Area 4
Issues related to public debates and the media, mutual stereotyping, cultural encounters and forms of representation of Self and Other.

AMID Research Projects within Area 4:

PhD Project (March 1, 2001 to March 1, 2004)
Responsible for project: Camilla Elg
Responsible faculty: Annick Prieur (AAU) and Kirsten Drotner (SDU)

Young Female Immigrants and Style (Area 4)
In Denmark we have experienced a quite intensive debate in recent years about the way immigrants dress. To be more specific it has been a debate concerning primarily headscarves worn by some female immigrants of varied Muslim background. This focus of a public debate tells us a lot about the cultures of the society where it is taking place. It also shows that the appearance of other human beings can be understood as an invitation to intercultural negotiations - understood as a mutual emphasizing of identity, differences and possibilities of finding common ground.

The underlying notion, that looks carry cultural meaning, and thus is important regarding our definition of ‘the other’ and ‘ourselves’ is an important perspective in this project. Inspired by the framework in Dick Hebdige: Subculture: The Meaning of Style this project has its starting point in the assumption that clothing, make up, hairdo, movements, activities, social practice and language are stylistically imprinted and concretely performed cultural moderations and negotiations. The aim of this project is to examine the parts young female immigrants play in intercultural negotiations in Denmark. How do they cope with the public focus on their style and appearance?

Kaya Silverman has stated that race and gender are the two kinds of social difference, which are the most dependent on visual articulation. How do young women handle the negotiation of these differences? The project aims to analyse and describe the stylistic choices of young female immigrants in this perspective. The research will be based on qualitative interviews with at least 30 women, photographs, video recordings and observations. The informants will be female immigrants aged 15-25 years. They will have varied cultural backgrounds and be familiar with the Danish language.

The theoretical framework is social constructivist. Language is considered a mediator between cultures and individuals in the analysis of the interviews. The ways informants use, legitimise and transform cultural coding in their discourse will be in focus. Narratives are not considered a representation of identity but a production of identity. Likewise, style and appearance will not be seen as an expression of identity but as participating in the production and construction of identity.

Aesthetic productivity and stylistic choices are regarded as crucial in the establishment of the self. Gender is an important theme in this self-performance and will, in this framework, also be understood as negotiated and socially constructed.

Senior Project
Responsible for project: Ulf Hedetoft

Discourses and Images of Belonging: Migrants Between "New Racism", Liberal Nationalism and Globalization (Area 4 and 5)
The altered conditions for nationalism and the nation-state in the age of globalization impact both migration patterns and identity politics, in the process engendering new discourses and images of belonging. In the interstices between opposing tendencies, new "politics of belonging" formations, partly global and partly nationally specific, are cropping up across the political spectrum and across national boundaries. In this context, the project will pursue the following three specific objectives: 1.To develop a theoretical framework to explain salient configurations between nationalism, globalization and migration as they impact images and discourses of belonging and othering. 2. To explore patterns and processes in Europe and the USA, respectively, as regards discourses of immigration, multiculturalismand belonging, in a comparative perspective. 3. To analyze images and discourses of belonging in the Danish context and as they express themselves in current and historical debates about integration as well as emigration, in order to identify what’s specifically Danish about Danish migration debates and how this specificity springs from and impacts sentiments and politics of belonging.

PhD Project (April 1, 2001 to April 1, 2004)
Responsible for project: Laerke Klitgaard Holm
Responsible faculty: Ulf Hedetoft (AAU) and Lise Togeby (AU)

