Myths of Ethnic Homogeneity: The Danish Case

In Denmark, as in many other national contexts, there is a widespread understanding of the nation as building on an ethnically homogeneous past. This chapter’s starting point is a curiosity towards this understanding: Where does it stem from? What are the anchors, stories, symbols that hold this understanding together? How does the understanding relate to empirical evidence? And how are perceptions of ethnic homogeneity, practised in everyday life? While the overall focus of this chapter is on Denmark, the exploration of understandings of ethnic homogeneity in everyday life will focus on two neighbourhoods in Copenhagen. A particular question in that regard is whether and how perceptions of ethnic homogeneity or heterogeneity in particular places are linked to the dominant narratives about these places as either “white” or “ethnically diverse”.