Romanians from Serbia in Denmark

much that you won’t sense any unrest here. […] We are here, yet
we are not here (middle-aged man ofSerbian descent, 2005).
The focus of the present article is a group of immigrants who, in their own
and the public’s view, have become sowell integrated that they are almost
invisible. Indeed, the fate of the Vlach 3 community during their 40 years of
migrant history is well described by the label ‘quiet integration’ used by
Pedersen and Rytter (2006) to designate those immigrants whose
integration has apparently been so undramatic that they are barely
mentioned in the Danish media.
As shown above, the Vlachs consider the integration process of their coethnics
as extremely successful. They have integrated peacefully into the
towns where they settled and have managed to maintain themselves in the
labour market until health problems or age have forced them to retire. The
younger generation has by and large managed to move upwards in the
educational and social hierarchy. 4 Both groups generally endorse the
Danish welfare model and articulate no desire to move back to their villages
of origin,except, as one expressed it, ‘if a smart business trick could make
him rich in a jiffy’. Finally they are proud to resemble the Danes both
physically and culturally, something which in their eyes positions them
favourably inthe social hierarchy of Danish immigrants.
Paradoxically the feeling of being successful seems to be linked to the
condition of invisibility. As was the case for the Italian community in
London studied by Fortier (2000), invisibility, or ‘blending in’, is the
product of integration and acceptance rather than the outcome of conditions
of marginalisation and imposed silence, as has been the case with, for
example, black Americans. In this group, invisibility is upheld through a
constant emphasis on the sameness between Danes and Serbian immigrants
(forexample, being both Christian and European).
The gathering nonetheless underscored the fact that the ability to remain
‘invisible’ is to a large extent the fruit of their consciously working to
maintain and strengthen the Vlach identity. This is upheld through the
activities of the Serbian association and frequent visits to their villages of
origin; that is, through thecultivation of difference. The maintenance of a
Serbian meeting place, a Serbian football team and Serbian folk-dance