The Price of Goodness: Everyday Nationalist Narratives in Denmark

Abstract: One of the most important political issues in Denmark today is the new upsurge of nationalism. This reached its height at the two latest general elections in Denmark, which in many ways struck the left with surprise and shock. The purpose of this paper is to try to make sense of this situation. The paper falls into four parts. After introducing the problem and contextualizing it in the “new” Europe, we provide a short presentation of the theory, methodology and analytical strategy behind the article. In the third section, we identify two conflicting discourses in current Danish debates on this issue. In the fourth section, we argue that in order to understand the present situation, a much more differentiated understanding of nationalism and its (re‐)construction in everyday life is needed. Here such an understanding is pursued on the basis of an interview analysis of narrative constructions of nationalism conducted in a medium‐sized Danish town. This, finally, is taken as the background for discussing the present advancement of nationalism in Denmark as interference between particular and more “universal” factors.     

Resurrections and rebirths: how the Risorgimento shaped modern Italian politics

The Risorgimento was the process of independence and unification of the Italian nation between 1848 and 1860, and has remained a powerful symbol of Italian politics ever since. Elaborating on Jan Assmann’s concept of cultural memory, the article discusses the Risorgimento at crucial moments in twentieth-century Italian politics: the 1911 anniversary of unification, the elaboration of the Risorgimento during fascism, the re-appropriation of the Risorgimento by the left and by the Resistance during the 1930s and 1940s, the general semantic space carved by the post-war democratic forces on both right and left with reference to the Risorgimento, and the sudden return to the memory of the Risorgimento in the 1990s and afterwards. The aim of the article is to understand both continuities and changes in the reference to the Risorgimento in twentieth-century political discourse, and to put into perspective Italy’s ‘particular’ road to modernity within a comparative European frame.     

Kings,chieftains and public cult in pre‐Christian Scandinavia

The article addresses the question of the performance of pre‐Christian public cult by political leaders in early medieval Scandinavia. This question is traditionally discussed within the larger theoretical frame of sacral kingship in early medieval Scandinavia. In this article, the key contemporary evidence is presented and discussed with the conclusion that the sources do not show political leaders performing pre‐Christian public cult. Instead, the evidence shows that political leaders participated in private religious rituals whose performance, however, was not connected with political leadership per se.     

World Heritage List: does it make sense?

The UNESCO World Heritage List contains the 900 most treasured sites of humanity's culture and landscapes. This List is beneficial where heritage sites are undetected, disregarded by national decision‐makers, not commercially exploitable, and where national financial resources, political control, and technical knowledge for conservation are inadequate. Alternatives such as market and national conservation lists are more beneficial where the cultural and natural sites are already popular, markets work well, and where inclusion in the List does not raise the destruction potential by excessive tourism, and in times of war, or by terrorists.     

Domestic slave trading in St. Croix, 1764–1848

This article deals with domestic slave trading in the Danish (-Norwegian) West Indian colony of St. Croix, focusing on enslaved labourers sold as chattel. It examines the volume and price developments, building upon data on thousands of sales. Crucian slaveholders were willing participants in the domestic slave market, especially during the market’s peak period, c. 1767–1823. Some of them did make a profit from speculation, although evidence of large-scale, professional entrepreneurs is absent. The closing of the transatlantic slave trade did not lead to rising slave prices in the short term, but in the long run it was an important factor in the decline of the market. Finally, the article discusses the impact of the market on enslaved Crucians and their masters, as well as their respective strategies for dealing with it.