The Other’s Right to the City

In 2018, the Danish government implemented urban policies aimed at dismantling what they referred to as “ghettos” within public housing estates. These policies mandate that housing associations in neighbourhoods with a significant proportion of “non-Western” residents undergo a demographic reconfiguration to prevent the emergence of so-called “parallel societies.” This project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (2022-present), delves into the experiences of racialised Muslim communities impacted by Denmark’s “ghetto laws” within public housing. Through a comparative urban ethnography, the project examines the experiences of evictions, surveillance, and punitive measures directed at Muslims within the welfare state’s policies. The study focuses on public housing estates in Denmark’s three largest cities: Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense.

Research outputs:
Hassani, A. (in preparation). ”The Danish racial welfare regime: Understanding racial governance and carcerality through the Danish ghetto policies”.

Hassani, A. (in preparation). “Erasing Communities: Coloniality, Racial Banishment, and Denmark’s ‘Ghetto’ Policies”.

Public dissemination:
Hassani, A. 2024. “Kronik: Hvem er værdig til at bo i byen?” [Op-ed: Who is worthy of living in the city]. Informationen. https://www.information.dk/debat/2024/09/hvem-vaerdig-bo-byen

Nassri, L. & Hassani, A. 2020. ”Hvem taler vi om: ‘Ikke-vestlige indvandrere og efterkommere’,  ‘parallelsamfund’ og ‘ghettoer’”. [Who are we talking about: ‘non-Western immigrants and descendants’] Respons, special issue: Racism in Denmark. https://www.responsmedie.dk/racisme-2/. 

Nassri, L. & Hassani, A. 2020. “Hvad taler vi om: ‘ghettolovene’ som strukturel racisme”. Respons, special issue: Racism in Denmark. [What are we talking about: the ‘ghetto laws’ as structural racism] https://www.responsmedie.dk/racisme-3/. 

Navigating Colour-Blind Societies

This longitudinal research project is a comparative transatlantic ethnography that explores the urban lives of young middle-class Muslims coming of age post-9/11 in Denmark and Quebec. The research has resulted in the publication of a monograph and several peer-reviewed articles that delve into the racialisation processes of Muslims and the impact of structural Islamophobia. The book examines racialisation as both a social process that is classed and gendered, as well as a spatial process that is social and temporal. In recent years, Denmark and Quebec have witnessed a surge in ethnonationalist politics, which positions their Muslim citizens as the quintessential “Other.” This research contributes to our understanding of how Muslims are racialised and how they navigate this process in social and urban contexts.

Research output:
Hassani, A. (2024). Navigating Colour-Blind Societies: A Comparative Ethnography of Muslim Urban Life in Copenhagen and Montreal. Routledge Advances in Ethnography book series. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003294696

Hassani, A. (2023) “Racialisation in a Raceless Nation: Muslims navigating Islamophobia in everyday life”. Book chapter in anthology on racism, coloniality and decoloniality in Nordic countries. Julia Suárez Krabbe & Adrián Groglopo (eds.). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003293323-3/racialisation-raceless-nation-amani-hassani

Hassani, A. (2023). “Conviviality as agency: Middle-class Muslims evading racialisation in Copenhagen”. The Sociological Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261231184356

Hassani, A. (2022) “Navigating Racialised Spaces: Young Muslims Negotiating Middle Class Position in Denmark”. Special Issue in Nordic Journal of Social Research. https://doi.org/10.18261/njsr.13.1.6

Hassani, A. (2021). “Muslims and Islamophobia in ‘Raceless’ Societies: Critical insights from Denmark and Quebec” [Online].The Sociological Review.https://doi.org/10.51428/tsr.gijy3798

Public dissemination:

Hassani, A. (November 2024). Muslim Urban life. Podcast: Struggles in the city. https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/strugglesinthecity  

Hassani, A. 2018. “A City Walk in the Future”. https://www.religiousmatters.nl/buildings-images-and- objects/article/blog-a-city-walk-in-the-future/.

Islamophobia in Denmark - a yearly overview

As part of the yearly European Islamophobia report, these reports focus on the development of Islamophobia in Denmark in various domains including hate crimes, politics, media, education and law.

Research outputs:

Nassri, L. & Hassani, A. 2024.“Islamophobia in Denmark: National Report 2023”. In European Islamophobia Report 2023, Bayraklı, E. & Hafez, F. Vienna, Leopold Weiss Institute. https://islamophobiareport.com/islamophobiareport-2023.pdf

Hassani, A. 2022. “Islamophobia in Denmark: National Report 2021”. In European Islamophobia Report 2021, Bayraklı, E. & Hafez, F. Vienna, Leopold Weiss Institute. https://islamophobiareport.com/islamophobiareport-2021.pdf

Hassani, A. 2021. “Islamophobia in Denmark: National Report 2020”. In European Islamophobia Report 2020, Bayraklı, E. & Hafez, F. Vienna, Leopold Weiss Institute. https://www.islamophobiareport.com/EIR_2020.pdf

Hassani, A. 2020. “Islamophobia in Denmark: National Report 2019”. In European Islamophobia Report 2019,

Bayraklı, E. & Hafez, F. Istanbul: SETA.https://www.islamophobiaeurope.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/08/2019eir-DENMARK.pdf