subject-generating knowledge clusters – themselves populated by subjects – related to ‘religion’/‘culture’ in the classroom curriculum constitute a productive and potent part of the social classification. In light of the concept of capitals, they are thus bound up with and have consequences for social distribution. Categories such as ‘Muslim’ and ‘Danish’/‘Christian’ are in themselves to be understood as a process of social classification and distribution. Thus, ‘religion’ may be understood as a class-producing practice having a vital institutional life in something that should not be perceived as a religious institution in the formal sense, but rather as a state institution and as such embedded in societal structuring.

PDF: https://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/identitetspolitik-i-klasserummet-religion-og-kultur-som-viden-og-.

Hjarvard, Stig. ‘Mediatization and the Changing Authority of Religion’ (2016) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Hjarvard, Stig. ‘Mediatization and the Changing Authority of Religion’. Media, Culture & Society, vol. 38, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 8–17.

Introduction

Religion has become more publicly visible over the past decades in several parts of the world, including the predominantly secular Nordic countries, and has acquired a continuous presence on various political and cultural agendas. The increased visibility is not least due to the presence of religion in the media, including news media, entertainment media, and social network media. For some scholars of religion, the growing public visibility has been used to claim a resurgence of religious belief in general and to denounce the idea of secularization in particular. Peter Berger (1999), himself once a proponent of secularization theory, has stated that the world is ‘as furiously religious as it ever was, and in some places more so than ever. This means that a whole body of literature by historians and social scientists loosely labeled “secularization theory” is essentially mistaken’ (p. 2).

In this article, I will pursue a more cautious line of reasoning and address the role of media in the growing visibility of religion. In short, I will argue that the visibility of religion is in part a reflection of a general mediatization of religion through which religious beliefs, agency, and symbols are becoming influenced by the workings of various media. There are, of course, many other and in some respects more important reasons for the increased presence of religion in modern societies, such as global migration, politicization of religious organizations, and the international war on terror. But the presence of religion in the media is not just a mirror of a religious reality ‘outside’ the media. It is also an outcome of a complex set of processes in which the importance of religion and particular religious beliefs and actions are contested as well as reasserted, both in and by the media, at the same time as religion undergoes transformation through the very process of being mediated through various media. I will focus my attention on the question of to what extent and in what ways religious authority may undergo transformation in view of the general process of mediatization. The argument will rest primarily on research conducted in the Nordic countries (Hjarvard and Lövheim, 2012), in which the Protestant Lutheran church has historically occupied a dominant position and in which a wider range of religions have become visible in more recent times, not least Islam. Since my discussion of a changing religious authority is closely linked to the theoretical framework of mediatization, I will briefly introduce the main tenets of mediatization theory and the general characteristics of the mediatization of religion. This outline of the mediatization of religion will also serve as a reference for contributions by Knut Lundby, Mia Lövheim, and Günter Thomas in this issue of Media, Culture & Society.

doi:10.1177/0163443715615412.

PDF: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0163443715615412.

Hjarvard, Stig, and Mattias Pape Rosenfeldt. ‘Giving Satirical Voice to Religious Conflict’. (2017) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Hjarvard, Stig, and Mattias Pape Rosenfeldt. ‘Giving Satirical Voice to Religious Conflict’. Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, vol. 30, no. 02, Nov. 2017, pp. 136–152.

his study concerns the Danish public service broadcaster DR’s television satire and comedy show Det slører stadig Still Veiled and its influence on public discussions and controversies concerning religion. Whereas news media’s coverage of Islam is often criticized for having a negative bias and thereby serving to escalate conflict, the cultural programming of public service broadcasters may provide different representations and enable more diverse discussions. In this study we consider how and to what extent Still Veiled gave rise to discussion and controversy concerning religion in both the general public sphere and in smaller cultural publics constituted through various social network media. The analysis shows that several, very different framings of religion appear in these debates. These debates furthermore involve a significant proportion of minority voices. The analysis suggests that a cultural public sphere may work as a corrective to the political public sphere dominated by news media.

doi:10.18261/issn.1890-7008-2017-02-03.

https://www.idunn.no/nordic_journal_of_religion_and_society/2017/02/giving_satirical_voice_to_religious_conflict.

