The myth of homogeneity in Denmark.

As you may know, deconstruction is essential, especially in this pressing time of nationalist politics that not only divides groups of citizens inside states but also builds walls between them. It is therefore utterly important for people to be given the tools which can help them surrender some extreme points of views. Nordic countries have started firsthand to try and deconstruct that myth of nation, and in this case, I will specify this article around how the myth of homogeneity was born in Denmark. First, the process begins with what defined ethnic homogeneity.

Three main anchors explain what it means to be Danish. Although what could then be considered “Danish” and a part of “the Danish nation” was very different from what is today, the Jelling Stone is a symbol of the founding of the nation. It also represents the beginning of Denmark as a Christian nation and the nation’s Viking past. The origin of the national flag of Denmark, Dannebrog, also represents a victory of the Danish army over what was then Lyndanisse (Today, it is Tallinn in Estonia). Danish people have the habit to use it to claim sanctions to others. The last one is the Schleswig Wars, a traumatic defeat that resulted in deep emotions and translated into sacralization of what it is like to be Danish. In another dimension, Grundtvig, a priest, theologian, poet, politician, and writer widely recognized in the nation supports that human beings were born into one people, and only one thus people cannot be Danish and Jewish for instance. The Danish language also has its own maze of meanings and was used during the World War II to resist to the Nazis.

All those symbols of strength and weakness are related to how Danish people were able to survive throughout history. It gives them pride, intense emotions and links them around the feeling of belonging to some place. To deconstruct those takes a reflective procedure on what it is like to be a person belonging to a nation, but also to understand that it is also being a person belonging to a world. And to be able to conjoint those two versions of oneself take a deeper understanding of the planet which not everyone is easily given access to.