Romanians from Serbia in Denmark
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Introduction: A Night at the <strong>Serbia</strong>n Association<br />
In May 2008, a small gather<strong>in</strong>g was held on the premises of the Danish-<br />
<strong>Serbia</strong>n Friendship Association <strong>in</strong> a Danish prov<strong>in</strong>cial town. Host<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
meet<strong>in</strong>g was a mixture of middle-aged, first-generation immigrants and<br />
some youngermen, born and raised <strong>in</strong> <strong>Denmark</strong> by <strong>Serbia</strong>n parents.<br />
The purpose of the meet<strong>in</strong>g was to <strong>in</strong>troduce some Danish students—and<br />
myself as their supervisor—to the daily lifeof <strong>Serbia</strong>n migrants <strong>in</strong> <strong>Denmark</strong><br />
as part of their preparation for a field-trip to <strong>Serbia</strong>. Our hosts shared their<br />
thoughts and experiences about be<strong>in</strong>g Serbs <strong>in</strong> <strong>Denmark</strong> and told us about<br />
their jobs, family situations and leisure activities, notably <strong>in</strong> the town’s<br />
<strong>Serbia</strong>n football club. Many of our younger hosts figured prom<strong>in</strong>ently <strong>in</strong> the<br />
photographs of consecutive football teams which adorned the walls, among<br />
a large number of cups and prizes won at football tournaments and <strong>in</strong><br />
fish<strong>in</strong>g competitions. Among these were also a number of pictures show<strong>in</strong>g<br />
young people practis<strong>in</strong>g Yugoslav folk dances, on which the humorous<br />
comment was: ‘If you told them back <strong>in</strong> <strong>Serbia</strong> that you were practis<strong>in</strong>g<br />
folk danc<strong>in</strong>g, they’d start kidd<strong>in</strong>g you. They’d th<strong>in</strong>k you’re a hillbilly. It’s<br />
only here that wecarry on like this’. Whereas the danc<strong>in</strong>g and the <strong>Serbia</strong>n<br />
football teams represented the association’s activities <strong>in</strong> ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g and<br />
cultivat<strong>in</strong>g bonds with<strong>in</strong> the <strong>Serbia</strong>n community, other photographs<br />
illustrated the strongcommitment of the association to Danish society by<br />
document<strong>in</strong>g the visits of Danish politicians and the leadersof local labour<br />
movements at cultural events organised by the association.<br />
Dur<strong>in</strong>g the even<strong>in</strong>g, a lively mixture of Danish, <strong>Serbia</strong>n and Vlaski was<br />
spoken. Vlaski is a Romanian dialect spoken by members of the Vlach<br />
m<strong>in</strong>ority <strong>in</strong> eastern <strong>Serbia</strong>, to which all the association’s members belonged.<br />
Askedhow they handled three different languages <strong>in</strong> their daily lives, the<br />
young men replied that they ma<strong>in</strong>ly speakDanish, even <strong>in</strong> their homes. The<br />
majority used <strong>Serbia</strong>n regularly, primarily to communicate with older<br />
familymembers and with their families back home. Vlaski was understood<br />
but seldom used. Several had been given Danish first names by their<br />
parents. In other cases their friends had turned their <strong>Serbia</strong>n name <strong>in</strong>to a<br />
Danish-sound<strong>in</strong>g equivalent. These young men had many Danish friends<br />
and acqua<strong>in</strong>tances, but ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>ed a core of <strong>Serbia</strong>n(football) friends with<br />
whom they communicated almost exclusively <strong>in</strong> Danish. This was <strong>in</strong>