Integration Through Housing?
-ENHR 2007 International Conference ‘Sustainable Urban Areas’
Integration Through Housing?
Mark Vacher
Centre for Housing and Wellfare
Department of Anthropology
University of Copenhagen
Mark.vacher@anthro.ku.dk
+45-35323492
Keywords: Integration; Praxis; Anthropology; Ethnography; Qualitative methods; Ghetto.
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present some preliminary observations and analytical discussions
regarding the relationship between housing and integration.
By presenting two cases (a Turkish home and an Iraqi/Palestinian home), I show some aspects
of the complexity of becoming a new member of the Danish society.
The methods used in the collection of data are qualitative anthropological approaches
resulting in an in-depth knowledge rather than an overview.
From Where and Why to How
Stating a relationship between integration and housing is hardly any news, neither to
academia nor urban policy makers.
For almost a century scholars in Europe and North America within the field of urban studies
have produced analyses of integrating and/or segregating processes that involve residential
patterns of immigrants as an essential aspect.
Concepts like ghetto and banlieu have been used to conceptualize residential areas housing a
relatively large and dense immigrant population, and in many cases these concepts have
become synonymous with social problems, crime and violence (Vacher 1999, Børresen 2006).
In Denmark this labeling of demographic patterns has led to very restrictive policies regarding
integration of immigrant minorities. One example is an integration law from 1999, according
to which refugees are deprived their supplementary benefit if they move from an assigned
accommodation within a 3 year period. This law has been applied to implement the
governments “Strategy Against Ghettoization”, a policy of spreading, forcing refugees to
staying in small villages and rural areas instead of clustering in urban public housing.
While policies have been oriented toward dissolving demographic patterns, academic research
and journalistic inquiries have focused on explaining why some ethnic minorities seem to
prefer clustering in specific urban areas.
In his rapport on ethnic minorities choice of residence Hans Skifter Andersen sums up the
following explanations derived from various studies on housing and ethnic minorities (Skifter
Andersen 2006):
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Integration Through Housing?
1) Ethnic minorities seem to cluster in areas avoided by the Danish majority. The lack of
demand results in lower rent which make the areas accessible to ethnic minorities with
low income and a high degree of unemployment (1).
2) Ethnic minorities seem to prefer living close to family and friends. In other words,
areas with a high degree of ethnic minorities is not a result of deliberate avoidance
from the Danish community, but an additional choice of relatives and fellow
countrymen.
3) Finally, there is a hypothesis that chances of a possible return to their country of origin
may discourage ethnic minorities from investing in private property.
In this way, foci on relations between integration/segregation and housing at least in a Danish
context seem to be orientated towards where ethnic minorities live (a focus on patterns) and
why they live where they do (a focus on preferences).
What seems to be missing are studies of how people live; in other words, a focus on praxis.
Praxis is, as I will argue in this paper, closely linked to integration as well as housing.
However I will show the connexion between housing and integration is far more complex
than what can be captured by defining patterns and preferences and that in fact sometimes
what appears to be integration turns out to be the opposite. By taking a closer look on two
empirical examples I intend to illustrate how some integrating praxes reach beyond visible
patterns and explicit preferences and expectations.
First however I will give a brief introduction to the Danish context.
Integration in a Danish context:
According to anthropologist Inger Sjørslev democracy in Denmark is encumbered with a
certain cultural sluggishness (Sjørslev 2007). Democracy in this sense, she says, ”is related to
a certain lifestyle with shared values – literally some sort of an awakening” (ibid. p. 144).
Democracy in a Danish context is more than (or not even) a formal political system it is a
culturally biased way of living. In a paradoxical way, one could say that a significant way of
being democratic in Denmark is based at least as much on an understanding of who you are as
what you do. It includes a matter of socialization, upbringing and informal consensus deriving
from both public and private spheres.
