Our Tropical Home Danish ’Empire Migrants’ in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 1917-1945 Pernille Østergaard Hansen Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, 10 May 2017 European University Institute Department of History and Civilization Our Tropical Home Danish ’Empire Migrants’ in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 1917-1945 Pernille Østergaard Hansen Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board Professor Jorge Flores, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Corinna Unger, European University Institute Professor Stewart Ward, University of Copenhagen Professor Robert Bickers, University of Bristol © Pernille Østergaard Hansen, 2016 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Researcher declaration to accompany the submission of written work Department of History and Civilization - Doctoral Programme I Pernille Østergaard Hansen certify that I am the author of the work Our Tropical Home I have presented for examination for the Ph.D. at the European University Institute. 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I certify that I have checked and approved all language corrections, and that these have not affected the content of this work. Signature and date: 11 February 2017 Our Tropical Home Danish ’Empire Migrants’ in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 1917-1945 Pernille Østergaard Hansen European University Institute, 2016 i Abstract In 1917 Denmark sold its Caribbean colony to the United States. At a time when other European empires were promoting social and economic reforms in the colonies, the Danish state was withdrawing. However, the transfer of the islands did not break Danish ties to the former colony. An already established group of Danish companies on the islands – Danish sugar factories, plantation companies, a Danish Bank and The Danish West Indian Company - provided the infrastructure for post-transfer migration. This group of migrants was diverse, consisting of settlers practising as old colonials had done, expatriates working for the private companies and practising Danishness in terms of bourgeoisie – and a small group of inbetweeners, priest, deaconesses, doctors and children, who to a larger degree integrated into local community. Paradoxically, as the Danish state pulled out, a strong narrative of nationality, development and national responsibility had come to underscore the Danish community. As the balance tipped towards a majority of expatriates, the Danish Island community experienced an upheaval in marital practices towards an all-white and all-Danish marriage culture. Although predominantly narrating a tale of Danish homeliness in their cultural and social lives, Island Danes mimicked a global image of tropical whiteness in practise, and repeated practises of the old Danish colonials. The result was a specific Island Danishness, which was a mixture of Danish culture and practises, imperial tropes, bourgeoisie and local elements that increasingly incorporated American culture. For returnees to Denmark the narrative of national homeliness was often amplified. Through their nostalgia and heavy involvement in memory work, they came to form the national-romantic narrative of the colonial past in public memory. In a small window of history, then, a small group of tropical Danes made the islands into ‘home’, and thereby brought a global-imperialistic tendency into Danish colonial history. ii Table of contents List of illustrations 1 Introduction 5 The histories of three little islands 9 Encounters, discourses and the production of difference 17 Tropical whiteness 19 Home and emotion 25 Individual materialisations of discourse 31 Chapter 1: Mother Denmark: National-Imperial Productions of the Empire 43 Life ‘out there’ 46 The developing mission 50 Labour conflict and possible sale 54 The colour question 62 The unbearable lightness of tropical life 68 The empire as home 74 Concluding remarks 79 Chapter 2: Travelling the distance 81 The call of the sun 82 Engines of empire migration 88 Domesticating the islands 94 White housewives 101 Concluding remarks 106 Chapter 3: Tropical Dane-men 109 Becoming white 109 Big ducks 114 iii Homely connections 119 Practising Island Danishness 128 Framing, mimicking, posing 