Forced marriages and honor killings have become part and
parcel of the new Scandinavia. Denmark has passed a law to
the effect that a Dane below the age of 25 cannot bring in
a foreign spouse. Sweden and Norway are following suit. How
can democratic welfare states inhibit the freedoms of citizens
in this way? What is at stake?
Unni Wikan, professor of anthropology at the University of
Oslo, analyzes the dilemmas that arise when family values,
cultural values and human rights conflict. As she shows, there
is no easy way out. Is not respect for family values also
a human right?
Drawing on concrete cases from Scandinavia, she shows how
the governments have felt compelled to emphasize individual
human rights over and above respect for collective family
values. A case that made a difference was the honor killing
of Fadime Sahindal in Sweden in January 2002. An analysis
of the case and its policy implications will be provided.
Professor Wikan has done fieldwork in Egypt, Oman, Yemen,
Indonesia, Bhutan and Norway. Two of her recent projects include:
"Culture and Society in Bhutan," which builds upon
20 months of fieldwork 1989-1994, and is a broad analysis
of social organization, multiculturalism, power, gender and
development in a relatively unstudied Buddhist kingdom; and
"Cultural Rights vs. Human Rights," which builds
on several years of research on the politics of culture and
identity in Norway, with comparative material from Sweden
and Denmark. Her areas of research include cultural terms
in anthropology, material culture, Islam, gender, medical
and psychological anthropology, development, poverty, urban
studies, hydroelectric power and resettlement.
