From Integration to Deportation: Grammars of Selves and Exogenous “Others” in the State of Denmark and Beyond

Following the so-called “paradigm shift” in Danish refugee policy in 2019, the previous ambition of “integration” was replaced by a state strategy of revocation and deportation. This article suggests that the political change reflects the development of a particular “grammar of identity,” where refu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social analysis 2023-09, Vol.67 (3), p.1-25
Main Author: Rytter, Mikkel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambition
Annihilation
Anthropology
Baumann, Gerd
Camps
Danish language
Deportation
Emigration and immigration law
Ethnic identity
Grammar
Immigrants
Immigration policy
Minority & ethnic groups
Political asylum
Political change
Politics
Prime ministers
Realism
Refugees
Repatriation
Revocation
Society
Welfare state
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Summary:Following the so-called “paradigm shift” in Danish refugee policy in 2019, the previous ambition of “integration” was replaced by a state strategy of revocation and deportation. This article suggests that the political change reflects the development of a particular “grammar of identity,” where refugees are viewed as exogenous “others” who are neither seen nor recognized as part of the Danish nation and welfare state. The grammar tends to cast externalization as a reasonable and necessary solution to current challenges—best illustrated by the utopic–dystopic vision of sending asylum-seekers off to camps in Rwanda. Finally, the article discusses the risk of the current grammar transmuting into an “anti-grammar” of ethnic annihilation by means of externalization and deportation.
ISSN:0155-977X
1558-5727
DOI:10.3167/sa.2023.670301