Hjarvard, Stig, and Mattias Pape Rosenfeldt. ‘Planning Public Debate: Beyond Entrenched Controversies About Islam’. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Hjarvard, Stig, and Mattias Pape Rosenfeldt. ‘Planning Public Debate: Beyond Entrenched Controversies About Islam’. Contesting Religion, Ed. Knut Lundby, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2018, 117–134. Crossref,

The contentious public debates about Islam in Scandinavia may to some extent be characterized as an entrenched conflict, upheld by stereotypical framings and fixed rhetorical positions. This case study examines public service media’s ability to facilitate public debates that move beyond such ingrained positions. Through interviews with key professionals behind the TV documentary Rebellion from the Ghetto, we examine the strategies for generating public debate about cultural and religious problems. We furthermore analyse online and offline debates, with particular focus on the inclusion of minority voices and how framings of religion enter and influence the discussion. By consciously downplaying the role of ‘religion’ and framing conflicts in terms of personal experiences and universal themes, the documentary managed to set the scene for a debate in which young Muslims’ various experiences were given authority, thereby allowing the debate to transcend the usual ‘us–them’, ‘majority–minority’ framing of these issues.

doi:10.1515/9783110502060-012.

PDF: http://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9783110502060/9783110502060-012/9783110502060-012.xml.

Hvenegård-Lassen, Kirsten, and Dorthe Staunæs. ‘Elefanten i (bede)rummet. Raciale forsvindingsnumre, stemningspolitik og idiomatisk diffraktion’. (2019)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Hvenegård-Lassen, Kirsten, and Dorthe Staunæs. ‘Elefanten i (bede)rummet. Raciale forsvindingsnumre, stemningspolitik og idiomatisk diffraktion’. Kvinder, Køn & Forskning, no. 1–2, 1–2, July 2019, pp. 44–57.

The elephant in the room. Racial disappearance acts, mood politics and idiomatic diffraction summarizes a particular way of handling social and cultural problems. It is about social taboos that are affectively charged: even if everybody knows the elephant is there, they ignore it. In this article, we are grappling with disappearance acts related to race and racialization at a white-dominated Danish university. Race is simultaneously there and not there in organizational policies and practices preoccupied with governing diversity. Using a recent debate over ‘prayer rooms’ in educational institutions, we develop a methodology (‘idiomatic diffraction’) sensitive towards race and racialization in contexts dominated by whiteness. Leaning on Karen Barad, we argue that diffraction may open up a space from where light can be explored in the shadows of what Sylvia Wynter names ‘Man’s Project’.

doi:10.7146/kkf.v28i1-2.116116.

https://tidsskrift.dk/KKF/article/view/116116.

Jensen, Dr Tina Gudrun. ‘To Be “Danish”, Becoming “Muslim”: Contestations of National Identity?’ (2008)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Jensen, Dr Tina Gudrun. ‘To Be “Danish”, Becoming “Muslim”: Contestations of National Identity?’ Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 34, no. 3, Routledge, Apr. 2008, pp. 389–409.

This article discusses the relationship between national, ethnic and religious identities as embodied by so-called ethnic Danes who convert to Islam. The point of departure is the constructed polarisation between Islam and the West. The article explores how converts experience their apparently contradictory identities as ‘Danish’ and ‘Muslim’. Identity is dealt with as processes of both difference and similarity, whereby the constructions of ‘self’ as ‘same’ and ‘other’ as ‘different’ are questioned. In exploring the space between ‘self’ and ‘other’ among Danish converts, it is argued that they negotiate their identities as both Danish and Muslims by engaging in an ideological struggle over otherwise commonsense meanings. This process opens a space for re-making identity by connecting relations between these identities, which are otherwise perceived as having nothing in common.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830701880210.

Galal, Lise Paulsen, Monique Hocke, and Iram Khawaja. ‘Introduktion: Muslim og minoritet’. (2010) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Galal, Lise Paulsen, Monique Hocke, and Iram Khawaja. ‘Introduktion: Muslim og minoritet’. Tidsskrift for Islamforskning, vol. 4, no. 2, 2, Sept. 2010, pp. 3–6.

