Space, politics and past–present diversities in a Copenhagen neighbourhood

Abstract

This article responds to the need for a cautious use of the concepts of diversity and social cohesion in migration research. Presently missing in the literature is a historicisation and contextualisation of these concepts that can highlight the heterogeneity of diversity. In our investigation of the cities and neighbourhoods in which migrants settle and how migrants affect these neighbourhoods, it is important to ask whether the diversity of today is significantly different from the diversity a hundred years ago. To provide the missing perspectives, I offer a situated historical analysis of empirical data and ethnographic fieldwork in Nørrebro, a neighbourhood of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Situating the contemporary heterogeneous characteristics of cities and neighbourhoods within a local history of diversity is useful for our understanding of past and contemporary social solidarities that underlie the perceptions of ‘otherness’ and the changing implications of the focus on immigrant identity.

Keywords:

• diversity
• social cohesion
• history
• migration
• Nørrebro
• Copenhagen

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Pr. Nina Glick Schiller, Tina Jensen, Maja P. Frykman, Marie Sandberg and Elena Barabantseva for their excellent comments during the process of writing this article. I also thank my team of student assistants: Linda Lapina, Jeppe Langkjær, Emilie Paaske Drachmann, Anne-Kirstine Rønn Sørensen, Mathias Heinze, Signe Hubbard and Selma Bukovica Gundersen.

Notes

1. The Danish word for cohesion (sammenhængskraft) can be traced back to the late eighteenth century, but it was not until the early 1990s that it gained its present prevalence as relating to social interaction and thus social cohesion (Peters 2011; sproget.dk). The Danish word for diversity – mangfoldighed – has a much longer history, going back to the middle ages, although not in relation to ethnicity (ordnet.dk). However, in Denmark as a whole, ‘mangfoldighed’ is seldom used in debates and descriptions of ethnically diverse neighbourhoods and cities; instead, terms such as ‘multi-ethnic’ (multietnisk) and to an increasing extent ‘diversity’ are used. In Copenhagen, however, the concept of ‘mangfoldighed’ is particularly relevant because since 2006 it has been politically defined and stressed as a social resource, marking a change in conceptions of the term from earlier historical periods ‘Mangfoldighed’ as a term appears as a title of files in the city archives by the late 1990s and onwards (starbas.dk).

2. The six streets were Nørrebrogade, Baggesensgade, Birkegade, Blågårdsgade, Møllegade and Wesselsgade. They are all located in the oldest part of Nørrebro.

3. Other Christian denominations included (sometimes imprecise) (Roman) Catholics, Baptists, Swedish Church, Episcopalians, Methodists, German denomination.

4. The gang war in Copenhagen, mainly between so-called biker gangs and gangs with a majority of young people of immigrant descent, has increased in Copenhagen from 2008. The gang war has resulted in several casualties, including among people who had no connection with the gangs.

Additional information

Funding

The project was made possible by a grant from the Danish Strategic Research Council.