Cultural Fields, Communication and Ethnicity

Abstract

This article is a cultural analysis conducted in a neighbourhood of Copenhagen, Indre Nørrebro, where approximately 20 percent of the population is of other than Danish ethnic origin. It sheds light on the structural characteristics of two strategic sites, or cultural fields, within which everyday life and identity formation of ethnic minorities take place. We deliberately explore how ethnicity works or does not work as a marker in the configuration of the two chosen cultural fields: public libraries and ethnic media. We analyse the role of these two cultural fields in the social formation of Indre Nørrebro as a neighbourhood and in the local citizens' process of producing locality and a sense of belonging. How are these cultural fields structurally configured and organized, and what role do they historically and contemporarily have in the neighbourhood? The implicit assumption is that both these cultural fields play significant roles as social and cultural mediators in the production of locality.