Majority Culture over the Minority Culture
NEW STUDENTS IN THE CLASS
In Denmark, you earn much more as a salesperson if you are named Kasper or Katrine than Amir or Fatima. Why? Because in Denmark, people favour the majority culture over the minority culture, a new Danish study concludes.
Is DENMARK STILL a fairytale COUNTRY?
By MATHILDE WEIRSØE
Recently, a couple of young telephone salespersons from a major Danish newspaper revealed that their boss had asked them to introduce themselves as Kasper and Katrine, even though they are actually named Amir and Fatima. Why? Because sales are presumably better, if it is a young man or woman with a Danish-sounding name on the line when Mrs. Jensen is to be persuaded to subscribe to the newspaper. But why do Amir and Fatima go along with introducing themselves under aliases? And how does this fit with the picture many people have of Denmark as a tolerant and open society? False advertising – that is what one expert in the field says. Christian Horst is an associate professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, and a researcher in Educational Responses to Ethnic Complexity in Education. He is behind the Danish contribution to the international project on multicultural education, which the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) presented in the fall of 2010. The transnational project provides a state-of-the-art picture of how things stand with multicultural education in selected countries all over the world – including Denmark. Multicultural teaching has a low priority In Denmark, multicultural teaching still has a low priority, the Danish national report concludes. In fact, the terms ‘multicultural’ and ‘intercultural’ cannot be found in any Danish legislation or steering documents in the area of education.
22 EDUCATION ALLIANCE MAGAZINE
Why? According to Christian Horst, it has to do with the hegemonic discourse that articulates Danish culture as the most important and, at the same time, precludes other
In Denmark, you earn much more as a salesperson if you are named Kasper or Katrine than Amir or Fatima. Why? Because in Denmark, people favour the majority culture over the minority culture, a new Danish study concludes.
Is DENMARK STILL a fairytale COUNTRY?
By MATHILDE WEIRSØE
Recently, a couple of young telephone salespersons from a major Danish newspaper revealed that their boss had asked them to introduce themselves as Kasper and Katrine, even though they are actually named Amir and Fatima. Why? Because sales are presumably better, if it is a young man or woman with a Danish-sounding name on the line when Mrs. Jensen is to be persuaded to subscribe to the newspaper. But why do Amir and Fatima go along with introducing themselves under aliases? And how does this fit with the picture many people have of Denmark as a tolerant and open society? False advertising – that is what one expert in the field says. Christian Horst is an associate professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, and a researcher in Educational Responses to Ethnic Complexity in Education. He is behind the Danish contribution to the international project on multicultural education, which the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) presented in the fall of 2010. The transnational project provides a state-of-the-art picture of how things stand with multicultural education in selected countries all over the world – including Denmark. Multicultural teaching has a low priority In Denmark, multicultural teaching still has a low priority, the Danish national report concludes. In fact, the terms ‘multicultural’ and ‘intercultural’ cannot be found in any Danish legislation or steering documents in the area of education.
22 EDUCATION ALLIANCE MAGAZINE
Why? According to Christian Horst, it has to do with the hegemonic discourse that articulates Danish culture as the most important and, at the same time, precludes other