It should be mentioned that the idea of a culturally biased democracy is the outcome of an
analytical approach to the Danish legislative structure rather than a formal definition of
democracy in Denmark (2). Nevertheless, this understanding is visible not only in many
aspects of everyday praxis but also in formal documents and policies. A good example is the
report Foreigners' Integration Into the Danish Society published by the Danish Ministry of
the Interior (Indenrigsministeriet 2001). This report presents seven criteria of integration
dealing with 1) language skills and education, 2) employment, 3) provision, 4) discrimination
5) intercultural relations 6) political engagement and 7) fundamental values and norms.
Especially criterion number 7 displays how democracy in Denmark includes implicit
understandings of democracy: “One of the goals for a successful integration into the Danish
society must be that foreigners affiliate and live in accordance with some fundamental values
and norms in Denmark” (Ibid. p. 8, 12, 59ff). What the Danish values and norms are is
however only vaguely defined as: values and norms expressed in the National Constitution;
living in accordance with Danish law; equality of status regarding gender, ethnic background
or religion; participation in decision making regarding aspects of personal life;
acknowledgement equal rights of all human beings; tolerance regarding other peoples' values
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and norms under the condition that these values and norms do not violate the other mentioned
fundamental values and norms in Denmark” (ibid.).
In other words, this criterion is concerned with far more than living in accordance with
Danish formal law. It is about affiliating with, according with, acknowledging and
tolerating(3) values and norms defined by the Danish government (ibid.).
This raises two important questions in relation to integration: Firstly, how does one recognize
a democrat if not by her/his actions (one can act in accordance with legal law without respect,
acknowledgment or tolerance)? And secondly, how does one become a true member of the
Danish democratic community (how can one persuade the authoritative community that one is
really affiliating, acknowledging and tolerating etc. and not just acting)?
In both cases it is a matter of beliefs. According to the Belgian anthropologist Dan Sperber
this means that answers to the questions raised above belong to a realm beyond positive
testing. In contrast to observable actions like fx running, eating or stealing, according with,
acknowledging and tolerating (like thinking, meaning, believing) are private conditions, that
only by signs (gestures, language, appearance etc.) are communicated to or observed by
others (Sperber 1982).
Being based on conditions more than actions, criterion nr. 7 in this way frames the issue of
integration within an inescapable context of performance.
In other words integration into the Danish society is based on the paradoxical fact that one has
to act Danish in order to convince Danes that one is not just performing but in fact a true
member of the Danish democratic society.
Strategies for living in Denmark:
When it comes to criterion nr. 7, immigrants struggling to integrate are facing a major
challenge. As performers of Danish values and norms their actions are potentially read and
judged by Danes as signs of failure (failing to be Danish enough or failing by exaggerating
resulting in an alienating cliché).
The handling of this challenge becomes visible in spectrum between two opposite strategies.
One is an obsession with form, the other an appearance of a strong distinction between private
and public life.
In the following, I will give two empirical examples of the mentioned strategies. The
examples derive from a fieldwork conducted among ethnic minorities in Denmark living in
social housing. The applied methods are home visiting, semi-structured ethnographic
interviews and auto-photography(4).
A true member performing true membership:
The first example describes a Turkish household consisting of a married couple and their two
children – a 12 year old son and a 9 year old daughter.
The father is 34 years old. He was born in Denmark by immigrants arriving in 1964. The
mother who is 31 years old came to Denmark 13 years ago. She is from the same town in
Turkey as her parents-in-law.
Being a part of the Danish society is very important to father. Last year he was elected
“Employee of the year” at his work place, a high school where he is employed as an assistant
caretaker. Apart from primary school, he has no formal education, but his employer has
recently urged him to take a course in basic planning and organization which will give him a
chance to be promoted to caretaker. He speaks enthusiastically about the course and the
prospect of being promoted.
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Integration Through Housing?
The mother works as a cleaner. She starts working at 05.00 am. Her knowledge of Danish is
very limited, and during the interviews she is often embarrassed when her husband insists that
she answers my questions regarding their home and its interior decorations. “She has to
practice”, her husband explains.
