Det danske mindretals selvforståelse: Mellem tradition og nybrud: Det danske mindretals selvforståelse: Mellem tradition og nybrud

The Danish minority is a result of historical processes in South Schleswig characterized by cultural and linguistic influencing factors, and not least the reiterated delineations of frontiers. The minority has since the beginning of its existence in 1920 lived a minority life in different contexts, determined by general historical developments that influenced the German society, and in a larger perspective the whole of Europe. The self-perception of the Danish minority was until the beginning of the 1970s characterized by a clearly defined Danishness, which was at variance with everything German. The threat from the surrounding society towards the cultural and identity wise self-perception of the minority caused a powerful solidarity within the community, in which the national narratives dominated the self-perception, and the national identity became the primary identification basis for the individual. This self-perception changed during the 1970s as the relationship between the minority and the German society changed in nature and started developing towards an increasing relaxation. The minority opened largely toward the surrounding society, and there was an approximation between minority and majority. This interaction led to the fact that numerous people from the German society felt themselves, to a higher degree, drawn toward the minority and chose, based on diversified reasons, to become a part of the Danish community. This incipient development amplified further over the following decades and thereby provided a basis for pivotal changes in the identification processes and self-perception within the Danish minority.

The dissertation is an examination of the self-perception of the Danish minority during the period 1980-2017. Based on a thematic composition, the central aspects that altogether constitute the self- perception of the minority are subject to an analysis, primarily the different forms of Danishness that are being articulated, the significance of the Danish language to the identity and the relationship to Denmark. An important component of the examination is the analytical distinction between the organizational and individual level, given that an examination of the self-perception of the Danish minority calls for an analysis on both levels together with an analysis of their mutual relationship, along with the significance of this relationship to the self-perception that expresses itself. The examination is furthermore, characterized by a methodological interaction between quantitative and qualitative methods and relies on a wide range of historical sources. The dissertation conducts a discourse analysis based on a comprehensive survey, undertaken interviews and various feature articles as well as reader’s letters from Flensburg Avis, with an examination of which discourses are being articulated and why. In addition, there is an examination of the opinion of the articulated discourses as well as it is being examined how prevalent these discourses are among the minority members.

The findings of the dissertation has with certain reservations demonstrated that the self-perception within the Danish minority contains many facets which are affected and defined by internal as well as external factors, and that the self-perception will express itself differently depending on which analytical level is being focused on.

The organized minority adheres to the traditional narrative about a Danishness based on an alternative to everything German, and the clear-cut identity forms of former times. They perceive themselves as a Danish national minority in which the confession and the fundamental basis is Danish and thus neither Danish-German, of South Schleswig nor other similar double cultural identity forms. The organised minority has an essentialist understanding of identity when viewed from a discourse wise perspective due to the unambiguous and clearly defined Danishness. There is an either-or understanding of identity, in which hyphen identities are seen as undermining and menacing as well as there is no place for different perceptions of the “true” Danishness of the minority, other than the one that solely relies on national criteria. As a natural consequence of this clearly defined perception of Danishness and the essentialist understanding of identity, the organizational level is emphasizing the cultural and nationalistic aspects of the minority identity. These revolve around Danish culture, history, traditions and particularly the Danish language. The starting point is the subjective confession in view of the principle of national self-determination “Minderheit ist, wer will” which likewise is being stressed, but on the matter of what aspects that define the Danishness of the minority, there is an evident emphasis on the cultural expressions of the national identity. This emphasis is primarily owed to the nature of the minority. It is thus necessary for the organised minority to focus on the Danish aspects of the identity because they are the means of existence for the minority. At that moment when the Danish aspects are no longer the foundation and the defining framework, there is no longer a national minority, but instead a social group whose sense of community is based on other aspects than the nationalist Danish.

When looking from an individual level it becomes clear that the picture is somewhat more complex and it becomes difficult to give unambiguous answers. There exists a wide spectrum of perceptions about what it means to be a minority, of whom particularly two conflicting dominates. One of them lies in continuation of the perception of the organised minority, in which the minority is viewed as a Danish national minority whose core are the cultural nationalistic aspects of the national identity. In addition, identities are understood out of essentialist terms and hyphen identities in various nuances are seen as undermining and threatening. The other perception on the contrary emphasizes the importance of these hyphen identities with a stressing of the fact that the minority identity is a distinct collective identity form, which is defined of South Schleswig elements including a mixing of Danish and German. Here, the hyphen identities are perceived as something natural and positive and they are viewed out of constructivist terms as being fluent, situational and continuous negotiable. At the same time, this implies that there is a possibility to become a member of the minority community in alternative ways other than by assimilating the Danish cultural aspects, in particular the Danish language. A personal sense of belonging to the Danish minority or an active participation in the association activities are, viewed from this perception, equally legitimizing terms of admission as mastering and speaking the Danish language. On the individual level, it is characterizing that there is an emphasis on equally subjective as well as objective aspects of the minority identity. It is the subjective self-identification with the minority along with the language and sending ones children in a minority school, that is the principle criteria for an affiliation to the Danish minority. Ultimately, the individual self-identification along with the context is decisive for the explicit identification including the general view on the Danish minority and what defines it.

The dissertation has furthermore illustrated, that the question about whether there is a difference in the emphasis on the aspects of the minority identity between organisational and individual level, contains an ambiguity. There is, opposite of what one might expect, a great compliance between the two levels. The results of the dissertation reveals that the organized minority has had a big success articulating and disseminating the principal narratives about what characterizes the minority and what the substance of the identity should be, in that a great part of the minority members have embraced their narratives and incorporated them into their individual self-perception. There are, in addition, no significant attitudinal distinctions from either an age wise or a generational wise perspective, which indicates that the bearing narratives are rooted crosswise of age groups and the longitude of ones affiliation to the minority. It is, at the same time, characteristic that a segment within the minority has not adopted these narratives. The official self-perception is of minor importance, if any, to this group of members who instead defines their relationship to the minority out of self-interest. This means that the identification with the Danishness does not necessarily play a prominent role, but the self-perception is instead affected and shaped by other aspects, primarily mixing elements of Danish and German, with emphasis on the particular identity of South Schleswig. These varying forms of identity have not replaced the identity forms of former times embossed by a greater unambiguousness and dominating at the organisational level, but they appear as potential alternatives.

The last-mentioned circumstance illustrates the fact that identities are associated with power, as well as the fact that identities are always competed for. For the Danish minority this manifests itself through the various identity debates that emerge with regular intervals. Within the debates, a struggle takes place about being allowed to define the “true” Danishness of the minority and with that which self-perception should define the community. This inherent tension between the organised minority and certain segments of the members stem primarily from different starting points with conflicting expectation demands to what an affiliation to the Danish minority involves.

The dissertation has made it clear that the minority can no longer be viewed solely through a national perspective, but that it also holds elements that go beyond the national. The modern society has altered the identity constructive mechanisms into a more individual direction and the content of the identities has simultaneously changed. While the nominal identity, the name of the community, has remained the same, the virtual identity has changed though. The understanding of what it means to be a Danish minority member has become more complex and manifold, which also has consequences to the experience and sense of the minority identity. Thus, a lot suggests that the Danish minority is situated in an area of conflict between tradition and groundbreaking trend.