The Year of Living Danishly is a memoir by Helen Russell, depicting her year-long journey living in Denmark. She was thirty-three years old and generally unhappy living in London when her husband (whom she affectionately calls “Lego Man”), was offered a job working for Lego in Jutland. She discovers that it is statistically considered the happiest place on earth and decides this is the perfect opportunity to find out why. Over the course of her first year there, she breaks her new knowledge down into what she learns each month, and pairs it with advice for readers outside the country. In the end, she and her husband (and newborn baby) decide that they can’t imagine going back to London and begin the rest of their lives in Denmark.
Russell does a fantastic job in this work analyzing the cultural differences she noticed between England and Denmark, and even made several comparisons to America as well. While she does give some useful advice as to how we could all “live Danishly”, there were many aspects of her discoveries that displayed deeply ingrained systematic differences rather than personal changes. In Denmark, human rights have taken priority for a long time. To name a few policies, they experience free-health care, free education including university, and a thirty-four hour work weeks with an emphasis on “work-life” balance. Russell’s readers are really forced to think about how their own government’s systematic policies could be impacting their happiness.
When I read The Year of Living Danishly earlier this spring, I immediately thought of Adichie’s idea of a single story. Personally, my single story regarding Denmark was rather minimal. I had heard that it was the happiest country before, but I knew very little about the country, its’ culture, or its’ government. I think Russell’s message is very similar to that of Adichie’s, emphasizing how much we overlook when we let ourselves feel satisfied by the single stories we hear about other cultures. Her enthralling analysis in The Year of Living Danishly is a great example of how much we could stand to learn and gain when we open our minds to other cultures and their stories.
Sophie: Hi guys, my name is Sophie Ireton, and I have a special guest with me today. I’m actually sitting here with my fiancée Sarah Wood. Hi Sarah!
Sarah: Hi!
Sophie: So the reason I brought Sarah on here today is that she and I recently moved to a new apartment and we’ve been witnessing something going on since then that I thought might be pertinent to discuss. So Sarah can you tell me a little bit about what happened?
Sarah: Yeah, um, so like Sophie said we moved to a new apartment in -around the end of January so we’ve been here for a couple months and when we moved we noticed that the people to the left of us and to the right of us they’re both pretty loud. I think the walls might be kind of thin but we can just hear them throughout the day. They’re just pretty noisy. And then we’ve been noticing that a couple times now that the police have been called on the people to the right of us and there have been some noise complaints against them.
Sophie: What we found was interesting, what we thought might make this worth discussing is that that family on the right, um, they are black and the family on the left is white. It starts to make you think you know about what may be causing that. So, you know, in your opinion, Sarah what do you, why do you think we’re seeing this this disparity in the police response to these, these two noisy apartments?
Sarah: I think the reason we’re seeing the difference between the response of the people on the right of us and the left, like Sophie said the people on the right are black. I think it has a lot to do with the town that we live in, in it’s kind of a small town. Um, there’s not a lot of diversity in the town we live in. It’s primarily white and from what we’ve noticed the couple times the police have come is that the police officers are white. So, I think it just has to do with it, um, how like not diverse the town is I would say, and I think it is some racism, whether it’s intended or not against that family.
Sophie: Yeah, and I’ve -we’ve actually had some issues with the unit behind us as well and this is when I first started really thinking about how this could be more than just, you know, upset neighbors, potentially racist neighbors, you know it could be something to do with the police force itself is because you know these people behind us we’ve had some issues with them. Um, I think most of the problems that they have it’s not so much noise it’s more like drug related issues and some actual illegal stuff. It’s important to emphasize, you know this family that keeps having the cops called on them on the right of us they’re not doing anything like illegal or dangerous they just seem to be loud, whereas this family, um, behind us, we’ve never really seen them or seen what’s going on with them but we actually were told by our land manager that that the cops were aware of them.
Sophie: So, because this is a small area, um the fact that they can have so many issues with people behind us they actually seem to know these people tells me, you know, well they’re showing up to this family to the right of us, you know, multiple times. It’s been several times since we moved in that we’ve seen them show up there. They may actually have, you know that visual representation when they’re thinking about noise complaints, are thinking about particular units. It may be, you know, the bias might begin before they even show up at the front door because they might actually know who these people are. It’s hard not to see this situation and not think that there might be something more going on there.
Sophie: You know, Sarah and I, we grew up in a predominantly white area, and an area that we didn’t really have to witness this very often you know you grow up and you, you try to keep yourself aware and informed and you try to believe what you’re hearing but we did grow up with a lot of privilege in that we didn’t have to experience that ourselves but we also didn’t have to witness it, you know, being experienced. I think it’s, you know, now being in the position that I am where I can notice these situations and try to think okay well what could be going on there, I think says everything about what we need to do, you know, as American citizens you know we need to keep ourselves not just informed on what’s going on but try to stay aware of it, try to see when this stuff happens, you know? Sarah what why do you think these situations occur? What do you think is going on in general that situations like this happens so frequently?