The family lives in a 106 m2 flat which is quite average size for a nuclear family in Denmark.
According to the father, this is adequate for the family. When asked about his priorities
regarding the location of his home, he praised the location: “We are close to town, which
means shorter transportation for my son when he is off to soccer training. Many people talk
badly of Vollsmose but this part is really quiet and calm – it is not like Birkeparken (another
area in the same part of town). When my son's friends visit us for the first time, they are
always surprised to see how nice the area is”.
When asked to describe the interior of their home. The wife answered “it is normal – like a
Danish home.”
“Is there no way to tell that this is a Turkish home?” I asked.
“Well of course the curtains are special,” the husband replied, “She bought them in Turkey –
it is her thing.”
With help from her husband, the wife explained that she did not feel comfortable with Danish
blinds. “When they are down it gets very dark, and when they are up there is no protection
from the sun and everybody can look straight inside.”
The Turkish curtains consist of 3 layers of thin fabric that lets some light enter, a thick fabric
that is pulled in front of the window when light is switched on inside, and finally a second
layer of the same type of thick fabric hanging in curves from the top of the window. This
layer has no practical function.
“So apart from the curtains, this resembles a Danish flat?” I asked.
“Yes,” they both confirmed.
“Have you been to a Danish home?”
“Many times,” the husband replied. As for the wife, she did not answer the question.
During the following tour around the flat, the couple often referred to “the normal.” The fact
that both children had their own room was explained as typically Danish.
Especially the boy's room was enthusiastically presented by the father. “I decorated it,” he
explained. The room was literally an exhibition of medals, trophies and diplomas won by the
son at various soccer tournaments and competitions. “My son is very good at soccer. He
practices three times a week and play at least one match every weekend, so we don’t see him
that much. Generally he is home at 9:00 pm, but that is the price to pay if you want to be
among the best.”
The son did not play at the local club. “There are too many foreigners and too much bad
company. I want him to focus on the game.” Instead, the father had initially brought his son to
a smaller football club in a Danish neighborhood farther away from home. Last year, the
father decided to move his son to OB (Odense Boldklub), one of the larger Danish football
clubs. “He is still young, and the competition is hard, but if he works hard I’m sure he will
succed,” the farther explained.
I asked the father why it was important that the children had their own rooms. “When my son
started playing in OB the other boys invited him to their place and sometimes they invited
him to stay overnight. I let him do that because I feel it is important for him to get on well
with his team mates. So of course we also want to invite his friends to our place. It happens
quite often actually.
By the way do you know Mr. XX, he is the owner of the very big company YY? His son
plays soccer at OB. He is now a friend of my son.
Sometimes people ask me if they aren’t snobs at OB? I then tell them that on the contrary,
people are in fact very kind. For example, last weekend watching my son playing a match Mr.
XX asked me “Well Ali how are you doing”? – he is actually very kind.”
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Integration Through Housing?
I asked if the son had had any influence in the decoration of his room. The answer was “No,
he is too busy playing soccer”.
Unlike her brother, the daughter had taken part in decorating her room. Together with her
mother she had arranged her numerous Barbie dolls. The father had not taken part in this
project.
As mentioned above the son having a room was very important to the father. It turned out,
however, that it was not until 3 years ago that the children had been given their own rooms.
Before 2004 they used to stay in the living room with their parents. From 1998 until that 2004
there used to be 8 people living in the flat: the father's parents, his older brother, his sister-inlaw and the present residents.
They used to rent a larger flat, but were forced to move because their former residence was
suffering from severe damp due to lacking insulation. The present flat is smaller but was the
first offer they received from the cooperative housing society.
“The four of us lived for six years in the living room. I couldn’t stand it,” the father explained.
