Danish Cultural Perceptions Toward Oral History

Last week I was at an annual conference for the Association of Personal Historians in St. Louis, Missouri. This is my fourth conference to attend, and one of the highlights for me is catching up with people from all over the world that I communicate with regularly but don’t get to see in person all too often, as well as meeting new historians and learning about the work that they are up to.

This year I had the pleasure of having dinner with a Danish woman. She told me about a long standing value system in Denmark that was incorporated into the social structure of Danish people. The law is called Law of Jante and was written by a Danish-Norwegian author, Aksel Sandemose, in his novel, “A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks” in 1933.

This book and included law identifies a social culture of not standing out from the crowd. For example: rule one states “you are not to think you’re anything special.” Rule two: “you are not to think you’re as good as us.” And so forth. These rules have been incorporated into the way Danish people see themselves and live their lives. The final rule 10 states that: “you are not to think you can teach us anything.” In this fictional book that takes place in the town of Jante, townspeople who transgress this unwritten law are regarded with suspicion and hostility, going against the communal desire to preserve harmony and social stability.

Denmark is known for its progressive and high standard of living. It is a culture of art, education and intellectual heritage. But in a society where deliberate attempts to distinguish oneself from others is seen as going against stability, it becomes ingrained in the people to not talk about themselves.

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