Abstract
In recent years, the Danish public has been embroiled in different debates on racism and whiteness. While these debates instigate a break with historic and color-blind silencing of racism in Denmark, they have also given rise to multiple reproductions of racist logics. Our analysis concentrates on a debate that took off in early 2013 following the publication of the book Are Danes Racist? The Problems of Immigration Research [Er danskerne racister? Indvandrerforskningens problemer] by Henning Bech and Mehmet Ümit Necef. The debate centered around the question of whether or not so-called anti-racist research met scientific standards. We argue that this debate can be seen as a turning point in how both individual researchers in particular and racism research in general have been positioned as unscientific and as productive of social division and racism in Denmark. The chapter suggests that these racial turns can be seen as a recalibration of the tradition of Danish racial exceptionalism, where racism in Denmark is presented as containable and marginal, and where anti-racist research in itself constitutes a new form of racism.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The titles of and quotes from books and newspaper published in Danish have been translated into English by the authors, with original titles in brackets. See also the article’s reference section for original titles of all the Danish publications.
- 2.
For a discussion on how research on racism has been neglected by governmental think tanks in their work on integration in the 1990s and early 2000s, see Hervik and Jørgensen (2002), p. 90.
- 3.
To our knowledge the terminologies of “anti-racist research” or “anti-racist researchers” do not reflect how most critical race scholars in Denmark have positioned their research or themselves over the past decade; it is, however, consistently used by Bech and Necef, and in the conclusion to the book, it is defined as a “designation for research, where there is a significant probability that unsubstantiated claims of widespread racism and the like are being put forth” (p. 326).
- 4.
In an interview, Bech attempted, for instance, to clarify what he considered to be a misinterpretation of an aspect of the argument in Are Danes Racist? (Information, 2013).
- 5.
- 6.
This is not an exhaustive account of all the articles referencing the case in Infomedia. We have not included peripheral front-page references, brief mentions, online versions of printed articles, and shovelware versions of previously published articles, the latter occurring especially in regional media outlets.
- 7.
Jyllands-Posten published the much-discussed 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in September 2005, leading to five months of globalized conflict (Klausen, 2009).
- 8.
Anti-Islamic is the terminology used in the article (and not, e.g. anti-Muslim).
- 9.
Peter Hervik and Rikke Andreassen were not the only scholars accused of unscientific misconduct in Are Danes Racist? In a front-page interview published in Weekendavisen (Vind, 2013), Henning Bech launched a scathing attack on Professor Jytte Klausen (Brandeis University) for connecting Jyllands-Posten’s Muhammad cartoons (published in 2005) with anti-Semitic iconography promoted by the Nazi regime.
- 10.
Cultural Radicalism is a translation of the Danish word “kulturradikalisme” that denotes a movement among Danish intellectuals that emerged in the 1870s. The heyday of Cultural Radicalism is often ascribed to the interwar period. The movement was revitalized during the 1960s and 1970s, and it is often associated with a politics of tolerance and anti-authoritarian views, for example, in relation to child rearing and sexuality. Historically,conservatives have perceived Cultural Radicalism as a form of cryptocommunism (Duelund, 2001).
- 11.
We have only been able to find a few examples such as Anna Rytter’s (2013) op-ed, “We are all racists”. At the time Rytter was a parliamentary candidate for the Red-Green Alliance. Her op-ed is critical of the broader reluctance to address racism in Danish society. Bech and Necef’s book is briefly mentioned as carrying a message that suits the anti-immigration agenda of the Danish Peoples Party. For another example, see Jonas Christoffersen’s (2013) blog post “Danes are racist…”. Christoffersen, at the time executive director for Danish Institute of Human Rights, aligns himself with Bech and Necef’s argument that racism by and large has been eradicated from Danish society, but he is critical of their argument concerning how society occasionally needs to act based on generalizations (in Danish, gennemsnitsbetragtninger).
- 12.
Information did include one article where researchers questioned Bech and Necef’s definition of racism, but it focused on how their conceptualization related to the definition of racism in Danish jurisdiction (Dandanell, 2013b).
- 13.
- 14.
Immigration research is a direct translation of Jalving’s use of “indvandrerforskningen”, an outdated term which is no longer used within the context of Danish academia.
- 15.
For a summary of the Penkowa case, see University of Copenhagen’s updated summary of the case: http://nyheder.ku.dk/penkowa (Last accessed January 1, 2017).
- 16.