“My father would decide everything. He is completely ignorant of what it means to live in
present day Denmark. For example, one time my son's teacher wrote us a letter complaining
that he (the son) had misbehaved at school. My father said: “Ah it’s not true, my grandson
would never misbehave”. I asked my father, “But do you think the teacher is making it up?”
My father didn’t reply and that was considered the end of that story.
In the end, I asked my older brother to help convince my father that something had to be
done. So we told him that either we would all look for new flats or he and my mother could
apply for a smaller flat for the two of them. Finally he accepted, and for the sake of the
children we stayed in this large flat.”
The brother and the grandparents live in the same neighbourhood and visit several times a
week, but according to the father 3 years later the grandfather is still angry and disappointed.
After the break, the flat has had a complete make over, and, showing me the brand new tv-set,
the father said, “This marks the final end of my father's regime. Now we don’t have anything
left from him.”
According to the seven criteria, the Turkish family seems to be an example of successful
integration.
Both parents work. The father was elected “Employee of the year”. The mother starts working
at 5 am, so it is the father who serves the children breakfast and sends them to school. In this
sense there seems to be a match with “fundamental Danish values” such as equality of status
regarding gender.
Further more the family has rejected what could be described as a Turkish old fashioned
paternalistic family structure based on virilocal cohabitation, replacing it with a nuclear
family. Apart from the curtains that are described as “the mother's thing” and praised for their
functional qualities the flat is considered normal like a Danish home.
The son is engaged in sports activities in a Danish football club. He sleeps over at his Danish
friends and the Danes who are visiting the Turkish home are surprised to see how nice and
calm the neighbourhood is.
Finally the sons soccer career has resulted in many new Danish acquaintances including a
respected Danish businessman who greets the father at the sons football matches.
From their own point of view and that of the Danish government, this family is well
integrated(5).
However, pushing the analysis a bit further I want to argue that the family (and the
government) is in fact confusing integration with an expression of Danish form.
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Integration Through Housing?
In order to pursue this argument, it is necessary to sharpen the ethnographic observation by
challenging the family's own understanding of “the normal.”
“What about the large chest freezer (app. 200 litres) you have placed in your kitchen. Would
you find that in Danish home?”
“It’s for bread,” the husband explained and started emptying the freezer on the kitchen table.
Most of the contents were home-made flat bread.
“Why do you keep so much bread?” I asked.
“We prefer fresh bread, so my wife bakes twice a week.”
“But if you prefer fresh bread why does she bake so large quantities?”
“Oh, my wife didn’t bake this. This is from her sister, my mother, my sister-in-law (brothers
wife) and from some of her friends.”
“Sharing home-made bread is a way of showing affection,” the wife explained.
“When baking, my wife will always gives bread to friends and women from our family.”
To this Turkish family bread is more than a consumable object. It is a material sign of
intimate social relations. Furthermore the nature of these relations is indicated by the handling
of the bread. Storing the bread long after it has been fresh(6) (removing its freshness by
freezing) indicates the existence of social and moral obligations organizing everyday life. In
this way, bread enters the category of gifts, as described by the French anthropologist Marcel
Mauss. The exchange of gifts, he argues, evokes three fundamental principles of social
behaviour: 1) the obligation to give 2) the obligation to receive 3) the obligation to return
(Mauss s. 58).
The fact that bread articulates the mentioned principles indicates the existence of a culturally
and morally defined community.
What has actually changed in the Turkish family? There are still strong moral ties between the
members of the extended family (materialized in a 200 litres freezer of old bread). The father
still “decides everything,” including the decoration of his son's room.
When the grandfather came to Denmark in 1964, he worked as unskilled manual labour. His
son who is born and raised in Denmark, and who was elected “Employee of the year,” has no
more than basic education and works as assistant caretaker. He has married a Turkish girl
from his parents village, who after 13 years in Denmark speaks almost no Danish.
The grandson is pursuing a career as soccer player, a strategy that does not include formal
education and statistically has very limited chances of succeeding. In other words, the
grandson faces the risk of becoming the third generation of unskilled immigrant labour in a
society where specialization and documentation of skills becomes increasingly important
(even a job as caretaker demands a course in planning and organization).