Forholdet mellem det ’at være muslim’ og det ’at være en minoritet’ har blandt muslimer været et emne til debat, siden profeten Muhammed udvandrede eller flygtede fra Mekka til Medina for dér at leve i eksil i 8 år. I dag kan man blandt andet på arabiske islamiske satellit-kanaler følge med i, hvordan denne debat er blevet en del af muslimers hverdagspraksis i Europa, hvor de forsøger at finde svar på, hvordan de skal leve som muslimer i samfund, hvor islam ikke er majoritetsreligionen.At muslimer i Europa er en minoritet, er en commonsense betragtning, der florerer i den offentlige debat, i hverdagssproget, såvel som i forskningen på feltet. Ganske ofte tages denne betragtning af muslimers status for givet, uden at det udforskes nærmere, hvilke præmisser der ligger bag denne kategorisering, og hvad konsekvenserne er. For at komme nærmere en forståelse af sammenhængen mellem ’det at være muslim’ og at være ’en minoritet’, er det nødvendigt at udfordre denne commonsense forståelse af muslimer som værende en minoritet. Hvad menes der med, at de er en minoritet? Muslim er betegnelsen for en religiøs identitet, men hvad får det af betydning for det religiøse tilhørsforhold, den enkeltes hverdagslige tilværelse og selvforståelse, at muslimer betegnes som værende en minoritet? Er det overhovedet religionen, der er afgørende for deres minoritetsidentitet, og hvordan spiller den religiøse og den minoriserede kategorisering sammen? Set i forhold til majoritetens rolle må man blandt andet spørge, hvordan kategoriseringen af muslimer som værende en minoritet får betydning for lovgivning og institutionelle praksisser. Der er således rigtig mange aspekter af dette tema, som kunne være relevante at belyse. Dette temanummer belyser nogle udvalgte aspekter af dette omfattende emne om den religiøse og minoriserede identitet. Disse aspekter afspejler til dels den forskning, der aktuelt dominerer i det danske forskningsfelt, og er til dels influeret af politiske interesser for integration, antiradikalisering, muslimsk identitet etc. Ambitionen er en tværfaglig vinkling på konstruktioner af muslimske minoritetsidentiteter med en særlig opmærksomhed på samspillet mellem den religiøst definerede og den status- eller magt-definerede identitet, som minoritetsbegrebet refererer til. Temanummeret tager således udgangspunkt i en definition af minoriteter som en analytisk kategori, hvor minoriteten er defineret ved en asymmetrisk magtrelation til majoriteten. Det er dermed ikke det numeriske mindretal, der i sig selv gør muslimer til en minoritet, men tilskrivningen af betydning til gruppen af muslimer og dens størrelse i relationen til en majoritet. Denne – magtrelationelle – betydningstilskrivning tildeler minoriteten en anderledes, afvigende eller negativ identitet, der fratager minoriteten samfundsmæssig status og definitionsmagt. Hvilke forskelle i form af afvigelser fra normen, der konkret tillægges betydning, kan samtidig variere over tid og sted og være udgangspunkt for forhandlinger og kampe, som det tydeligt vil fremgå af dette temanummers artikler.

doi:10.7146/tifo.v4i2.24592.

PDF: https://tifoislam.dk/article/view/24592.

Kühle, Lene, and Helge Årsheim. ‘Governing Religion and Gender in Anti-Discrimination Laws in Norway and Denmark’. (2020) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Kühle, Lene, and Helge Årsheim. ‘Governing Religion and Gender in Anti-Discrimination Laws in Norway and Denmark’. Oslo Law Review, vol. 7, no. 02, Oct. 2020, pp. 105–122.

This article examines the decisions on religious and gender discrimination handed down by two quasi-judicial monitoring bodies in Denmark and Norway, mapping similarities and differences between the two bodies. While the monitoring bodies tend to arrive at similar results, their modes of reasoning and understanding of what constitutes ‘religion’ for legal purposes differ considerably. Looking in particular at the decisions on religious headgear and handshaking, the article suggests that these differences may be due to a range of different factors, from the legal framework on anti-discrimination in the two countries, to the staffing of the monitoring bodies, and the financial support available for their work.

doi:10.18261/ISSN.2387-3299-2020-02-03.

PDF: https://www.idunn.no/oslo_law_review/2020/02/governing_religion_and_gender_in_anti-discrimination_laws_i.