In Are Danes Racist? Bech and Necef position the act of unjustly calling someone a racist as analogous to racism proper. According to Bech and Necef, it is “just as [emphasis added] unwise to in advance demonize the old-danes as racist, xenophobic and islamophobic” as it is to “talk about immigrants and refugees,as if they are retarded and criminal” (p. 12).
- 17.
For an analysis of the debates on immigration in the 1990s and early 2000s, see Hervik (2011).
- 18.
According to Beinov this point is scientifically proven, but there is no reference to the studies/researchers in question.
References
Andreassen, R., Folke Henningsen, A., & Myong, L. (2008). Indledning [Introduction]. Kvinder, Køn og Forskning, 3, 3–8.
Andreassen, R., & Vitus, K. (2015). Affectivity and Race. Studies from Nordic Contexts. London & New York: Routledge.
Bech, H., & Necef, M. U. (2013). Er danskerne racister? Indvandrerforskningens problemer [Are Danes Racist? The Problem of Immigration Research]. Frederiksberg: Frydenlund.
Beinov, J. (2013, January 15). Det gæstfri Danmark [The Hospitable Denmark]. Berlingske Tidende, 26.
Berlingske Tidende. (2013, January 11). Racisme [Racism]. Berlingske Tidende, 3.
Blaagaard, B., & Andreassen, R. (2012). Disappearing Acts: The Forgotten History of Colonialism, Eugenics and Gendered Othering in Denmark. In B. Hiplf & K. Lofstdóttir (Eds.), Teaching ‘Race’ with a Gendered Edge (pp. 81–95). Utrecht & Budapest: ATGENDER.
Blüdnikow, B. (2013, January 21). Tavshedens rige [The Kingdom of Silence]. Berlingske Tidende, 21.
Bonde Broberg, M. (2013a, January 8–9). Til kamp mod forskernes gode viljer [A Call to Action Against the Good Intentions of Researchers]. Jyllands-Posten, 8–9.
Bonde Broberg, M. (2013b, January 11). Ny bog møder modstand [New Book Meets Resistance]. Jyllands-Posten, 9.
Bonnett, A. (2005). Anti-Racism. New York and London: Routledge.
Browning, C. (2007). Branding Nordicity: Models, Identity, and the Decline of Exceptionalism. Cooperation and Conflict, 42(1), 27–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836707073475
Christoffersen, J. (2013). Danskerne er racister [Danes Are Racists]. Retrieved from http://www.menneskeret.dk/nyheder/blog-danskerne-racister
Danbolt, M. (2016). New Nordic Exceptionalism: Jeuno JE Kim and Eva Einhorn’s The United Nations of Norden and Other Realist Utopias. Journal of Aesthetic and Culture, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/jac.v8.30902
Danbolt, M. (2017). Retro Racism: Colonial Ignorance and Racialized Affective Consumption in Danish Public Culture. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 7(2), 105–113. https://doi.org/10.1515/njmr-2017-0013.
Dandanell, N. (2013a, January 12). Ny bog: Kun intellektuelle kan være racister [New Book: Only Intellectuals Can Be Racists]. Information, 3.
Dandanell, N. (2013b, January 16). Kan negative stereotyper også være racisme? [Do Negative Stereotypes Also Count As Racism?]. Information, 7.
Duelund, P. (2001). Cultural Policy in Denmark. The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 31(1), 34–56.
Dyrberg, T. B. (2016). Venstrefløjens selektive og moraliserende tolerance [The Left Wing’s Selective and Moralizing Tolerance]. In M. U. Necef & T. B. Dyrberg (Eds.), Multikulturalismens fælder. Mørklægning og moralisme i medier, forskning og politik [The Pitfalls of Multiculturalism: Blackout and Moralizing in Media, Research, and Politics] (pp. 165–185). Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.
Dyrberg, T. B., & Necef, M. U. (2016). Kritiske fortolkninger af multikulturalisme og racisme [Critical Interpretations of Multiculturalism and Racism]. In M. U. Necef & T. B. Dyrberg (Eds.), Multikulturalismens fælder. Mørklægning og moralisme i medier, forskning og politik [The Pitfalls of Multiculturalism: Blackout and Moralizing in Media, Research, and Politics] (pp. 9–35). Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.
Eriksen, J.-M. (2016). Er indvandrere racister? [Are Immigrants Racist?]. In M. U. Necef & T. B. Dyrberg (Eds.), Multikulturalismens fælder. Mørklægning og moralisme i medier, forskning og politik [The Pitfalls of Multiculturalism: Blackout and Moralizing in Media, Research, and Politics] (pp. 131–146). Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.