What about the changes? Again, integration is confused with form. If integration is
considered an intentional process, then the changes within this family are more in the line of
coincidence. If their old larger flat had not been contaminated, they would not have moved to
a smaller flat, which was the central argument in the process of convincing the grandfather to
move out.
Similar hypotheses can be made about the father taking a course in planning and organization.
It was not his own idea but the outcome of an award. Being the “Employee of the year”
means being the best at doing one's job. At the school where he works teachers teach,
caretakers caretake, and assistant caretakers assist caretake. According to the Lebanese
anthropologist Ghassan Hage. The immigrants position as “honoured assistant” is a figure
similar not only to “the humble servant”, but honouring the assistant is also a way of sending
a message.:
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“The message, because it is communal, becomes a symbolic space in which the
relatively dishonoured person can take refuge. But at the same time, because this
message/space is communal, through its creation, the community is honouring itself”.
(Hage 2002 p. 7).
In other words, awarding the immigrant is not necessarily a sign of recognizing an immigrant
taking charge of his life. It might as well be the exact opposite.
Behind a closed door:
The second example I want to present describes an Iraqi/Palestinian family.
The father fled from Iraq to Jordan in 1976. In the Jordanian refugee camp, he married his
wife, a Palestinian refugee living in the same camp. In 1981 their oldest son was born; in
1986 they came to Denmark as quota refugees. After a few months in a flat in a smaller
Danish town, they visited a friend in Vollsmose. Here they signed up for a flat and after six
months in Denmark they moved into their 110m2 flat in the complex Bøgeparken (about one
kilometres from the Turkish family). In 1986 and 1990 their two youngest sons were born.
In 1973, the father graduated as a dentist from the Dental College in Baghdad. He practiced
his profession for ten years in the Jordanian refugee camp. In Denmark his diploma was
considered insufficient and he was told to restudy completely if he wanted to practice dental
care. As a result of this, he has never worked in Denmark; neither has his wife who is
suffering from chronic health problems.
The family is very disappointed with the Danish society. There oldest son, who is married to a
woman of Palestinian decent and lives in a flat nearby, was present at the interview. ”It’s a
disgrace,” he said, ”totally ignoring my fathers education and the fact that he was a dentist for
10 years. That really broke him. Danes think that their education system is the only one in the
world that works – they’re ignoramus!”
It turned out that regarding Danes as ignoramus was an important reason for participating in
the interview. Later, when I asked the father to take pictures of his home his first choice of
subject was a giant new TV set. ”I take this picture to illustrate that not all foreigners are
camel herdsmen. I grew up in a big house in Baghdad, and in Jordan we used to live in a flat
similar to this one – I never lived in a tent.”
During most of the interview, the family was explaining and educating the anthropologist.
”This is the sword of Ali. You can tell it by the double point,” the youngest explained as he
showed me a golden sword. ”Feel how heavy it is, it signifies that we are Shiite Muslims”.
Under the surveillance of his father, the young man explained the difference between Shiite
and Sunni. His father, it turned out, was a respected Haj, and when insecure of facts or
differences the son looked at his father who then either nodded approvingly or corrected his
statements.
Unlike the Turkish family the “normal” in the Iraqi/Palestinian family at no point referred to
anything Danish. On the contrary, cooking, eating, praying, cleaning were presented as
something done in specific Shiite, Arabic, Iraqi, Palestinian ways.
I asked if the family had visited any Danish homes. One of the sons (a 21 year old man who
was born and lived his entire life in Denmark) explained that he once visited at fellow student.
“He lived in a big house with a private soccer field in the back yard. There was also a park
with wild deer and rabbits.” “That is the only time I have been to a Danish house.” This
house, it turned out, was situated in the city's richest neighbourhood. Regarding the parents,
neither of them had ever visited a Danish home.
