Dyniaethau a'r Gwyddorau Cymdeithasol - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
From: 9 Mar 2022, 4:30 p.m.To: 9 Mar 2022, 5:30 p.m.
Location: Richard Price Lecture Theatre
A seminar from Guest Lecturer, Sociologist, Martin Lindhardt will take place on Weds 9th March in the Richard Price Lecture Theatre, Singleton Campus at 16:00.
No registration necessary.
Martin will be presenting his work on Danish neo-nationalism and neo-racism, focusing on anti-Islamic rhetoric and particular constructions of Danish identity through marked opposition to Islam, in populist right wing political discourse.
Seminar Title
Pork, handshakes and winter swimming. Islam and the anti-Islamic emblems of cultural difference in Danish neo-nationalism.
Abstract
This paper explores how constructions of Danishness and Danish culture in neo-nationalist right-wing discourse have increasingly become structured around a marked opposition to Islam and Muslim immigrants. In the paper I will present a brief history of Islam and Muslim immigrants in Denmark and focus on how Muslims have been represented in Danish media and political discourse. I draw on Frederik Barth’s understanding of ethnic identity as constituted through processes of demarcation of boundaries vis-à-vis other groups. In such processes, certain cultural phenomena, both material and immaterial, can be elevated to emblems of cultural difference or symbolic markers of an in-group’s shared identity. The paper explores how different phenomena such as freedom of speech, pork, winter swimming/mixed-gender swimming and handshakes have become salient topics of political and public debates about integration and Islam in Denmark. I argue that these phenomena have all become emblematic of an allegedly distinctive Danish culture because they serve the purpose of demarcating symbolic boundaries vis-à-vis Islam.
Contact: Alex Hillman (Email: a.e.hillman@Swansea.ac.uk)
Website: https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/j/99936862281?pwd=QjJXNEl5d3B6amdVaUVzcHJDY0IwUT09
Event created by: e.l.ryland