Several years ago, I agreed to go on an exchange trip with my high school to Denmark, a small country located in Northern Europe, bordering Germany. Before this trip I had no perception of what Denmark and the Danish culture were like nor had I studied Denmark in school or met anyone from Denmark. Needless to say I was nervous about putting myself into a situation where I would be surrounded by a culture that I knew nothing about but assumed would be very different from my own. In the fall of 2004, I had an exchange student from a Danish business school stay with my family and then in the spring I traveled with my school group to Denmark and stayed both with my host family and then in a hostel in Copenhagen. During the trip I was completely immersed in Danish culture and was able to observe parts of Danish culture that make it unique. I was able to experience Danish rituals, traditions, social practices, heritage, food, and visual expressions, among other things. What I remember most clearly is how surprised and fascinated I was at how different Danish culture is from American culture despite both being developed Western countries.
By using techniques in anthropology to analyze Danish culture I want to come to a greater understanding of how parts of Danish society influence their culture. More specifically, I want to analyze why Danish society is generally considered egalitarian, and how this aspect reflects and influences Danish culture. I want to examine how egalitarianism affects social values, government, the ways in which people interact, and gender roles in Danish society. By looking at the importance of egalitarianism in Danish society, I hope to get a better understanding of Danish culture as a whole. My methods for analyzing Danish culture include participant observation, unstructured personal interviews with Danes, and researching the facets of Danish culture that I could not observe.
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