In other words the family did not know much about Danish way of life and it did not seem to
interest them much.
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Integration Through Housing?
Keeping the seventh criterion in mind, this family does not seem integrated. The parents have
never worked. The father has been deprived of his professional status and education. They are
disappointed with and critical of the Danish attitude towards refugees. They do not know any
Danes, and what they seem to emphasize when presenting themselves are their differences
from Danish values and way of life.
Furthermore, they live in a neighbourhood with a very bad reputation. When I told a young
Danish man that I was going to visit a family in Bøgeparken he said, referring to an incident
where a young Palestinian had been murdered, “That’s where they push each other out from
the tall building and where they throw stones at the fire brigade when they show up to put out
a fire.”
In this case there is clearly no Danish form, but does that mean that the family has made no
adjustments to the Danish society? Again an ethnographic analysis reaching beyond the
family's self-concept turns out to show something different.
In public life, the father was considered a burden to the Danish society, and after his
experience with the Danish authorities regarding his education as a dentist, his strategy was to
keep as low a profile as possible. Unlike the Turkish father who by Danish colleagues and
friends was considered an “Employee of the year” and a role model, the Iraqi father did not
seem to have much to offer his children regarding Danish values and norms.
Strangely enough, his three sons were doing very well at school. They were fluent in Danish,
English and Arabic. The eldest was about to hand in his final dissertation on international
marketing at Odense Business School. He was already offered a job at a major
telecommunications company as soon as he had passed his exam. The next son was taking
preparatory courses for a similar study, while the youngest was a high-school student
planning to study English literature at the University of Odense.
In primary and secondary school, the three sons had attended the local school
Humlehaveskolen which statistically is the most multi-ethnic school (80% with another ethnic
background than Danish) in Odense, and has a very low rating with regards to grades
compared to Danish schools in general. Somehow, the sons had managed not only to stay out
of trouble in a rough neighbourhood, but also to beat some heavy statistical odds regarding
education.
A possible explanation was revealed visiting the sons' rooms. Unlike the children's rooms in
the Turkish family the rooms in the Iraqi/Palestinian flat where not used to exhibit individual
taste or merits. They were study chambers. Apart from study books in Danish, English and
Arabic, personal belongings were hidden in cupboards (except for a small shelf exhibiting
deodorants and eau de toilette), there where no posters on the white walls, and the beds were
simple iron beds. The two sons still living in the flat shared a computer. The youngest showed
the web site he had been looking at when I arrived. It was amazon.com where he had been
checking out English novels.
Opposed to religious, recreational and domestic activities mentioned during the interview,
studying as an activity was not introduced as a subject by the members of the family.
Knowledge was one of the few aspects of everyday life that was considered beyond any
ethnic or nationalistic bias. Unlike the Turkish father who spoke of the advantages a course in
planning and organizing would give him in relation to his job, education in the
Iraqi/Palestinian family was related to the individual. The father proudly showed me photos of
himself as a graduated student holding his diploma and a group picture of his fellow students
and teachers at the Dental College in Baghdad. The purpose of this was clearly not showing
what he had achieved in life (as a dentist in Denmark he was a failure), but to give me an
impression of who he was as a person.
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For the three sons, growing up was not a question of studying or not. It was a question of
what to study. What you study becomes part of who you are. This was the attitude the father
brought with him coming to Denmark as a dentist. It was on that basis he was disappointed.
Not with the importance of education and knowledge but with Danish ignorance.
Ignorance had not only deprived him of his profession but also failed to acknowledge him as a
person. In that sense, Denmark was a threat to his self-image. His response had been to
establish a clear distinction between Denmark as the ignorant chaotic outside world and his
flat as an ordered retreat. Outside in Bøgeparken people would get thrown of the rooftops and
stones would get thrown against fire fighters, but inside the sons would study, observed by
their father either nodding approval or correcting errors and misunderstandings.
Where do these observations lead us in relation to the issues of integration and housing?
