Festival as Embodied Encounters: OnKulturhavnin Copenhagen

Abstract

The paper is part of a research project on Paradoxical spaces: Encountering the Other in public space which explores how cultural difference is experienced, practiced and negotiated in public space. Specifically, this paper explores the yearly 'multicultural' festival Kulturhavn taking place along the harbour of Copenhagen. Multicultural festivals can be seen as places for ongoing identity negotiations, where individuals and groups define meaningful concepts of identity along with notions of exclusion (Duffy 2005). In the paper, we adopt a performative approach abandoning the distinction between bodies and space and embracing ideas of 'embodiment' and 'rhythm'. We explore participant engagement emphasizing bodily practices as well as sensuous experiences, but also differential processes and orientalist images produced in, and through, encounters. Among the wide range of activities at the festival, we focus on three: food; dance; and taekwondo. The methods in use are participant observation, including use of the researcher body, and different kinds of interviews.

Strategic Solidarities: Cultural Festivals, Relational Encounters and Diasporic Youth Identities

“…Cultural festivals therefore could provide a space where practices, experiences and legacies of marginality might engender different sites of political struggle, which in turn shape, contest and disrupt normative citizenship as it is practised and conceptualised (Turner, 2016). In the following section we examine previous literature on solidarities and cross-cultural interactions at festivals (Simonsen, et al, 2017).…”

“…Yet the prevailing focus of prior research has been upon adult experiences of cultural festivals, often ignoring experiences of young participants. In addition, festivals have often been overlooked as sites of mixing, conviviality and cultural and cross-cultural encounters (Moroşanu, 2018;Simonsen, Koefoed, & de Neergaard, 2017).…”

“…The paper begins by reviewing theories of solidarity and we position our approach among others who seek to examine more active and political constructions of solidarities (Bauder, 2020;Featherstone, 2012). We then examine how theories of solidarity have previously been applied to cultural festivals and consider how festivals can provide opportunities for the transformation of attitudes toward the self, as well as the 'other' (Lee, et al, 2012;Simonsen et al, 2017). We introduce the three youth-focused festivals in Aotearoa New Zealand which were the focus of this research (the ASB Polyfest in Auckland, and Tu Tagata and Northern Regional Polyfest in Wellington) and describe how we conducted our primarily ethnographic research.…”

‘You feel you’re not alone’: how multicultural festivals foster social sustainability through multiple psychological sense of community

“…Such festivals play important social roles in different societies. They are known to create a platform for uniting people and supporting common experiences (Koefoed et al, 2020;Simonsen et al, 2017). They provide a means of sharing and enhancing social and cultural value by helping to revive and maintain traditional cultures (Buch et al, 2011;Savinovic et al, 2012).…”

A very Nordic set of concerns?

“…Against this backdrop of urban fragmentation, recent work also interrogates the possibilities for urban conviviality. Gressgård and Jensen (2016) examine Nordic urban planning to support ethnic pluralism, while various scholars explore particular settings that either facilitate cross-ethnic cohesion or highlight inter-ethnic friction, from parks and other public spaces (Jacob & Hellström, 2010;Kuurne & Gómez, 2019;Lapiņa, 2016;Mouratidis & Poortinga, 2020;Pries & Jönsson, 2019;Simonsen et al, 2017;Stanfield & van Riemsdijk, 2019;Thörn, 2012;Trandberg Jensen & Jensen, forthcoming), to schools (Sernhede, 2018), to friendship networks and moments of urban mobilization (Andersen, 2019;Hansen, 2020;Keskinen et al, 2019;Merrill & Pries, 2019). One particular district of Copenhagen has received extensive scholarly attention: the "freetown" of Christiania was established in the 1970s by activists seeking a space "autonomous" from overweening state regulation, but has been subjected over the last 20 years to various attempts at "normalization", which have been studied for their impacts on equity, surveillance, and integration (Amouroux, 2009;Coppola & Vanolo, 2015;Jarvis, 2013;Ntounis & Kanellopoulou, 2017;Rannila & Repo, 2018;Winter, 2016).…”