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Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how residents in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark, re-negotiate political constructions of problem-places and re-define the narrative of their neighbourhood by articulating counter-narratives.

Paper long abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to explore how residents in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood challenge the political narrative of the neighbourhood.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark, designated as a "ghetto" by the Danish state and affected by interventions for social mix, this paper explores how political constructions of problem-places are re-negotiated by residents. The paper highlights how ethnographic methods offer a way to document counter-narratives and collective memories of marginalized groups.

With a reflexive approach, the paper goes beyond the migrant/citizen distinction and seeks to highlight the perspectives of those affected by policies. Defining 'residents' as the unit of analysis, while - at a second step - being sensitive to how ethnicity or migration background matters to lived experiences, this paper contributes to the de-migranticization of migration research.

The analysis highlights how residents live under a shared condition of evictability and un-homing, as they face the threat of displacement and eviction as the neighbourhood undergo physical and social transformation. It shows how residents get together and articulate a counter-narrative of their neighbourhood, for example as already being mixed and as a home-place. Hence, they challenge the dominating and dehumanizing political narrative of securitization, which is employed in legitimizing displacement and privatization of public housing.

Thus, this paper adds to previous research by exploring processes of homing and un-homing.