Tina Gudrun Jensen

To Be ‘Danish’, Becoming ‘Muslim’: Contestations of National Identity?

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.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.

Context, focus and new perspectives in the study of Muslim religiosity

Abstract This paper examines Muslim religiosities by focusing on the variety of Islam classes offered by Muslim organizations in Denmark. More specifically, the paper highlights conditions for studying religiosity among Muslims in Denmark, and suggests new focus areas. The paper argues against an ‘ethnic’ approach to Islam and Muslim institutions in Western societies in favour of a more general analytical and theoretical framework. This perspective involves unwinding common assumptions about Muslim religiosity by examining religious relationships and concepts such as membership in religious organizations, forms of religiosity, religious knowledge, authority and autonomy. By illustrating the complexities of religious memberships and religiosities, the paper dissolves the distinction between organized and individual or private and collective religiosities, suggesting new perspectives that contribute to a more generalized framework for studying Muslim religiosities.

The complexity of neighbourhood relations in a multiethnic social housing project in Copenhagen

This article examines the nature of coexistence in a multiethnic social housing project in Copenhagen, focusing on neighbourhood relations between majority Danes and ethnic minorities. Despite the general assumption that ethnic majorities and minorities have no neighbourhood relations, this case study reveals multifarious ways of relationship-making. Whereas the residents tended to emphasise separation between ethnic groups, their everyday practices indicated coexistence. These contrasts reflect the residents’ affirmations and contestations of the public national discourse about immigration, social integration and urban life. The variety of neighbourhood practices illustrates a complex social reality characterised by contrasts and ambivalences that represent different orders of identification and interaction and constitute coexisting tendencies of boundary maintenance and conviviality.

Intimate Contradictions: Comparing the Impact of Danish Family Unification Laws on Pakistani and Cuban Marriage Migrants

The Danish family unification policies are based on an underlying moral agenda rooted in the idea of emotional, intimate, love-based marriages as the basis of the modern nation state. This paper questions the efficacy of this moral agenda by examining the unintended consequences and false dichotomies that emerge with the implementation of the legislation, particularly focusing on kin relations and individual autonomy. Empirically, the article compares how the legislation affects both the intended targets (intra-ethnic marriages among Danes of immigrant descent) and the unintended targets (ethnic Danes who marry non-European spouses, namely, Cubans). This comparative perspective highlights the cracks in the moral agenda of the states efforts to shape family formation and, ultimately, the contradictions of attempting to promote ‘modernity’ over ‘tradition’.

'There is no racism here': Public discourses on racism, immigrants and integration in Denmark

ABSTRACT Jensen, Weibel and Vituss 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.

Neither Trust Nor Distrust

Abstract This article deals with the politicised notions of trust and social cohesion in urban spaces through a focus on practices of everyday relations in a mixed neighbourhood. Quantitative studies maintain that ethnically diverse neighbourhoods lack in trust and solidarity. However, the very meaning and effect of concepts such as ̀diversitỳ, ̀contact̀ and ̀trust´ are often unclear. This article challenges both the politicised assumptions and methodological basis for statements on trust as a condition for coexistence. Drawing on fieldwork in a multi-ethnic social housing estate in Copenhagen, this article explores residents´ understandings of diversity, contact and trust. The article argues that trust and strong ties may not be the prerequisite for coexistence in neighbourhoods, where the micro-politics of everyday contacts predominate.

Planning for Pluralism in Nordic Cities

* E-mail: Randi.Gressgard@skok.uib.no This special issue probes into planning for cultural and ethnic pluralism in Nordic cities, focusing especially on urban diversity politics and practices related to migration. Although transnational migration is a predominantly urban phenomenon, there is a notable divergence of research interest between the scholarly fields of migration and ethnic minority studies on the one hand, and the fields of urban studies on the other. Nicholas De Genova (2015: 3) aptly points out, in an earlier issue of this journal, that even though migration studies research tends to be disproportionately urban in its empirical focus, it commonly leaves the urban question under-theorised or unexamined. In a similar vein, Nina Glick Schiller and Ayşe Çağlar (2011: 2) note that ‘[w]ithin the migration literature there are many studies of migration to cities and the life of migrants in cities but very little about the relationship of migrants and cities’. Whilst urban studies have been predominantly concerned with socio-economic urban divisions and spatial differences pertaining to segregation, much less attention has been on issues of race, ethnicity and migration. Although there has been a gradual orientation towards exclusionary effects of gentrification on ethnic minorities and racialised citizens, main focus is still on spatial and material dimensions of social (in)justice (Brenner et al. 2012; Butler 1997; Davis and Monk 2007; Harvey 1996, 2009; Marcuse et al. eds. 2009; Sassen 2000; Smith 1979, 2002; Smith and Ley 2008). Conversely, migration research has addressed problems of ethnic discrimination, racism, marginalisation of minority groups etc. for decades, whereas the urban dimension of (in)justice has remained largely unscrutinised. True, there is a growing body of literature that seeks to bridge the gap between migration/minority studies and urban studies/planning (see e.g. Fincher et al. 2014; Fincher and Iveson 2008; Kihato et al. eds 2010; Neill 2004; Neill and Schwedler eds 2007; Sandercock 1998, 2003; Schiller and Çağlar eds 2011; Wood and Landry 2007), but such intersections are still scarce in a Nordic context. Research in this region is predominantly oriented towards evaluating national welfare programmes, rather than studying cities (Dannestam 2008: 356). However, as the welfare state is restructured and an increased inflow of migrants settle in urban areas, a number of pressing issues regarding planning for pluralism arise – issues that are at once specific for the Nordic context and related to broader trends in Europe and beyond (see e.g. Righard et al. 2015). The following sections explore theoretical perspectives on planning for pluralism and the implied methodological challenges. The final section introduces key terms and themes of the special issue.