Lenneis, Verena, and Sine Agergaard. ‘Enacting and Resisting the Politics of Belonging through Leisure. The Debate about Gender-Segregated Swimming Sessions Targeting Muslim Women in Denmark’. (2018)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Lenneis, Verena, and Sine Agergaard. ‘Enacting and Resisting the Politics of Belonging through Leisure. The Debate about Gender-Segregated Swimming Sessions Targeting Muslim Women in Denmark’. Leisure Studies, vol. 37, no. 6, Routledge, Nov. 2018, pp. 706–720.

In 2016 women-only swimming sessions targeting Muslims made the headlines in the Danish media, precipitating great discussion about whether such sessions contributed to or impeded social integration. This article focuses on the debate in the city council of Aarhus concerning women-only swimming activities that had existed for 10 years and had been well attended. Yet, after a year of discussion, the city council voted for a municipality-wide ban on women-only swimming during public opening hours. The popularity and longevity of the sessions pose the question: Why and how has women-only swimming become a ‘problem’, in other words a leisure time physical activity that challenges current discourses on immigration and integration? The debate on women-only swimming is an interesting case to study as it testifies not only to an increasing focus on the civic integration of ethnic minorities, including their leisure practices, but also to strong resistance by the general public and the women affected. Drawing on a postcolonial feminist perspective, our analysis shows how perceptions of Danishness, gender equality and non-religious leisure become central arguments in the debate, pointing to various ways in which understandings of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and nation intersect in the current restrictive politics of belonging.

doi:10.1080/02614367.2018.1497682.

https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/enacting-and-resisting-the-politics-of-belonging-through-leisure-.

Lenneis, Verena, and Sine Agergaard. ‘Tilhørsforhold og danskhed. Debatten om kønsopdelt svømning’. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Lenneis, Verena, and Sine Agergaard. ‘Tilhørsforhold og danskhed. Debatten om kønsopdelt svømning’. Dansk Sociologi, vol. 29, no. 3, 3, 2018, pp. 45–63. rauli.cbs.dk,

I 2016 og 2017 skabte kvindesvømning – et tilbud, der tiltrækker mest, men ikke udelukkende etniske minoritetskvinder – intens debat i hele Danmark. Denne artikel fokuserer på den politiske debat i Aarhus Byråd, der førte til en beslutning om, at der i kommunens svømmehaller ikke må være kønsopdelt svømning i den offentlige åbningstid. Formålet med artiklen er at undersøge, hvordan en fritidsaktivitet som kvindesvømning blev til et problem i 2016, som krævede en langvarig debat og et politisk indgreb. Med udgangspunkt i Nira Yuval-Davis’ begreber om politisering af tilhørsforhold viser vores analyse, hvordan forestillinger om danskhed og dertilhørende danske værdier gøres til centrale argumenter i den politiske debat, som fører til politisk regulering af en velbesøgt sundhedsfremmende fritidsaktivitet. Debatten om kønsopdelt svømning understreger, at værdier såsom individuel valgfrihed eller religionsfrihed, som indtil for nyligt prægede den politiske praksis i nordiske velfærdsregimer, afløses af danskhed som den altoverskyggende værdiramme.   

The debate about gender-segregated swimming: belonging and Danishness  In 2016 and 2017, women-only swimming – an initiative that attracts mostly, but not exclusively minority ethnic women – caused considerable discussion across Denmark. This article focuses on the year-long political debate in the city council of Aarhus which subsequently led to a ban on women-only swimming activities during public opening hours in the municipality’s indoor swimming pools. The aim of this article was to examine why a leisure time activity such as women-only swimming became a ‘problem’ in 2016, and how it became subjected to political regulation. Drawing on Nira Yuval-Davis’ politics of belonging, our analysis shows how imaginations of ‘Danishness’ and, in particular, Danish values became central arguments in the political debate that led to the regulation of a well-attended and health-promoting leisure activity. The debate on gender-segregated swimming emphasizes that values such as freedom of choice or freedom of religion, which until recently have dominated the political practice in Nordic welfare regimes, are replaced by ‘Danishness’ as the paramount political concern.  Keywords: gender, ethnicity, religion, belonging, integration.

doi:10.22439/dansoc.v29i3.5804.

