Safeguarding Danishness? Ethnicity, Religion and Acculturation among Danish Americans in Three Danish Spaces in the U.S.

Authors

  • Pernille Skovgaard Christensen Aalborg Universitet

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v48i2.5452

Abstract

This paper examines and compares patterns of ethnic safeguarding across the generations in three Danish spaces in the US Midwest. Investigating the extent to which ‘Danishness’ has continuously been practised and preferred among descendants of the Danish immigrants who settled there at around the turn of the 20th century, it argues that there is a variety in the level to which Danish ethnic identity has historically been safeguarded in the three spaces. Consequently, this is echoed by variations in the extent to which later generations of immigrants seem to have relinquished Danishness as the defining part of their identities. The interviews indicate that a late 19th century dispute within the Danish church in America regarding the relation between religion and ethnicity, manifested in self-perceptions and life practises among Danish American families, echoed through the generations and impacted the acculturation processes to this very day.

Author Biography

Pernille Skovgaard Christensen, Aalborg Universitet

Pernille Skovgaard Christensen finished her MA in English and History in 2012 and is currently a PhD fellow at Centre for Migration and Diversity (CoMID) at Aalborg University. Her PhD is part of a joint research project which examines historical and contemporary migration flows to and from Denmark. In close collaboration with the Danish Emigration Archives, Pernille’s project focuses on Danish emigration to the USA and to Australia and dwells on issues of ethnic safeguarding and survival, belonging and identity across generations. She has published Dansk udvandring til USA omkring år 1900 – et overblik (Teatermuseet i Hofteatret, 2015).

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Published

2016-11-01

How to Cite

Christensen, P. S. (2016). Safeguarding Danishness? Ethnicity, Religion and Acculturation among Danish Americans in Three Danish Spaces in the U.S. American Studies in Scandinavia, 48(2), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.22439/asca.v48i2.5452

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Articles