Eriksen, J.-M., & Stjernfelt, F. (2013). De anstændige [The Decent Ones]. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Esholdt, H. F. (2015). Når humor, leg og lyst er på spil: Social interaktion på en multietnisk arbejdsplads [When Humor, Play and Desire is at Play: Social Interaction on a Multi Ethnic Workplace]. Ph.D. dissertation, Lunds University, Lund, Sweden.
Esholdt, H. F. (2016). Styres forskningen af frygten for at blive kaldt racist? praksisnære overvejelser [Are Research Controlled By the Fear of Being Called Racist? Praxis-Oriented Considerations]. In M. U. Necef & T. B. Dyrberg (Eds.), Multikulturalismens fælder—mørklægning og moralisme i medier, forskning og politik (pp. 189–206). Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.
Goldberg, D. T. (2006). Racial Europeanization. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29(2), 331–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870500465611.
Gullestad, M. (2005). Normalising Racial Boundaries. The Norwegian Dispute about the Term Neger. Social Anthropology, 13(1), 27–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2005.tb00118.x
Habel, Y. (2012). Challenging Swedish Exceptionalism? Teaching While Black. In K. Freeman & E. Johnson (Eds.), Education in the Black Diaspora: Perspectives, Challenges, and Prospects (pp. 99–122). New York and London: Routledge.
Hauge, H. (2014a, March 10). Strukturel racisme [Structural Racism]. Berlingske Tidende, 22.
Hauge, H. (2014b, April 3). Antiracisternes hærgen [Antiracists Causing Havoc]. Berlingske Tidende, 26.
Hervik, P. (2011). The Annoying Difference: The Emergence of Danish Neonationalism, Neoracism, and Populism in the Post-1989 World. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Hervik, P., & Jørgensen, R. E. (2002). Danske benægtelser af racisme [Danish Denials of Racism]. Sociologi i dag, 32(4), 83–102.
Hübinette, T. (2014). Racial Stereotypes and Swedish Antiracism: A Swedish Crisis of Multiculturalism? In Crisis in Nordic Nations and Beyond (pp. 69–85). Surrey & Burlington: Ashgate.
Information. (2013, January 19). Læserne spørger: HenningBech [Readers’ Questions: Henning Bech]. Information. Retrieved from https://www.information.dk/moti/2013/01/laeserne-spoerger-henning-bech
Jalving, M. (2013a, January 13). Pseudoforskning [Pseudo-Research]. Jyllands-posten, 28.
Jalving, M. (2013b, February 3). Eliterne og lilleputfolket [The Elites and the Lilliput People]. Jyllands-Posten, 30.
Jensen, S. Q. (2014). Kritik af dansk racismeforskning—og kritik af kritikken [Criticism of Danish Research on Racism—and Critique of the Critique]. Dansk sociologi, 25(1), 103–110.
Jyllands-Posten. (2013, January 12). Linguistic Poison [Sproglig Gift]. Jyllands-Posten, 20.
Kamil, C. (2013a, January 11). Myten om den racistiske dansker [The Myth of the Racist Dane]. Berlingske Tidende, 6–7.
Kamil, C. (2013b, January 11). Du er ikke racist alligevel [You’re Not Racist After All]. Berlingske Tidende, 1.
Klausen, J. (2009). The Cartoons that Shook the World. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Kristeligt Dagblad. (2013, January 12). Racismeforskning kræver omhu [Editorial: Research on Racism Should be Done with Due Care]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 16.
Lentin, A. (2004). Racism and Anti-Racism in Europe. London and Ann Arbor: Pluto Press.
Loftsdóttir, K., & Jensen, L. (Eds.). (2012). Whiteness and Postcolonialism in the Nordic Region: Exceptionalism, Migrant Others and National Identities. Farnam: Ashgate.
Mørck, Y., Danneskiold-Samsøe, S., & Sørensen, B. W. (2016). Æresrelateret vold som kulturaliserende diskurs? kritik af en udbredt forskningstilgang [Honour Violence as a Culturalizing Discourse? Criticism of a Widespread Research Approach]. In M. U. Necef & T. B. Dyrberg (Eds.), Multikulturalismens fælder. Mørklægning og moralisme i medier, forskning og politik [The Pitfalls of Multiculturalism: Blackout and Moralizing in Media, Research, and Politics] (pp. 245–272). Samfundslitteratur: Frederiksberg.