The Discourse of Danish Immigration Policy from the 1970s to the Present Day (Area 4)
This PhD project is based on the fact that immigration and immigration policies in Denmark have loomed largely on the public and political agenda over the last 10-15 years and have increasingly developed into one of the dominant media issues. Where studies of media-discourses do exist, hardly anyone has examined discourses of official political texts (laws, regulations, circulars, reports etc.) and the way in which they relate to, perhaps co-produce, public debates on immigration issues as well as factual problems (cultural, economic) that immigration results in. The aim of the project is to analyse change in discourses on immigration policies on four levels: politics, administration, interest organizations, and mass media from the beginning of the 1970s to the present day, i.e. the period during which Denmark along with other European countries has maintained a total ban on immigration. Theoretically the project builds to a great extent on a social-constructivistic approach whose purpose is to demonstrate how social reality is reproduced as well as changed by discursive practices in social institutions and everyday life. The following questions will be addressed: To what extent is the rising focus on immigration policies an expression of a change in the discourse on immigration? What effect does interdiscursivity between social institutions have on public opinion and immigration policies and vice versa? Why do discourses on immigration change? The intention is furthermore to set the Danish discourse on immigration policies in an international and global perspective in order to establish if the discourse on immigration in Denmark is a descrete phenomenon or if there is a tendency to treat the issue in comparable ways in other countries. Concretely changes in Danish and Swedish political discourses (preferably an additional third country will be included) on immigration will be compared in order to establish why two countries which to a large extent have a similar culture and socio-political tradition have tackled the immigration issue differently. Finally the impact of the EU and other external institutions on the Danish discourse on immigration will be examined.

Download the PhD dissertation (2nd edition, 379 pages, in Danish)

PhD Project (September 1, 2001 to September 1, 2004)
Responsible for project: Kirsten Hviid
Responsible faculty: Annick Prieur (AAU) and Lars Holmberg (KU)

Immigrant Youth and Delinquency (Area 4 and 5)
This research project will be dealing with issues such as immigrant youth, sub-cultural lifestyles and identity-formation, socialisation and socio-economic strategies, crimes and media-coverage, public opinion and stereotyping.

Surveys conducted by Statistics Denmark, published in 1998, show a proportionally higher crime-rate amongst populations of non-Danish/European origin, vis-à-vis the populations of Danish/European origin. Especially the so-called second generation immigrants of non-European origin has a proportionally higher crime-rate compared to similar age groups with a Danish/European background. Results deriving from this survey have initiated a major debate both within the Government and political parties, the media as well as at the local governmental level to take action and initiate programs. This survey as well as some incidents like rape and violence committed by groups of teenagers with immigrant background has been used by the right-wing parties and the media to create an image of the typical second generation immigrant as a prototype of a criminal operating in gangs. Local people demand more control, police and higher penalties for crime committed by this youth group.

However, this statistical material does not take into account various factors which could have important implications for the differences accounted for. Socio-economic factors such as levels of employment, housing, schooling and education, family and social network, are important aspects when considering crime-rates and must be taken into account when dealing with crime-rates among immigrants. Researchers have proved that other important factors contribute to a higher rate of arrest among immigrants resulting from police practices, such as stereotyping as a way of operating towards suspects.

This research project will be dealing with these factors and focus upon important aspects of youth sub-cultural lifestyles and gender identity. This lifestyle can be seen as a response to socio-economic conditions and a way to create a space and place within a life-world which does not offer any prospects for a socially and economically secure future within the boundaries of the family nor the state.

The project will be based on empirical studies amongst youth groups within two major urban settings in Denmark: Aalborg and Karlebo. In both of these two areas a significant population of immigrants in social public housing is situated. This project will be dealing with statistical and qualitative data, based on interviews, observations, surveys, and public research programmes within both national and international social studies.

Dowload PhD dissertation (in Danish)

Senior Project
Responsible for project: Lisanne Wilken

Multicultural Europe--an Analysis of the European Vision of "Multiculturalism" and its Relation to Member-state Perceptions of Immigrant Cultures (Area 1 and 4)
The project addresses the European vision of multiculturalism and its relation to member-state attitudes, with specific reference to perceptions of immigrant cultures. On the one hand, the project will document and analyze the vision of multiculturalism which has been developed in the European Union over the last 15-20 years, and on the other discuss the relationship between this vision and the perceptions of and attitudes to policies toward immigrant cultures in three member-states: Austria, France and Denmark.. Based on newspaper debates, internet sources and political programs with reference to multiculturalism and migrant culture in the three states, the project will discuss the national attitudes toward multiculturalism in comparative perspective. It will also address the question of the extent to which the EUropean vision of multiculturalism can be said to apply to the three states. The topicality of the multicultural issue has recently been highlighted through the decision to isolate Austria, reinvigorating national debates on European values, cultural diversity and migrant cultures.