Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter
Translated title
Indtil løverne har deres egne historikere, vil jagtens historie altid ære jægeren
Author
Harboe, Ruben Oliver Rostrup
Term
4. term
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-01-04
Pages
85
Abstract
This thesis examines why and how successive Danish governments have denied political and moral responsibility for transitional justice toward the U.S. Virgin Islands (formerly the Danish West Indies), and how counter-narratives have resisted that denial. The study is situated in memory politics and transitional justice and uses Shaul R. Shenhav’s framework for social narrative analysis. Methodologically, it conducts a thin analysis of 1917–2016 to trace persistent denial, followed by a thick analysis of three events in 2017, 2018, and 2020: the Freedom statue sent from the USVI, the collaborative “I am Queen Mary” statue, and the Black Lives Matter mobilization. The analysis addresses both denial and resistance to denial, including the often overlooked role of observers/bystanders. The thesis concludes that the Freedom statue (2017) and “I am Queen Mary” (2018) challenged hegemonic Danish colonial narratives by highlighting inadequate teaching about Denmark’s colonial history and the need for an official apology for 250 years of slavery. The BLM narrative challenged the same narratives through three core elements: dismantling statues that represent white supremacy; asserting the presence of structural racism in Denmark today; and calling for a new museum of colonial history. The latter aligns with the statues’ emphasis on education gaps, suggesting that recent social mobilizations and commemorations have created openings to debate historical injustices and possible pathways to transitional justice.
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvorfor og hvordan successive danske regeringer har nægtet politisk og moralsk ansvar for overgangsretfærdighed over for U.S. Virgin Islands (tidligere Dansk Vestindien), og hvordan modfortællinger har modvirket denne fornægtelse. Studiet er forankret i feltet hukommelsespolitik og overgangsretfærdighed og anvender Shaul R. Shenhavs ramme for social narrativanalyse. Metodisk gennemføres en tynd analyse af perioden 1917–2016 for at kortlægge vedvarende fornægtelse, efterfulgt af en tyk analyse af tre begivenheder i 2017, 2018 og 2020: Freedom-statuen sendt fra USVI, den samarbejdsskabte statue “I am Queen Mary”, og mobiliseringen omkring Black Lives Matter. Analysen fokuserer både på fornægtelse og på modstand mod fornægtelse, herunder den ofte oversete rolle som iagttagere/bystandere. Afhandlingen konkluderer, at Freedom-statuen (2017) og “I am Queen Mary” (2018) udfordrede hegemoniske danske kolonihistoriske narrativer ved at pege på mangelfuld undervisning om Danmarks kolonihistorie og på behovet for en officiel undskyldning for 250 års slaveri. BLM-narrativet udfordrede de samme narrativer med tre kerneelementer: nedtagning af statuer, der repræsenterer hvid overhøjhed; argumentet om strukturel racisme i Danmark i dag; samt behovet for et nyt kolonihistorisk museum. Det sidste element overlapper med statuernes fokus på utilstrækkelig undervisning, hvilket understreger, at nyere sociale mobiliseringer og mindebegivenheder har åbnet vinduer for debat om historiske uretfærdigheder og mulige veje til overgangsretfærdighed.
[This apstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]