In the wake of the terrorist attacks on 22 July 2011, Norwegian research into racism increased, with the emphasis – naturally, enough – on an ideological and deadly variety. The Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies is participating in this research, where the emphasis is on racism as a fundamental element in right-wing extremism. In this project, however, the focus is on the victims of racism. Documenting accounts of lived experience is an important method for increasing knowledge of a phenomenon that few people in the majority population have any insight into.
Why the term “everyday racism”? It is easy to recognise racism when it is expressed through violence, racist ideology or racist legislation. But what should we call the racism that takes place in countries which are not overtly racist or, like Norway, where racism is prohibited? Sociologist Philomena Essed launched the term everyday racism to move the focus away from the extreme to society's more mundane practices and institutions. In her research, she showed how institutions had ingrained systems that discriminated against minorities. Because such practices are not necessarily intended to have a discriminatory outcome, everyday racism is often invisible to those not directly impacted by it.
In the autumn of 2022, a large collection of articles was compiled on racism as a phenomenon in contemporary society, with the emphasis on perspectives revealed by recent research. In the autumn of 2020 and spring of 2021, an extensive interview-based project was conducted to document and analyse experiences of racism in Norway today. The material has provided a research-based foundation for the inaugural exhibition at the Norwegian Holocaust Center's new extension, MINO, U/Synlig - hverdagsrasisme i Norge [In/visible – everyday racism in Norway].
Publications:
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Bangstad, Sindre and Døving, Cora Alexa. Hva er rasisme [What is racism] (2nd edition, updated), Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2023.
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Døving, Cora Alexa: Rasisme. Fenomenet, forskningen, erfaringene [Racism – phenomenon, research, experiences], (Ed.) Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2022.
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U/synlig. Hverdagsrasisme i Norge. [In/visible – everyday racism in Norway] An exhibition by and at the Norwegian Holocaust Center
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Døving, Cora Alexa: “Antirasistisk kreativitet - Om ZombieLars, Third Culture Kids og empatisk antirasisme” [Anti-racist creativity – On ZombieLars, Third Culture Kids and empathic anti-racism] in Nytt norsk tidsskrift, vol 4/2019