Sarah: I think in this situation and others like it I think a lot of it has to do with bias, and the labels that are put on people. So, you know, different minorities have different labels and though some are considered better than others I would say that they’re still putting people in a box. So, with black people, and from the BLM movement, um, especially gaining traction in the last year, I’ve noticed that the label put on black people I, I’ve noticed two but the first one is that they’re dangerous or aggressive and then the second is up they’re loud. So, like Sophie said I’m not sure if the police officers now because they’ve responded to that house a couple times to the right of us with the noise complaint, if they know or if there’s a file or something like that and they know the people they’re going to go check on is a black family or not, but I think a lot of it just has to do with those labels and people are put in those boxes. So, I think that really affects how often the police are called on them and the response once the police are here.
Sophie: Right. I think it also, you know, we rent at this apartment complex. You know they -It may just be an angry neighbor, you know, like we’ve clarified it may just be you know a racist angry neighbor and they might just be lashing out. I know in America, we, we grow up with this kind of, you know, blind patriotism that we’re taught you know America is perfect. There’s nothing wrong with us. It’s not until you get older and you start to really pay attention to the world around you that you start to realize the kind of issues that we have here systematically, and someone who’s, you know, as white people we hold a lot of privilege and we grew up with a lot of privilege, and it can be, you know, much easier to lash out at -at others or blame others or, you know, deny than it is to have these hard conversations you know listen to these, you know, black and minority voices and believe them.
Sophie: But what makes this so dangerous is that, you know, we may ignore something because we don’t want to believe it and then we may, you know, live without awareness, um, as I’m thinking this neighbor does as I think maybe this police force does. You may not even realize that you’re holding biases but then suddenly you’ve called the cops on, you know, a noisy neighbor a few times and maybe it didn’t it didn’t really need to happen. And suddenly a family, maybe loses their home or their job or you know what we’ve, we’ve been made very aware of recently is that there can be very dangerous anytime that there is police interaction, especially in a predominantly white area like we’re in, especially in an area that’s, you know, known to be not very kind to minorities like we’re in, it can be incredibly dangerous every time, you know, black families, particularly black men have to deal with the cops. Um, so like what, what do you think that we can do you know as white women as you know citizens in America, what do you think that we can do to try and help and try to, you know, better this country?
Sarah: I think like you said, we just need to be better about keeping ourselves educated on the issues that other groups face other minorities, other genders face. Just keep yourself educated on that, but I think also, we just need to let the little things go like in the case of our neighbors. Like Sophie was saying it doesn’t seem like they’re doing anything illegal. They’re not being disrespectfully loud. I have before heard the people behind us walking up the stairs because they’re creaky. So, I think we just need to like give people a little break and think about what is the worst case that could come out of this. So, like she was saying the worst case could be that these people have to move, um, move homes and that could affect you know their income, it could affect their happiness all these sorts of things. So, I think at the end of the day we just need to kind of step back and think about what could happen-
Sophie: Right.
Sarah: if you do this.
Sophie: Yeah, I think, I think you brought up a really good point towards the end there, sorry I kind of jumped in, because it’s, it’s important to know, you know, letting those little things go in, in that if you – Even if you’re unaware of yourself holding bias, you can make yourself aware of, okay, I am calling the cops on a noisy neighbor and it makes -it’d be easy to feel very justified in doing that, you know, they keep me up all the time it can be easy to get angry and easy to lash out in those ways but calling the cops on a noisy white neighbor is not the same thing as calling the cops on a noisy black neighbor and unfortunately in America that’s just how things are, you know? Likely the worst case scenario we call the cops on a noisy white neighbor, they get maybe a slap on the wrist you know it takes a lot of interaction for things really serious to occur there. If we call the cops on an angry black neighbor, you know, if you know a black man opens the door, you know, it could end up being a very dangerous situation and is that noise complaint, really worth it? Especially to the degree that we’ve been noticing that them calling the cops on this family, you know having awareness is concerned to, to prevent situations like that from happening at least as frequently as they do. You know, a few months ago I watched a TED talk by a Nigerian writer. Her name is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and she, she talks about the concept of a single story, which is, you know, her example was as Americans, we have a single story of Africa we think of poverty, we think of struggle and it makes it really easy for us to hold on to biases and deny you know maybe biases that we have for, you know, Africans because we hold this single story and we have stories like this, about, you know, many more minorities many other countries we have a single story about ourselves that we’re very patriot-, like, we’re very patriotic we’re very perfect we’re not, you know, we’re the land of the free and I think a very important thing that we can do as Americans as we grow up, is to try to become aware of the systematic racism of the systematic injustices that we have in our country, and know that growing up in the system these stories that we that we hear they’re not always correct and they’re definitely not the only one. You know being aware of this and trying to learn more about others, learn more stories, keep yourselves aware, you know let black and minority voices be heard and then believe them.
Sophie: So all right, it seems like that’s all the time we have today. I just want to reiterate, to our audience that you know Sarah and I were not personally impacted by racism in a negative way. We are both white, so we can’t really begin to fully understand and comprehend, you know, everything that’s happening how it feels and the lessons we need to be taking from this. So, I want to emphasize the importance of doing your own research, research doing your own learning. You know, if there is anything we said or discussed that you feel is incorrect or missed the mark or you just have something to add please feel free to comment. Let us know and keep the conversation going. Um, we really look forward to seeing you all next time!
An example of systematic injustices that we are seeing currently is the increased frequency of attacks on Asian Americans. While racism has existed in America throughout its’ history, attacks on Asian American people has increased significantly within the last year as a result of COVID-19. Our government did not handle this pandemic as well as it could’ve, but due to a combination of racism and sometimes blind patriotism it has proven very hard as a country to accept our own failures. Instead, many individuals have been looking elsewhere to place the blame. Because the virus may have begun in China, this has generated an incredibly dangerous environment for Asian individuals in this country. Over the last year, countless attacks have taken place, largely uncovered by the media. Things proved to have gotten significantly worse just over a week ago, when eight individuals (six of which were Asian women) were left dead after a man opened fire in an Atlanta spa.
These attacks in themselves are an injustice, spurred on by systematic racism in America, but the lack of media attention alone is very telling. Had it been white individuals being attacked, it is not hard to guess that these stories would be all over the news. Every day we hear stories about white victims of both major and minor crimes. However, it was not until a major public shooting occurred that I saw anything consistent in the media about these increased attacks on Asian Americans. Because America is systematically racist, it does not want to face news that confirms that fact. And so, events like these are sadly under reported.
Earlier this spring, we learned the concet of a “single story” as described by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. While she was referring primarily to the story Americans and Europeans hold of Africa and its’ nations, this concept also applies to the biases we hold for ourselves as well. The media in America only consistently covers the news they believe the public wants to hear. As a result, we see many stories every day that perpetuate systematic racism and covers up the tragic results. White children grow up in America being taught one single story: that America is the best country in the world. We grow up believing that we are the land of the free and that everyone is incredibly lucky to be here. We learn very little of America’s truths; of how we actually treated the native people when we arrived on this continent and how we’ve continued to treat minorities ever since. Only by breaking through this single vision we have of America can we begin to contribute to its’ growth. As Americans, it is our job to keep ourselves aware of what really happens in our country, especially if we dream of one day eliminating these systematic injustices all together.
In his book, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe tells the story of a Nigerian man in the 1890’s, during the time of British imperialism in Nigeria. Imperialism in Africa was the source of much conflict and was responsible for significant damage to the cultures and economies there that are still seen today. Colonialism of Nigeria, specifically, began as a means to secure raw materials and goods needed by the British for industrialization (Ikponmwosa 20). British forces did not intend to stay in Nigeria and so did not establish any industry or means of production that would survive beyond their occupation. Instead, they took any materials they could acquire and immediately shipped them out of the country. This left heavy tolls on the economy of Nigeria, which had a wealth in handcrafting skills. These skills generated enormous potential for Nigeria’s own industrialization and growth, however when the British began stealing their resources, they lost the ability to produce their products and were left significantly disadvantaged (Ikponmwosa 21).
In addition to draining material resources, British imperialization also brought significant conflict, both with Nigerian communities and between them. An example of this can be seen in the story of the Aguleri and Umuleri communities. These two communities reside in the Anambra state of Nigeria, and had not been known to have any conflicts previous to colonial rule. However, when British soldiers imperialized a nearby city of Otu-Ocha, that city became an economic hub. It was a trade center for all nearby communities, including Aguleri and Umuleri. As the importance of Otu-Ocha grew, so too did the nearby land. With this came fierce competition, and so the two communities entered into conflict. After the British arrived in Otu-Ocha, Aguleri and Umuleri engaged in a number of strikes against one another, causing significant tension and open war. In 1993, one hundred years after the British arrived in Nigeria and over thirty years after they gained their independence in 1960, Aguleri and Umuleri had their first full-blown war on record (Ibenwa and Uroko, 3). This is just one example of many Nigerian and African conflicts that began through British influence and still remain today.
Although they have since gained their independence, the people of Nigeria are still living with devastating consequences initiated by colonial rule. Imperialism is a form of governance in which the colonized nations are given no choice or defense against the decisions made by the colonizing nation, and so suffer a range of injustices and violence. This type of governing without consent was woven into the fabric of some Nigerian communities. After independence was gained, new governments began popping up which operated under similar regimes (Yusuf 257). The people of Nigeria currently still live under a number of certain conflicts and difficulties, both in their economies and their government. The source of many of these conflicts can be traced directly back to the consequences and influence of British colonialism.
Works Cited
Ibenwa, Christopher N., and Favour Chukwuemeka Uroko. “Discourse Analysis of Religion and Inter-Communal Conflicts and Its Causes in Nigeria.” Hervormde Teologiese Studies, vol. 76, no. 4, 2020, pp. 1–7. EBSCOhost, doi:10.4102/hts.v76i4.5617.
Ikponmwosa, Frank. “Colonialism and Industrial Development in Benin Province, Nigeria.” Romanian Journal of Historical Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, Sept. 2020, pp. 20–29. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.4cc7ebabf3e477e908bc62995da3e1a&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Yusuf, Hakeem O. “Colonialism and the Dilemmas of Transitional Justice in Nigeria.” International Journal of Transitional Justice, vol. 12, no. 2, July 2018, pp. 257–276. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijy006.
