I bassäng med nationen - när simmande kroppar blir gemenskap

Abstract

Swimming with the nation – when swimming bodies become community In this article, national belonging is discussed and demonstrated as a political and historical situated project through an examination of contemporary debates concerning the possibility of gender- segregated opening-hours in Danish bath-houses. Drawing on postcolonial feminist understandings, the article shows how these debates relate to otherness, diversity and national identity. Further, the debates can be seen as part of political and national interests and power-relations, where a (hi)story of progress and development is being used to establish certain hierarchies and feelings of superiority, especially in relation to gender, race, and sexuality. The article finds these interests manifested in, and though, perceptions and constructions of agency and certain bodies, limited space for agency and being.

Keywords

• nationalism
• belonging
• gender
• sexuality
• otherness
• equality