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Med historien som kulisse - forestillinger om Dansk Vestindien 1905 - 2003.

Halberg, Rikke LU (2015) HISP01 20151
History
Abstract
This thesis examines ideas and representations on the Danish West Indies as they have been performed in a Danish context between 1905 and 2003, and looks into a series of questions regarding this: What is being represented in the empirical material and how does it relate to the historical and social context it was produced within? How are Danes and Afro-Caribbeans respectively represented in the material and which terms, artifacts and feelings are used to
describe these groups? What signs of continuity and discontinuity in the representations of the Danish West Indies can be traced in the material? In order to answer these questions, the thesis includes an analysis of six historical representations, all originally aimed at reaching a
... (More)
This thesis examines ideas and representations on the Danish West Indies as they have been performed in a Danish context between 1905 and 2003, and looks into a series of questions regarding this: What is being represented in the empirical material and how does it relate to the historical and social context it was produced within? How are Danes and Afro-Caribbeans respectively represented in the material and which terms, artifacts and feelings are used to
describe these groups? What signs of continuity and discontinuity in the representations of the Danish West Indies can be traced in the material? In order to answer these questions, the thesis includes an analysis of six historical representations, all originally aimed at reaching a
wide audience. The first representation is Koloniudstillingen, the Colonial Exhibition in Tivoli, Copenhagen, in 1905 where aspects of the Danish West Indies were exhibited. The second representation is combined of Sophie Helweg-Larsen’s memoirs from 1940 Sollyse Minder fra Tropeegne der var danske (”Sunlit memories of tropical areas that were Danish”) and a short story written by Helweg-Larsen as well. The third representation is an exhibition
by the National Museum in Copenhagen from 1967, Tre vestindiske stuer (“Three West Indian Rooms”). In 1970, Thorkild Hansen published Slavernes øer (“Islands of the Slaves”) and in 1987 the movie “Peter von Scholten” premieres. Lastly, the advent calendar Nissernes ø ("Island of the elves") was shown on Danmarks Radio (Danish Broadcasting Corporation)
aired on national television in 2003 and 2008. The theoretical framework is based on theorists who have worked with collective memory and/or post-colonialism. Maurice Halbwachs and his ideas on collective memory are introduced, and elaborated by incorporating Hayden White’s ideas on the modernist event, Paul Gilroy’s ideas on postcolonial melancholia and
Jeffrey K. Olick’s ideas on historical responsibility. The framework serves to explain and understand the mechanisms behind the representations and thus becomes integrated in the methodological framework of the thesis as well. The result is that very little has happened in the way the Danish West Indies is represented from 1905 to 2003. Afro-Caribbean voices are almost entirely excluded from the representations, even in the more recent ones. The story is
continuously told from a white, European perspective, it silences the problematic parts of the history and fails to present a nuanced, responsible version of the past. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Halberg, Rikke LU
supervisor
organization
course
HISP01 20151
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Danish West Indies Colonialism Postcolonial melancholy Museum exhibitions Representation
language
Danish
id
7767330
date added to LUP
2015-12-11 09:17:39
date last changed
2015-12-11 09:17:39
@misc{7767330,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines ideas and representations on the Danish West Indies as they have been performed in a Danish context between 1905 and 2003, and looks into a series of questions regarding this: What is being represented in the empirical material and how does it relate to the historical and social context it was produced within? How are Danes and Afro-Caribbeans respectively represented in the material and which terms, artifacts and feelings are used to
describe these groups? What signs of continuity and discontinuity in the representations of the Danish West Indies can be traced in the material? In order to answer these questions, the thesis includes an analysis of six historical representations, all originally aimed at reaching a
wide audience. The first representation is Koloniudstillingen, the Colonial Exhibition in Tivoli, Copenhagen, in 1905 where aspects of the Danish West Indies were exhibited. The second representation is combined of Sophie Helweg-Larsen’s memoirs from 1940 Sollyse Minder fra Tropeegne der var danske (”Sunlit memories of tropical areas that were Danish”) and a short story written by Helweg-Larsen as well. The third representation is an exhibition
by the National Museum in Copenhagen from 1967, Tre vestindiske stuer (“Three West Indian Rooms”). In 1970, Thorkild Hansen published Slavernes øer (“Islands of the Slaves”) and in 1987 the movie “Peter von Scholten” premieres. Lastly, the advent calendar Nissernes ø ("Island of the elves") was shown on Danmarks Radio (Danish Broadcasting Corporation)
aired on national television in 2003 and 2008. The theoretical framework is based on theorists who have worked with collective memory and/or post-colonialism. Maurice Halbwachs and his ideas on collective memory are introduced, and elaborated by incorporating Hayden White’s ideas on the modernist event, Paul Gilroy’s ideas on postcolonial melancholia and
Jeffrey K. Olick’s ideas on historical responsibility. The framework serves to explain and understand the mechanisms behind the representations and thus becomes integrated in the methodological framework of the thesis as well. The result is that very little has happened in the way the Danish West Indies is represented from 1905 to 2003. Afro-Caribbean voices are almost entirely excluded from the representations, even in the more recent ones. The story is
continuously told from a white, European perspective, it silences the problematic parts of the history and fails to present a nuanced, responsible version of the past.}},
  author       = {{Halberg, Rikke}},
  language     = {{dan}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Med historien som kulisse - forestillinger om Dansk Vestindien 1905 - 2003.}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}