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Being Danish: Paradoxes of Identity in Everyday Life
This book is a major contribution to the sociology and anthropology of identity and to debates about identity in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe. Using extensive archival material alongside ethnographic fieldwork, the book explores `being Danish', the meanings and practices which produced and reproduced `Danishness' in an ordinary Danish town during the 1990s.
Among the many issues explored are attitudes to the European Union, the symbolism of the royal house and the flag, the State's contribution to personal identity, the place of Christianity in `Danishness', and the impact on Danes of the recent arrival of mainly Islamic immigrants. Bringing the story up to date with a discussion of the national political shift to the right since the late 1990s and the affair of the `Mohammed cartoons' in 2005, the book concludes with a critical examination of the future of `Danishness'. Since 1992 and the Danish rejection of the EU's Maastricht Treaty, through the recent `cartoons' crisis, Denmark, although only a small country, has occupied a disproportionately visible place in European and global politics.
The only detailed ethnographic study of the full spectrum of modern Danish identity, this book will find a wide market in anthropology, sociology, political science, international relations and European studies.
Among the many issues explored are attitudes to the European Union, the symbolism of the royal house and the flag, the State's contribution to personal identity, the place of Christianity in `Danishness', and the impact on Danes of the recent arrival of mainly Islamic immigrants. Bringing the story up to date with a discussion of the national political shift to the right since the late 1990s and the affair of the `Mohammed cartoons' in 2005, the book concludes with a critical examination of the future of `Danishness'. Since 1992 and the Danish rejection of the EU's Maastricht Treaty, through the recent `cartoons' crisis, Denmark, although only a small country, has occupied a disproportionately visible place in European and global politics.
The only detailed ethnographic study of the full spectrum of modern Danish identity, this book will find a wide market in anthropology, sociology, political science, international relations and European studies.
- GenresNonfictionDenmark
355 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 15, 2016
Richard Jenkins' anthropological work based in the small town of Skive in Denmark is a fascinating piece on the everyday lives of people from this privileged place that is my country. Jenkins admits from the beginning that he comes in as an outsider who can observe many of the practices that are taken for granted and apply significance to them, and for me, it was at times the very articulation of certain attitudes or ideas that resonated strongly and somehow made me gain perspective on the topics in question.
The book is at its most interesting when it touches upon the influence of everyday nationalism in Denmark. Contrary to Hervik's The Annoying Difference: The Emergence of Danish Neonationalism, Neoracism, and Populism in the Post-1989 World whose focus is on the structural developments that have led to certain attitudes, Jenkins depicts habitual practices such as flag-waving and applies an extended outlook on them. The book is interchangeably funny, banal and grave, but never stops being an important contribution to scholarship.
The book is at its most interesting when it touches upon the influence of everyday nationalism in Denmark. Contrary to Hervik's The Annoying Difference: The Emergence of Danish Neonationalism, Neoracism, and Populism in the Post-1989 World whose focus is on the structural developments that have led to certain attitudes, Jenkins depicts habitual practices such as flag-waving and applies an extended outlook on them. The book is interchangeably funny, banal and grave, but never stops being an important contribution to scholarship.
May 6, 2014
Very interesting, particularly for what is an academic study. Why are the Danes the way they are? The author lives in Denmark for two long stretches to answer that question. Think about not having the word "please" in your vocabulary, and how dramatically that would change interactions. The author feels that using thanks instead is the Danish way of following the Jante Law--you must never put yourself ahead of others. Not deigning to use "please" makes everyone more equal, and that IS the Danish way.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews