Loved it! Also, Norway and Norwegians love to think of themselves as very green. Well, their country is, while they destroy others countries' nature. I once told a Norwegian friend about a oil operation in Brazilian Amazon and how it leaked and polluted many rivers. She had no idea.
People in rich countries can only have a good life with many rights, because they explore the work and resources from poor countries. It is as simple as that.
So true! I come across this mentality a lot, both online and when travelling and meeting others who live in the west. Lots of people will blame developing countries for not being “green,” but realistically, the reason they’re not “green” is because they’re producing the billions of home+clothing items that we in the west mindlessly purchase. Thank you Luiza:)
mega yes. Or you take Canada who is literally exporting its garbage for processing in poorer countries, but then when it arrives it turns out to not be the promised recyclable quality, and then we're like 'look they're burning trash.' Like IT'S YOUR TRASH, LINDA!!
Thank you so much for this piece and the very necessary reminder that it serves. I think about how when I quoted two pieces from Powers in one of my own, as an Indian (a post colonial country rising tall now) - I’m so used to be agreeing with part of the story because I rarely ever hear the full story that reflects my world. So good at acclimating we have become. Your piece reminds us how there is SO much more to the story. It also reminds me of how Americans love to emulate the French (French girl makeup! French girl non chalance! Raise your kids like the French!) meanwhile generations of Americans have been raised by African American women, doing the hard work. Anyhoo, loved this, thanks!
This comment hits me so hard, Manasa. I’ve caught myself doing the same, just taking things at face value when I’m presented with the idea of European utopias. It takes constant interrogation to to start thinking outside that mentality.
Regarding childcare in the US, you’re so so right. I never even considered that aspect! It’s so sad to value a random European country’s culture over the culture of the woman who cared for your child every day :(
This article made my heart glad. I read those idyllic pieces and the first thing I wonder about is how the BIPOC people are treated. Because let’s face it, when reading those, in your minds eye, you visualize white people enjoying all the benefits. By default. But as a person of color, you just know better. Those articles are kind of depressing if you think too much into it. Which, if you are a BIPOC, you will.
So I’m currently living my American “hygge” life in a grassroots way, trying to improve my immediate community in hopes that it will ripple out.
But this post got you a subscriber, sweets, cuz you’re something special. 💛💛
Ashe thank you 😭 this is so sweet. It's so true, that's what I see in my mind's eye as well when I read those essays. I love that outlook -- I want to be more present and engaged in my community too this year.
I traveled to Denmark last year and spoke to a few afghan immigrants who shared this same experience with discrimination and racism both from the community as well as the systems. One young man, at 18, shared his hopes to leave the country after university. It was heartbreaking but very eye opening to have these conversations during my travels and speaks very much to what you share. I will also share that an American friend of mine moved to Sweden and found it near impossible to get a job due to not speaking the language or being a citizen.
I worked in Copenhagen. I’m a black American woman and it was hard. I saw personally the disdain, arrogance, and bigotry exhibited towards Turkish Danes, not to mention Afghani Danes. Denmark is lovely if you’re European-descended! 🤓
loved that piece, as a black frenchie aslo coming from a country colonized and destabilized by France , i became tired of those pieces about " how to eat like a french woman" a long time ago.
exactement, blanche, parisienne, mince, un peu bourgeoise, un style vestimentaire bobo/bcbg mdr ça fait longtemps que j'ai arrêté de rouler des yeux même
Thank you so much Phayvanh. I’m checking out your work right now, I’m fascinated to hear your take about a neighbouring state (I’m in MA over here :P )
God I love this post! I live in Norway and I can admit there is Nordic denial here. The deniability they use so often to put themselves on the pedestal, claiming they are so much better than America or other countries when it comes to human rights, when in reality they just ignore our problems as people of colour. Norway just received their first action plan against racism this year and it would be an understatement to say that it is lacking at best. People don’t believe that there are racial bias and issues here and it is so frustrating trying to talk about it to anyone who is not keen to learn or listen. It is as if “if we ignore it then it’s really not a problem”. Thanks for writing this and for bringing this perspective up. This narrative is harmful and it doesn’t tell the full truth. Thanks for poking holes into it!
Thank you for putting words to something that has nagged at me for a long time. I remember watching a documentary several years ago about the difficulties non-white refugees had in establishing new lives in Scandinavian countries, and I think that’s where my discomfort with a simple glorification of Scandinavia began (as well as my personal examination of it as someone with Swedish and Norwegian heritage). I’ve been trying to ask “Beneficial for whom?” when examining something that is, on the surface, a good thing, but also may be harmful to other groups of people. This is a piece I anticipate returning to because I really appreciate how you articulate the need for intersectionality.
LALA, I loved this essay. It perfectly captures the insidious way European "colorblindness" subtly sweeps all problems of marginalization and oppression under the rug in the name of Good Vibes Only so they can pretend that they've figured out utopia. Ever since I read about using the term "recovering from colonialism & imperialism" in place of the ubiquitous term "developing countries" it's always been a good reminder for me of how the so-called advanced societies enjoyed by wealthy (white) nations came to be. I had no idea about Denmark's business in arms dealing but can't say I'm surprised.
Nat <3 Thank you so much :) That term is so apt! I had this benign interaction with an American man over Thanksgiving and when I mentioned where I'm from, he was like "oh wow. that's an unstable region." and I don't think he meant much by it but in my mind I was like "DESTABLIZED BY WHOM?" I don't think anyone's ever recovered from colonialism and imperialism, mostly because they're still ongoing and Western countries keep trying to pass off underdevelopment as individual countries' own faults :/
Excellent piece, which has my mind wandering off in a different direction. You touch briefly on the notion of the 'how to live like...' always focusing on nations that are colonial superpowers and it got me thinking about how we rarely see articles or books about living like (insert colonized natuon here). And yet there are a wealth of nations with strong traditions around gathering, family, community, etc. But we don't get books about how to emulate them. (Granted, most of MY interest in the Danish/Nordic thing comes in the form of how to create coziness in the cold and snowy months, which limits countries with applicable traditions.) Now I'm interested in finding more pieces about applying cultural traditions of NON-colonial nations.
REA OMG. you found the hidden nugget that I want to build towards in future posts! The fact that this essay hit such a nerve has me thinking about creating a series of posts about what we can learn from “developing” (a friend here in the comments called them “countries recovering from colonialism and imperialism”) countries, in exactly the categories you listed :)
This is such a well thought out and reflective piece. Thank you. I would also love to see more writing like this which encourages us to critically think about the tropes and examples we are sold through a post colonial and intersectional lens. Its something we all need to grapple with.
I loved this read! Born and raised in Denmark, with parents from African countries. Everything you wrote is so true and even brought some feelings of being discriminated in communitie. This inspired to write a piece
Thank you Niima, and I’m really sorry to hear about your experience :( so many people of colour raised in Europe are relating to it and it’s heartbreaking. I’d love to read your piece when it’s ready, please feel free to send me a message about it!
I reposted Powers' article, in large part, because of the emphasis that she placed on the programs you mentioned and her criticism of capitalism in America as it exists. (I am a CNA.... I have seen so so so many abandoned elders in health care.... the article appealed to me). I do, however, see that you are right.... Un-nuanced lifestyle pieces are wearing on us in a keeping-up-with-the-joneses-kind-of-way- (but morality flavored this time)...and that we need to listen to different voices with more lived wisdom about what surviving imperialism is like in this country (and others). Also, speaking as a white woman whose family suffered from AND benefitted from the military industrial complex, I feel relieved that I can stop putting other countries on a pedestal. Yes America should be held accountable.... but we still have so much we can do and some of that starts with recognizing local intersectional wisdom. To me this translates into something sort of like "we are the leaders we have been looking for" even if we have things to learn because we do. Thank you.
Thank you for writing this. It has me examining my own tendency to idealize certain places with an uncritical lens. I’ll be working on this. Well written and researched essay!
American, here. I worked in Denmark and The Netherlands - both countries that are idolized as some sort of stress-free idyll. The first full day I was in Copenhagen, I witnessed a group of white Danes hissing - yes, hissing - at a Muslim woman wearing a face veil. The Netherlands just elected Geert Wilders and defends its winter season blackface character Zwart Piet (ni$&@!er Pete) as an paradigm of its cultural heritage. It’s a myth that these countries are peaceful and idyllic to all who live there. With that said, I’d rather live in Copenhagen than in the US but it’s not an easy existence, if one is at all racially-aware.
Hissing!!! Holy shit that’s despicable. I lived in the Netherlands for a few months as part of a study abroad program and remember the day we sat down to talk about Zwart Piet and how uncomfortable and defensive the locals were about him. I also remember talking to the local teens in the tiny tiny 2000 person village I lived in and they straight up teased me and my classmates about trump (this was 2015) which was honestly hilarious that they were so aware of him and viewed him negatively. I’m really so sad to see that the Netherlands elected a bigot and the right wing wave through Europe is v scary :(
"How have these countries risen to the top of the scale?" That's exactly it!!! I remember Powers saying in her essay that Denmark makes capitalism work for itself, but when I read that I thought, well of course, capitalism always requires someone else to hold up the short end of the stick for you so that you can be well - so what's the story you're not telling?
Loved it! Also, Norway and Norwegians love to think of themselves as very green. Well, their country is, while they destroy others countries' nature. I once told a Norwegian friend about a oil operation in Brazilian Amazon and how it leaked and polluted many rivers. She had no idea.
People in rich countries can only have a good life with many rights, because they explore the work and resources from poor countries. It is as simple as that.
So true! I come across this mentality a lot, both online and when travelling and meeting others who live in the west. Lots of people will blame developing countries for not being “green,” but realistically, the reason they’re not “green” is because they’re producing the billions of home+clothing items that we in the west mindlessly purchase. Thank you Luiza:)
THIS!!!
mega yes. Or you take Canada who is literally exporting its garbage for processing in poorer countries, but then when it arrives it turns out to not be the promised recyclable quality, and then we're like 'look they're burning trash.' Like IT'S YOUR TRASH, LINDA!!
they also subjugate and oppress their indigenous people, who probably know their land the best, and sometimes even in the name of being "eco-friendly" with one of the most recent cases involving them trying to build wind turbines on land that Sámi people have used to herd reindeer. https://www.euronews.com/2024/01/19/sami-rights-activists-in-norway-charged-over-protests-against-wind-farm-affecting-reindeer#:~:text=They%20have%20demonstrated%20repeatedly%20against,land%20for%20reindeer%20for%20centuries.
You are absolutely right. Same history with boarding schools, forbidden Sami languages, and the list goes on. Same in Sweden, Finland and Russia too.
Haha, oh well I’m Norwegian and I can assure you that we do know! We just prefer to ignore these issues 🙈🙉🙊
Thank you so much for this piece and the very necessary reminder that it serves. I think about how when I quoted two pieces from Powers in one of my own, as an Indian (a post colonial country rising tall now) - I’m so used to be agreeing with part of the story because I rarely ever hear the full story that reflects my world. So good at acclimating we have become. Your piece reminds us how there is SO much more to the story. It also reminds me of how Americans love to emulate the French (French girl makeup! French girl non chalance! Raise your kids like the French!) meanwhile generations of Americans have been raised by African American women, doing the hard work. Anyhoo, loved this, thanks!
This comment hits me so hard, Manasa. I’ve caught myself doing the same, just taking things at face value when I’m presented with the idea of European utopias. It takes constant interrogation to to start thinking outside that mentality.
Regarding childcare in the US, you’re so so right. I never even considered that aspect! It’s so sad to value a random European country’s culture over the culture of the woman who cared for your child every day :(
I worked in France, both in Paris and in Île Réunion. The French je ne sais quoi vibe is a myth. 🧐
This article made my heart glad. I read those idyllic pieces and the first thing I wonder about is how the BIPOC people are treated. Because let’s face it, when reading those, in your minds eye, you visualize white people enjoying all the benefits. By default. But as a person of color, you just know better. Those articles are kind of depressing if you think too much into it. Which, if you are a BIPOC, you will.
So I’m currently living my American “hygge” life in a grassroots way, trying to improve my immediate community in hopes that it will ripple out.
But this post got you a subscriber, sweets, cuz you’re something special. 💛💛
Ashe thank you 😭 this is so sweet. It's so true, that's what I see in my mind's eye as well when I read those essays. I love that outlook -- I want to be more present and engaged in my community too this year.
I traveled to Denmark last year and spoke to a few afghan immigrants who shared this same experience with discrimination and racism both from the community as well as the systems. One young man, at 18, shared his hopes to leave the country after university. It was heartbreaking but very eye opening to have these conversations during my travels and speaks very much to what you share. I will also share that an American friend of mine moved to Sweden and found it near impossible to get a job due to not speaking the language or being a citizen.
That is SO heartbreaking, Isabella :( thank you so much for sharing this experience -- I can’t imagine living there was easy for that young man.
I worked in Copenhagen. I’m a black American woman and it was hard. I saw personally the disdain, arrogance, and bigotry exhibited towards Turkish Danes, not to mention Afghani Danes. Denmark is lovely if you’re European-descended! 🤓
loved that piece, as a black frenchie aslo coming from a country colonized and destabilized by France , i became tired of those pieces about " how to eat like a french woman" a long time ago.
cou cou! Je suis d’accord. La femme française = blanche, mince avec un béret😉
exactement, blanche, parisienne, mince, un peu bourgeoise, un style vestimentaire bobo/bcbg mdr ça fait longtemps que j'ai arrêté de rouler des yeux même
C’est pas même la peine 🙁
Thanks for this. I write about the “idyllic” setting of Vermont, USA, which also suffers from a similar romanticism.
This post deeply resonates with me. 🙋🏻♀️
Thank you so much Phayvanh. I’m checking out your work right now, I’m fascinated to hear your take about a neighbouring state (I’m in MA over here :P )
If you want to subscribe, I’m happy to comp you a year so you have access to the archive (anything older than 6 mos is premium)
God, I romanticize Vermont (never been). Can’t we keep that little slice? Lol.
Even I romanticize Vermont! And I’ve been here for 40+ years!
That said, no place it perfect, even if it is agreeable.
God I love this post! I live in Norway and I can admit there is Nordic denial here. The deniability they use so often to put themselves on the pedestal, claiming they are so much better than America or other countries when it comes to human rights, when in reality they just ignore our problems as people of colour. Norway just received their first action plan against racism this year and it would be an understatement to say that it is lacking at best. People don’t believe that there are racial bias and issues here and it is so frustrating trying to talk about it to anyone who is not keen to learn or listen. It is as if “if we ignore it then it’s really not a problem”. Thanks for writing this and for bringing this perspective up. This narrative is harmful and it doesn’t tell the full truth. Thanks for poking holes into it!
Thank you so much, Matunda. There's a great article I wrote that spoke a ton about that deniability and how whoever points out the problem *becomes* the problem: https://www.scandinaviastandard.com/the-colonial-racist-legacy-of-danish-supermarkets/
All over Scandinavia: from «Black Boy» spice brand to the ice cream girl «Eskimonika» 🙈🙉🙊
Omg yes. I remember seeing that ice cream and being shocked 😩
Yep! That’s exactly how it’s like here. Thanks for sharing that! Can’t wait to read it tomorrow morning 🌹
Thank you for putting words to something that has nagged at me for a long time. I remember watching a documentary several years ago about the difficulties non-white refugees had in establishing new lives in Scandinavian countries, and I think that’s where my discomfort with a simple glorification of Scandinavia began (as well as my personal examination of it as someone with Swedish and Norwegian heritage). I’ve been trying to ask “Beneficial for whom?” when examining something that is, on the surface, a good thing, but also may be harmful to other groups of people. This is a piece I anticipate returning to because I really appreciate how you articulate the need for intersectionality.
Kelly, thank you so much! I'm memorizing that line, "beneficial for whom?" it's perfect
LALA, I loved this essay. It perfectly captures the insidious way European "colorblindness" subtly sweeps all problems of marginalization and oppression under the rug in the name of Good Vibes Only so they can pretend that they've figured out utopia. Ever since I read about using the term "recovering from colonialism & imperialism" in place of the ubiquitous term "developing countries" it's always been a good reminder for me of how the so-called advanced societies enjoyed by wealthy (white) nations came to be. I had no idea about Denmark's business in arms dealing but can't say I'm surprised.
Nat <3 Thank you so much :) That term is so apt! I had this benign interaction with an American man over Thanksgiving and when I mentioned where I'm from, he was like "oh wow. that's an unstable region." and I don't think he meant much by it but in my mind I was like "DESTABLIZED BY WHOM?" I don't think anyone's ever recovered from colonialism and imperialism, mostly because they're still ongoing and Western countries keep trying to pass off underdevelopment as individual countries' own faults :/
Excellent piece, which has my mind wandering off in a different direction. You touch briefly on the notion of the 'how to live like...' always focusing on nations that are colonial superpowers and it got me thinking about how we rarely see articles or books about living like (insert colonized natuon here). And yet there are a wealth of nations with strong traditions around gathering, family, community, etc. But we don't get books about how to emulate them. (Granted, most of MY interest in the Danish/Nordic thing comes in the form of how to create coziness in the cold and snowy months, which limits countries with applicable traditions.) Now I'm interested in finding more pieces about applying cultural traditions of NON-colonial nations.
REA OMG. you found the hidden nugget that I want to build towards in future posts! The fact that this essay hit such a nerve has me thinking about creating a series of posts about what we can learn from “developing” (a friend here in the comments called them “countries recovering from colonialism and imperialism”) countries, in exactly the categories you listed :)
I would read each article omg your ideas sound amazing 🥲
This is such a well thought out and reflective piece. Thank you. I would also love to see more writing like this which encourages us to critically think about the tropes and examples we are sold through a post colonial and intersectional lens. Its something we all need to grapple with.
I loved this read! Born and raised in Denmark, with parents from African countries. Everything you wrote is so true and even brought some feelings of being discriminated in communitie. This inspired to write a piece
Thank you Niima, and I’m really sorry to hear about your experience :( so many people of colour raised in Europe are relating to it and it’s heartbreaking. I’d love to read your piece when it’s ready, please feel free to send me a message about it!
I reposted Powers' article, in large part, because of the emphasis that she placed on the programs you mentioned and her criticism of capitalism in America as it exists. (I am a CNA.... I have seen so so so many abandoned elders in health care.... the article appealed to me). I do, however, see that you are right.... Un-nuanced lifestyle pieces are wearing on us in a keeping-up-with-the-joneses-kind-of-way- (but morality flavored this time)...and that we need to listen to different voices with more lived wisdom about what surviving imperialism is like in this country (and others). Also, speaking as a white woman whose family suffered from AND benefitted from the military industrial complex, I feel relieved that I can stop putting other countries on a pedestal. Yes America should be held accountable.... but we still have so much we can do and some of that starts with recognizing local intersectional wisdom. To me this translates into something sort of like "we are the leaders we have been looking for" even if we have things to learn because we do. Thank you.
Thank you for writing this. It has me examining my own tendency to idealize certain places with an uncritical lens. I’ll be working on this. Well written and researched essay!
Thank you so much Stephanie! It’s a constant practice for sure
American, here. I worked in Denmark and The Netherlands - both countries that are idolized as some sort of stress-free idyll. The first full day I was in Copenhagen, I witnessed a group of white Danes hissing - yes, hissing - at a Muslim woman wearing a face veil. The Netherlands just elected Geert Wilders and defends its winter season blackface character Zwart Piet (ni$&@!er Pete) as an paradigm of its cultural heritage. It’s a myth that these countries are peaceful and idyllic to all who live there. With that said, I’d rather live in Copenhagen than in the US but it’s not an easy existence, if one is at all racially-aware.
Hissing!!! Holy shit that’s despicable. I lived in the Netherlands for a few months as part of a study abroad program and remember the day we sat down to talk about Zwart Piet and how uncomfortable and defensive the locals were about him. I also remember talking to the local teens in the tiny tiny 2000 person village I lived in and they straight up teased me and my classmates about trump (this was 2015) which was honestly hilarious that they were so aware of him and viewed him negatively. I’m really so sad to see that the Netherlands elected a bigot and the right wing wave through Europe is v scary :(
yes. Hissing. My very first full day. I was sent to work at the French School so I couldn’t leave but I almost took the first flight back to Philly.🧐
"How have these countries risen to the top of the scale?" That's exactly it!!! I remember Powers saying in her essay that Denmark makes capitalism work for itself, but when I read that I thought, well of course, capitalism always requires someone else to hold up the short end of the stick for you so that you can be well - so what's the story you're not telling?
Thank you for this wonderful considerate piece.