A decade of suspicion: Islam and Muslims in Denmark after 9/11

Abstract

In 2011, al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden, was killed in Pakistan and the US president, Barack Obama, concluded a decade of global ‘war against terror’. In light of this, it seems only sensible to explore what implications the post-9/11 international developments have had on a local basis in specific national contexts. With this in mind, this article focuses on Denmark and discusses how the critical event of 9/11 motivated a security/integration response, including various pre-emptive measures that have cast the Muslim population as the usual suspects. It will discuss how these changes have affected the everyday lives of ordinary Danish Muslims over the last ten years and changed the relationship between majorities and minorities. Finally, it will also examine how and why recent national and international events have created the potential for another shift in majority–minority relations.

Keywords:

• Islam
• Muslim
• terrorism
• securitization
• integration
• Denmark

Notes

1. http://www.thedanishparliament.dk/Publications/My%20Constitutional%20Act%20with%20explanations/Chapter%201.aspx

2. Besides this, there are few ‘recognized’ (anerkendte) religious communities: only the Baptist Church, the Catholic communion and the Jewish community. All the rest, including all Muslim communities, only have the status of being ‘approved’ (godkendte) religious communities. The special rights of recognized religious communities imply that their ministers are approved by royal decree, that they may name and baptize children with legal effect, and that they may keep their own church registers and may transcribe certificates on the basis of such registers.

3. See http://kulturkanon.kum.dk/en/

4. ‘The report on the use of niqab and burqa’ was published in 2009 and estimated that 100–200 women in Denmark wear this type of dress (see 13 of http://www.e-pages.dk/ku/322/).

5. ‘Danskerne bliver udsat for massiv dataovervågning’, Politiken, 14 March 2011.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mikkel Rytter

MIKKEL RYTTER is Associate Professor at Department of Culture and Society at Aarhus University.

Marianne Holm Pedersen

MARIANNE HOLM PEDERSEN is Senior Researcher at the National Collections Department, The Royal Library.