A postcolonial genealogical analysis of the differential ordering of humanity in a Danish context from c. 1700-2019, and a discussion of this ordering's influence on contemporary immigration and asylum policy
Author
Rasmussen, Brian Traantoft
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2019
Submitted on
2019-10-15
Pages
81
Abstract
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan en hierarkisk, differentieret orden af menneskelighed er blevet til og forandret i en dansk kontekst fra ca. 1700 til 2019, samt hvordan denne orden påvirker nutidens udlændinge- og asylpolitik. Med et genealogisk design og historiografisk arkivforskning i et postkolonialt perspektiv anvendes Norman Faircloughs kritiske diskursanalyse og begreberne biopolitik og biomagt på et bredt kildemateriale. Analysen begynder i den dansk-norske karibiske plantokrati, hvor enslaverede afrikanere blev varegjort, og hvor en binær kategorisering af hvid/fri/civiliseret versus sort/ufri/uciviliseret blev etableret, men også udfordret og forhandlet gennem import af hvide straffefanger (1672-1685) og en voksende gruppe af sorte fripersoner, ledsaget af regulerende lovgivning frem til emancipationen i 1848. Afhandlingen viser, hvordan denne binære orden via videnskabelig racisme og imperialistiske diskurser udviklede sig til en stratificeret orden baseret på race, etnicitet, civilisationsforestillinger og oprindelsessted, med betydning for danske diskurser om indiske kontraktarbejdere i Dansk Vestindien i 1860’erne, kinesisk immigration i Danmark i 1900-tallet og flygtningekonventionen af 1951. Endelig analyseres udviklingen i dansk udlændinge- og asylpolitik fra 2001 til 2019 inden for rammerne af borgerlig stratificering og stratificerede rettigheder, herunder centrale lovændringer og deres fortolkninger. Afhandlingen argumenterer for, at den differentierede orden af menneskelighed medvirker til at gøre visse mennesker usynlige eller uønskede i det nutidige flygtningeregime ved at udelukke dem fra international beskyttelse, lige adgang til rettigheder eller økonomisk støtte med henvisning til etnicitet, oprindelse eller kultur. Samlet demonstrerer studiet, at en kombination af genealogisk tilgang og postkolonial arkivforskning kan skabe et frugtbart grundlag for debatten om nutidens migrations- og asylpolitik og peger på behovet for videre forskning med tidslige og rumlige perspektiver.
This thesis investigates how a hierarchical, differential ordering of humanity has been produced and transformed in a Danish context from roughly 1700 to 2019, and how this ordering shapes contemporary immigration and asylum policy. Using a genealogical design and historiographic archival research within a postcolonial perspective, it applies Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and the concepts of biopolitics and biopower to diverse sources. The analysis begins in the Danish-Norwegian Caribbean plantocracy, where enslaved Africans were commodified and a binary categorization of white/free/civilized versus black/unfree/uncivilized was established, but also challenged and renegotiated through the importation of white convicts (1672–1685) and a growing population of Black freepersons, alongside regulatory legislation up to emancipation in 1848. It shows how this binary order developed, via scientific racism and imperial discourses, into a stratified ordering based on race, ethnicity, notions of civilization, and place of origin, shaping Danish discourses concerning Indian indentured labor in the Danish West Indies in the 1860s, Chinese immigration in Denmark in the early 1900s, and the 1951 Refugee Convention. Finally, it analyzes developments in Danish immigration and asylum policy from 2001 to 2019 through the lens of civic stratification and stratified rights, including key legislative changes and their interpretations. The thesis argues that this differential ordering contributes to rendering certain people invisible or unwanted in the contemporary refugee regime by excluding them from international protection, equal access to rights, or financial support on the basis of ethnicity, origin, or culture. Overall, it demonstrates that combining a genealogical approach with postcolonial archival research provides a fruitful foundation for debates on current migration and asylum policy and points to the need for further research with spatial and temporal dimensions.
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