Sacred unity, sacred similarity: Norwegian constitution day parades

Journal/Book: Ethnology. 1999; 38: Dept Anthropology, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Univ Pittsburgh. 175-189.

Abstract: Norwegian Constitution Day parades are annual occasions for public demonstrations of belonging to the Norwegian community. Simultaneously they are events that mark social statuses and categories by including them in different ways or by excluding them from participation. This article discusses three kinds of contemporary Constitution Day parades, inviting participants in their capacities of schoolchildren, teenage students, or citizens. Examining their composition and focusing particularly on the citizens' parade, the article shows how parades, partly against their overtly stated intentions, come to support a narrowly defined Norwegian normality and ascribe to modern subcultural and ethnic minorities a controversial character.

Note: Article Blehr B, Stockholm Univ, S-10691 Stockholm, SWEDEN

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