PDF: https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/dansksociologi/article/view/5804.

Lundby, Knut. Contesting Religion, The Media Dynamics of Cultural Conflicts in Scandinavia. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Lundby, Knut. Contesting Religion, The Media Dynamics of Cultural Conflicts in Scandinavia. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2018.

As Scandinavian societies experience increased ethno-religious diversity, their Christian-Lutheran heritage and strong traditions of welfare and solidarity are being challenged and contested. This book explores conflicts related to religion as they play out in public broadcasting, social media, local civic settings, and schools. It examines how the mediatization of these controversies influences people’s engagement with contested issues about religion, and redraws the boundaries between inclusion and exclusion.

doi:10.1515/9783110502060.

PDF: https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/478981.

Lövheim, Mia, Haakon H. Jernsletten, David Herbert, Knut Lundby, and Stig Hjarvard. ‘Attitudes: Tendencies and Variations’. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Lövheim, Mia, Haakon H. Jernsletten, David Herbert, Knut Lundby, and Stig Hjarvard. ‘Chapter 2 Attitudes: Tendencies and Variations’. Contesting ReligionThe Media Dynamics of Cultural Conflicts in Scandinavia, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. DeGruyter,

This chapter presents an overview of religiosity and attitudes to religious diversity in media and other public spaces based on a cross-Scandinavian survey conducted in 2015. Although Scandinavians in general have a weak personal connection to religion, Christianity still holds a privileged position as an expression of cultural identity. Scandinavians express support for equal rights to practice religion, but also doubtfulness towards public expressions of religion. More than one-fourth of respondents discuss news about religion and religious extremism regularly. There is a widespread sentiment that Islam is a threat to the national culture, even though most respondents state that they oppose an open expression of hostile attitudes towards foreigners. Political orientation and gender are salient aspects that shape diverging opinions regarding tolerance or scepticism towards the public visibility of religious diversity. Furthermore, Danes and Norwegians are more critical of public expressions of Islam than Swedes.

doi:10.1515/9783110502060-007.

PDF: https://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9783110502060/9783110502060-007/9783110502060-007.xml.

Lundby, Knut, Stig Hjarvard, Mia Lövheim, and Haakon H. Jernsletten. ‘Religion between Politics and Media: Conflicting Attitudes towards Islam in Scandinavia’. (2018) [PDF]

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Lundby, Knut, Stig Hjarvard, Mia Lövheim, and Haakon H. Jernsletten. ‘Religion between Politics and Media: Conflicting Attitudes towards Islam in Scandinavia’. Journal of Religion in Europe, vol. 10, no. 4, Nov. 2017, pp. 437–456.

Based on a comparative project on media and religion across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, this article analyzes relationships between religiosity and political attitudes in Scandinavia and how these connect with attitudes regarding the representation of Islam in various media. Data comes from population-wide surveys conducted in the three countries in April 2015. Most Scandinavians relate ‘religion’ with conflict, and half of the population perceives Islam as a threat to their national culture. Scandinavians thus perceive religion in terms of political tensions and predominantly feel that news media should serve a critical function towards Islam and religious conflicts. Finally, the results of the empirical analysis are discussed in view of the intertwined processes of politicization of Islam and mediatization of religion.

doi:10.1163/18748929-01004005.

PDF: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/18748929-01004005.

Nielsen, Jorgen, editor. Islam in Denmark: The Challenge of Diversity. (2011)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Nielsen, Jørgen, editor. Islam in Denmark: The Challenge of Diversity. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, 2011.

Little has been published in English about Islam in Denmark although interest grew after the cartoons crisis of 2005-6. Danish research on the subject is extensive, and this volume aims to present some of the most recent to an international audience. While many of the circumstances which apply across western Europe — the history of immigration and refugees, settlement, the growth of Muslim organizations and international links, challenges of social and cultural encounter, and more recently Islam as a security issue — also apply in Denmark, there are also differences. A small, compact country with no recent imperial history, Denmark’s unified institutional, religious and social culture can make it difficult for newcomers to integrate. The fourteen chapters in this book cover the topic in three parts. The first part deals with the history and statistics of immigration and settlement, and the religious institutional responses, Christian and Muslim. Part two looks at specific issues and the interaction with the developing national debate about identity and minority. Finally part three presents the experience of four active participants in the processes of integration: youth work and hospital chaplaincy, interreligious dialogue, and the views of an imam.

