The Danes are often depicted as xenophobic, despite their intrinsically humanistic culture. It’s something I’ve found increasingly interesting during my two years here, but despite a lot of thinking about it, I still feel a long way from being able to understand it. Whenever I feel like I’ve unlocked the mindset, I invariably become thrown by the complexity of it all again.
However, after recently returning to the UK for a week (my longest trip for quite some time) I was shocked to discover so much intolerance and racism; mostly revolving around the current integration “problems” the country is apparently facing. The general attitudes and comments I overheard actually seemed in stark contrast to what I thought I knew about those in “homogeneous” Denmark.
The British media and politicians are in general pretty savvy and PC about such topics (and when they’re not they know what the consequences will be), whereas the respective Danish institutions could probably be described as ‘clumsy’ in their choice of words (and images).
But the underlying moods of the two populations also seem at odds. The Danes I’ve spoken to regarding the issues their country is facing, usually admit to a type of naive confusion together with a good understanding that they have problems that need to be solved. The atmosphere I’ve recently experienced in the UK (both in cities and smaller towns) seems to be the opposite and I’m usually left feeling that people who “should know better” are resorting to closed minds and stubborn regret at the situation.
I realise that this is all hugely stereotyped and open to such factors as language differences, locations, the way one views cultures from afar and a whole host of other things. It’s not meant to be a affirmation of anything, but merely some thoughts resulting from spending time in two culturally quite similar countries at different stages of globalisation. I’m generally quite confused and fascinated by it all and would love to hear other peoples’ thoughts on the matter.
Finally, I’ve just discovered (via here) this excellently written article from 2003 by an American who has lived in Copenhagen since the 1970s. It’s quite long, but discusses what issues he faced as an expatriate, a whole host of perceived contrasts between the cultures of USA and Denmark and eventually touches on the current integration issues towards the end. It’s definitely worth a read.