135 Concluding remarks 148 Chapter 4: Fractions and Movements 151 Ways of moving: Settlers and expatriates 153 Dealing with Americanisation 165 Invisible boundaries 170 Inbetweeners 181 Concluding remarks 190 Chapter 5: Intimate Belongings 193 Home agencies 194 Vehicles of emotion: Connections and separations 205 Island Childhoods 209 The empire within the homes 226 Concluding remarks 233 Chapter 6: Nostalgia 235 Tropical playground 236 The loss of an empire 247 Evoking the past 257 Concluding remarks 264 Conclusion: After Empire: Articulated and Unarticulated Homes 267 Danish tropical whiteness between colonization and Americanisation 269 Making the history of our tropical home 273 Studying the persistence of imperial culture 275 Literature and Sources 277 iv List of Illustrations 0.1 Map of U.S. Virgin Islands’ location in the Caribbean, Worldatlas 3 0.2 Map of U.S. Virgin Islands, Worldatlas 3 Chapter 1: 1.1 “Come on boys”, Illustration of Wilson taking over the West Indian children, Klods Hans, 1917 56 Chapter 2: 2.1 The Thage family swimming in the pool on board M/S Europa, Property of Elisabeth Thage 84 2.2 Members of the Thage family playing tennis on board M/S Europa, Property of Elisabeth Thage 84 2.3 Sugar Factory director Adamsen and his wife at Estate Bethlehem a. 1916, Danish National Archives 100 2.4 Pastor Bergh with his wife Kristine, 1911, Danish National Archives 104 2.5 Marie Lawaetz with her island-born child, 1917, Lawaetz Museum 104 Chapter 3: 3.1 “All society girls”, Danish National Archives 112 3.2 Consul Hjalmar Bang with the Danish crown princess and crown prince in 1939, Vore Damer 116 3.3 Members of the Masonic Lodge, The Daily News 1967 118 3.4 Erik von Scholten with his Danish Godmother in 1929, Property of Erik von Scholten 122 3.5 Erik von Scholten at Kirsten Esmann’s birthday in 1933, Property of Erik von Scholten 122 3.6 Visiting Oda and Viggo Wulff in 1930, Property of Erik von Scholten 123 3.7 Bertha Bang sharing her recipes in a Danish magazine a. 1965, Danish West Indian Society 132 3.8 Bank employee Theodor von Scholten in his white dress a. 1930, Property of Erik von Scholten 137 3.9 Carl and Marie Lawaetz with their children and Marie’s sister, Lawaetz Museum 137 3.10 Excursion at the arrival of the trainee-ship “Denmark” a. 1930, Danish West Indian Society 138 3.11 Henry Morton Stanly in his tropical gear, Historical Royal Places 139 3.12 Carl Lawaetz in his tropical uniform, Lawaetz Museum 140 3.13 Plantation Manager Gustav Nordby in front of his house a. 1916, Danish National Archives 140 3.14 Bank director Axel Thage with his brother and family in 1933, Property of Elisabeth Thage 140 3.15 E. Gedde in tropical uniform with his family a. 1916, Danish National Archives 141 3.16 R. Thrige in front of his house, Danish National Archives 142 3.17 Plantation Manager Goldbeck with his servants a. 1917, Danish National Archives 143 3.18 Mr. and Mrs. Bay in their home, Danish National Museum 146 3.19 “A child of the Lachmann family”, Danish National Museum 146 3.20 “Lise with Negro child”, Property of Elisabeth Thage 147 3.21 “Negro houses”, Danish National Museum 147 Chapter 4: 4.1 Gotfred Larsen with his sons, Property of Modesta Thurland 159 4.2 Former gendarme Axel Ovesen with his second set of children, Danish National Archives 159 4.3 Marleen Boschulte with her mother and siblings. Property of Marleen Boschulte 161 4.4 The Berg family posing on top of Denamrk Hill, Danmarks Radio 172 4.5 Postcard of Government House, St. Thomas, Ronnie Lockhardt’s private collection 173 4.6 Cha Cha Town, Ronnie Lockhardt’s private collection 175 4.7 “”Petronella” Negro houses”, Danish National Museum 175 4.8 “Negro huts covered with shingles”, Danish National Museum 175 4.9 Employees in the Danish West Indian National Bank a. 1919, Danish National Archives 177 4.10 Coal carrier women of the Danish West Indian Company, Ronnie Lockhardt’s private collection 177 4.11 Paint master E. Nielsen and his workers, Danish National Archives 178 4.12 H. Rasmussen with workers at the weight house, Danish National Archives 178 4.13 H. Christensen and workers at the blacksmiths workshop, Danish National Archives 178 4.14 C.F. Lang, C.F. Hodge and F. Christensen at the office of the sugar factory, Danish