The Sociology of Morals. Catholic Faith and Generational Identities among Filipino Migrants in Copenhagen, Denmark
Public Defence of PhD thesis by Astrid Krabbe Trolle.
The dissertation "The Sociology of Morals: Catholic Practices and Generational Identities among Filipino Migrants in Copenhagen, Denmark" describes the religious practices and moral navigation among Filipino Catholics in Copenhagen. This Filipino diaspora consists of two overall categories; permanent settlers and temporary movers. The permanent settlers are Filipinos who have travelled to Denmark through work possibilities (1960-1973) or marriage and family reunion (1973-2000). The category of temporary movers covers the young Filipinos entering Denmark on two year contracts as au pairs. In 2000, the Danish state reinitiated the au pair scheme, and since then the influx of au pairs has radically changed the demographic profile of the Filipino community in Denmark. My thesis seeks to analyse how this demographic development has affected the internal dynamics of the Filipino Catholic milieu in terms of morality, temporality and generation. My main argument is that people's temporal orientation evokes different shades of morality that can be placed on a continuum spanning from restrictive/conservative attitudes to permissive/open attitudes. The different temporal trajectories of the settlers and the movers inform heterogenous religious practices. Whereas the settlers are engaged in moral maintenance work in the Catholic congregations as a main social structure of the Filipino diaspora in Denmark, the au pairs see their two year stay as a time-out, a space of either religious intensification or the possibility of opting out of religious practice. The analysis rests on participant observation in the Filipino environments in Copenhagen from 2015-2018, 24 interviews with Filipinos and their Danish husbands, interviews with Catholic priests and experts, one group interview with 10 au pairs, text material from Christian and non-religious organisations and survey data from the World Values Survey on the Philippines (2012) and the European Values Surveys on Denmark (2008).
Afhandlingen "The Sociology of Morals: Catholic Practices and Generational Identities among Filipino Migrants in Copenhagen, Denmark" undersøger katolske filippineres religiøse praksisser og moralske orientering i København. Den filippinske diaspora i Danmark kan inddeles i to grupper: de fastboende og de gennemrejsende filippinere. De fastboende kom til landet via arbejdsmigration fra 1960-1973 og fra 1973-2000 gennem ægteskab og familiesammenføring. De gennemrejsende dækker de filippinske au pairs, der siden 2000 er kommet til Danmark via au pair ordningen, og derfor er i landet på toårige kontrakter. Den store tilstrømning af unge au pairs har skabt moralske konflikter internt i det filippinske katolske miljø, og min afhandling søger at forklare disse spændinger ud fra teorier om moral, tid og generation. Mit hovedargument er, at folks tidslige orientering bringer forskellige former for moral i spil, som kan placeres på et kontinuum mellem restriktive/konservative attituder og eftergivende/liberale attituder. De to gruppers forskellige tidshorisonter leder til, at deres religiøse praksis og engagement placeres forskellige steder. Hvor de fastboende har skabt en moralsk institutionel profil som filippinsk diasporasamfund, som de værner om, ser de gennemrejsende au pairs mere deres ophold i Danmark som et moralsk frirum til enten at intensivere eller at tage pause fra deres hverdagslige religiøse praksis. Analysen bygger på deltagerobservation i de filippinske miljøer i København fra 2015-2018, 24 interviews med filippinere og danske ægtemænd, interviews med præster i den katolske kirke og videnspersoner i det filippinske miljø, et gruppeinterview med 10 filippinske au pairs, tekstmateriale fra kristne og ikke-religiøse organisationer og surveydata fra Værdiundersøgelserne i Filippinerne (2012) og Danmark (2008).
Assessment Committee
- Associate Professor, PhD Annika Hvithamar, chairman (University of Copenhagen)
- Professor MSO, PhD Lene Kühle (Aarhus University)
- Associate Professor, PhD Jayeel S. Cornelio (Manila University)
Moderator of defence
- Professor Catharina Raudvere (University of Copenhagen)
Copies of the thesis will be available for consultation before the defence at the following three places
- At the Information Desk of Copenhagen University Library, South Campus
- In Reading Room East of the Royal Library (the Black Diamond)
- At Department Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Karen Blixens Plads 8, 2300 Copenhagen S