In the Iraqi/Palestinian case it seems difficult to talk about integration. Nevertheless, the result
of the family's withdrawal from the Danish society is three well-educated young men who in
their future jobs potentially will contribute considerably to the Danish society. Unlike their
parents who have been financial burdens, they are likely to become tax payers with relatively
good salaries. Furthermore, their critical views of Denmark are phrased in fluent Danish and
could become fruitful and nuanced contributions to a discussion of Danish norms and values
(criterion nr. 7).
Concerning housing, the answer is somehow more complex. As I have intended to show in
the two ethnographic cases, form alone is no guarantee for an evaluation of habitation.
In the Turkish example, the home was experienced as a normal Danish home, nevertheless,
the ethnographic analysis called attention to a number of processes obstructing social mobility
and change. In the Iraqi/Palestinian case the case was the exact opposite. Here there was no
Danish form, but, nevertheless, processes leading towards important competences concerning
influence and agency in Denmark.
However, what also appeared in the cases was the extreme importance of form. In both cases,
the particular flats played important roles in organizing social relations and social behavior. In
the Turkish case, the small flat made rupture possible, and in the Iraqi/Palestinian case
physically shutting out ignorance and chaos was a foundation for competence and knowledge.
On form and content.
Det er ikke der det ligger, men der det gribes.
Skelnen mellem form mimesis (opløse form) og preferencer I en os-dem ligger også I
regeringens skelnen. Hvad eksemplerne viser er at vi ved at fokusere på form
Notes:
1) The empirical foundation of this paper is drawn from the project “Integration and
Housing”. The aim of this project is to improve the housing standard of immigrants and
refugees in Denmark by adjusting flats in large scale social housing to various ways of living.
The project is funded by Center for Housing and Welfare, University of Copenhagen and
Realdania.
2) From 1994 to 2003 the Danish government funded a comprehensive research project
aiming at analyzing formal power structures in Denmark. The project known as
“Magtudreningen” (litt. elucidation of power) included researchers form various academic
disciplines and has resulted in numerous reports, books and articles.
3) affiliating with, according with, acknowledging and tolerating are central and frequently
used verbs not only in the mentioned criterion number 7 but throughout the entire document.
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Integration Through Housing?
4) The interviewed persons are asked to take 5 digital photos of their homes. While taking the
pictures they are asked to explain why the motives are chosen.
5) The family the had even been interviewed about their successful integration by a local tvstation.
6) The importance of bread was explained to me when visiting another Turkish family.
According to the wife, being able to serve fresh home-made bread is a matter of being a good
housewife. She explained how she took pride in serving her husband fresh home-made bread
and that her husband would refuse to eat any bread that was not home-made.
References:
Andersen, Hans Skifter: 2006, Etniske minoriteters flytninger og boligvalg – en
registeranalyse, Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut, Hørsholm.
Børresen, Sølvi Karin: 2006, Etniske minoriteters bosætning – hvad viser forskningen, Statens
Byggeforskningsinstitut, Hørsholm.
Hage, Ghassan: 2002, “Citizenship and Honourability: belonging to Australia today”, in Arab
Australians Today, Melbourne University Press.
Indenrigsministeriet: 2001, Udlændinges integration
Indenrigsministeriet (Ministry of the Interior), København.
I
det
danske
samfund,
Mauss, Marcel: 2000 (1924), Gaven. Gaveudvekslingens form og logik i arkaiske.
samfund”, Spektrum, København.
Sjørslev, Inger: 2007, “Integrationens paradoks og den kulturelle træghed”, in red. Olwig &
Pærregaard, Integration, Museum Tusculanums Forlag, København.
Sperber, Dan: 1982 Le savoir des anthropologues, Collection Savoir Hermann, Paris.
Vacher, Mark: 1999, Byen og antropologien, Konferensafhandling indleveret ved Institut for
Etnografi og Socialantropologi, Århus Universitet.
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