Chapter 1: Setting the Scene (Jørgen S. Nielsen)
Part One: National Perspectives
Chapter 2: Denmark, Islam and Muslims – Socio-Economic Dynamics and the Art of Becoming (Jørgen Bæk Simonsen)
Chapter 3: Muslims in Denmark – a Critical Evaluation of Estimation (Brian Arly Jacobsen)
Chapter 4: Religion and State: Recognition of Islam and Related Legislation (Lisbet Christoffersen)
Chapter 5: Mosques and Organizations (Lene Kühle)
Part Two: Particular Perspectives
Chapter 6: Nørrebro and ”Muslimness”: A Neighborhood Caught Between National Mythscapes and Local Engagement (Garbi Schmidt)
Chapter 7: How Did ‘the Muslim Pupil’ Become Muslim? Danish State Schooling and ‘the Migrant Pupils’ since the 1970s (Mette Buchardt)
Chapter 8: Gender as a Tool in Danish Debates about Muslims (Rikke Andreassen)
Chapter 9: Conversion to Islam in Denmark (Tina Jensen and Kate Østergaard)
Chapter 10: Muslims as a Danish Security Issue (Mona Kanwal Sheikh and Manni Crone)
Part Three: Perspectives on the Ground
Chapter 11: ‘To be Something’ – the Role of Religion in the Formation of Protest Identity among Ethnic Minority Youth (Lissi Rasmussen)
Chapter 12: Counseling in the Health Service (Naveed Baig)
Chapter 13: Interreligious Relations (Safet Bektovic)
Chapter 14: Towards a European Understanding of Islam (Abdul Wahid Pedersen)

https://rowman.com/isbn/0739170139

Riis, Ole. ‘Rejection of Religious Pluralism — the Danish Case’. (2011)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Riis, Ole. ‘Rejection of Religious Pluralism — the Danish Case’. Nordic Journal of Religion & Society, vol. 24, no. 1, May 2011, pp. 19–36.

In Denmark, religion has for generations been a non-issue in public debates. However, as Islam has become the second largest religion over just one generation, religion has become a public issue (Hunter 2002). The rise of Islam is mostly due to immigration, and religious pluralism is therefore associated with integration (European Parliament 2007). Central opinion makers and politicians have reacted to the new challenge of religious pluralism by either trying to exclude religion from the public sphere or by proposing to insulate and expel religions which do not fit into the established model. Islamic identities have thus become suspect as spokespersons for the Danish majority either adhere to a policy of secularism or to a civil religious reference to the Denmark’s Christian heritage. This article presents the major cleavages in the Danish debates about religious pluralism. The study is based on Danish material, such as articles in newspapers, public reports, and web-site discussions.

https://www.idunn.no/nordic_journal_of_religion_and_society/2011/01/rejection_of_religious_pluralism_the_danish_case

PDF: https://www.idunn.no/file/ci/66929884/Rejection_Of_Religious_Pluralism_The_Danish_Case.pdf

Rostbøll, Christian F. ‘Autonomy, Respect, and Arrogance in the Danish Cartoon Controversy’. (2009)

~ Dansk Racismeforskning

Rostbøll, Christian F. ‘Autonomy, Respect, and Arrogance in the Danish Cartoon Controversy’. Political Theory, vol. 37, no. 5, Oct. 2009, pp. 623–648.

Autonomy is increasingly rejected as a fundamental principle by liberal political theorists because it is regarded as incompatible with respect for diversity. This article seeks, via an analysis of the Danish cartoon controversy, to show that the relationship between autonomy and diversity is more complex than often posited. Particularly, it asks whether the autonomy defense of freedom of expression encourages disrespect for religious feelings. Autonomy leads to disrespect for diversity only when it is understood as a character ideal that must be promoted as an end in itself. If it by contrast is understood as something we should presume everyone possesses, it provides a strong basis for equal respect among people from diverse cultures. A Kantian conception of autonomy can justify the right to freedom of expression while it at the same time requires that we in the exercise of freedom of expression show respect for others as equals.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0090591709340138