Samfundssind, Muslim immigrants and suspicious solidarity in Denmark
Mikkel Rytter (2023) At the borders of the coroNATION: samfundssind, Muslim immigrants and suspicious solidarity in Denmark. Ethnic and Racial Studies, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2177119
Abstract: Muslim immigrants are vulnerable to COVID-19. They are not only at risk being infected due to extended households and frontline jobs, but they are also vulnerable to moral panics, stigmatization and corona-racism. When Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen in March 2020 closed down society, she appealed to the samfundssind (civic consciousness) of all citizens in Denmark, as a means to fight the invisible enemy of the global pandemic. The idea of samfundssind outlined a moral community between those citizens who did their best to follow the instructions of the authorities and those who deliberately ignored them. This article discusses the establishment of “Taskforce COVID-19”, an ad hoc network of Danish-Pakistanis that in 2020–21 collaborated with municipalities and different health authorities in order to fight the virus. However, despite their aspiration to be accepted and included in the collective of citizens exhibiting samfundssind their efforts were questioned and regarded with suspicion.