Mulinari, D., Keskinen, S., Irni, S., & Tuori, S. (2009). Introduction: Postcolonialism and the Nordic Models of Welfare and Gender. In S. Keskinen, S. Tuori, S. Irni, & D. Mulinari (Eds.), Complying with Colonialism: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Nordic Region (pp. 1–16). Burlington: Ashgate.
Myong, L. (2009). Adopteret: Fortællinger om transnational og racialiseret tilblivelse [Becoming Adoptee. On Transnational and Racialized Subjectification]. Ph.D. dissertation, Aarhus University, Copenhagen.
Myong, L. (2014, December 15). Frihedens racistiske præmis [The Racist Premise of Freedom]. Peculiar.dk. Retrieved from http://peculiar.dk/frihedens-racistiske-praemis
Necef, M. Ü., & Dyrberg, T. B. (Eds.). (2016). Multikulturalismens fælder. Mørklægning og moralisme i medier, forskning og politik [The Pitfalls of Multiculturalism: Blackout and Moralizing in Media, Research, and Politics]. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.
Nørgaard, L. (2012, September 5). En forsker fremturer. Når virkeligheden lader sig forme [A Researcher Insists: When Reality Is Manipulated]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 11.
Rastas, A. (2012). Reading History through Finnish Exceptionalism. In K. Loftsdóttir & L. Jensen (Eds.), Whiteness and Postcolonialism in the Nordic Region: Exceptionalism, Migrant Others and National Identities (pp. 89–104). Farnham: Ashgate.
Rebensdorff, J. (2015, February 2). ‘Perker’ kan være kærligt ment [Saying ‘Paki’ Can Be Affectionately Intended]. Berlingske Tidende, 9.
Ritzau. (2012, August 31). Forskere fremstiller indvandrere som ofre [Researchers Portray Immigrants as Victims]. DR. Retrieved from http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Politik/2012/08/31/0831234053.htm
Ritzau. (2013, January 10). Ny Bog: Danskere meget lidt racistiske [New Book: Danes Are Rarely Racist]. Ritzau.
Rytter, A. (2013, January 15). Vi er alle racister [We Are All Racists]. Information, 18–19.
Schjørring, E. (2013, January 11). Opgør med dæmoniseringen af danskerne [Confronting the Demonization of the Danes]. Berlingske Tidende, 27.
Søndergaard, B. (2012a, September 1). Drop myten om de stakkels indvandrere [Scrub the Myth of the Victimized Immigrant]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 2.
Søndergaard, B. (2012b, September 1). Ny bog: Indvandrerforskningen har gjort nydanskere til sagesløseofre [New Book: Immigration Research Has Turned New-Danes into Innocent Victims]. Kristeligt Dagblad, 1.
Søndergaard, B. (2013, January 12). Sociologer hudfletter indvandrerforskning [Sociologists Castigates Immigrant Research]. Kristligt Dagblad, 2.
Støvring, K. (2012, September 4). Når indvandrere siger sandheden om forfejlet integration [When Immigrants Speak the Truth about Unsuccessful Integration]. Retrieved from http://kulturkamp.blogs.berlingske.dk/2012/09/04/nar-indvandrere-siger-sandheden-om-forfejlet-integration
Støvring, K. (2013, February 22). Debat: Civilcourage [Debate: Civil Courage]. Berlingske Tidende, 31.
Villemoes, S. (2015, February 13). Sort-hvid forskning [Black-White Research]. Weekendavisen, 7.
Vind, J. (2013, January 11). Når man prædiker for de frelste [Preaching to the Choir]. Weekendavisen, 1, 6.
Vuorela, U. (2009). Colonial Complicity: The “Postcolonial” in a Nordic Context. In S. Keskinen, S. Tuori, S. Irni, & D. Mulinari (Eds.), Complying with Colonialism: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Nordic Region (pp. 19–34). Burlington: Ashgate.
Wivel, K. (2013, January 25). Mavefornemmelser [Gut Feelings]. Weekendavisen, 4.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Danbolt, M., Myong, L. (2019). Racial Turns and Returns: Recalibrations of Racial Exceptionalism in Danish Public Debates on Racism. In: Hervik, P. (eds) Racialization, Racism, and Anti-Racism in the Nordic Countries. Approaches to Social Inequality and Difference. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74630-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74630-2_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74629-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74630-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)