The What The Denmark team is a diverse group of people who all have a connection to Denmark. The current count of people who contribute to the show is 7 non-Danes and 5 (and a half) Danes.
The project leader is Sam who runs a podcast production company called Cofruition.
When Sam moved to Denmark he was told to prepare for the herring, the hygge and the weather. The thing that surprised him most though was the duvets.
Seeing Danish couples having separate duvets was perplexing - he'd never seen adults voluntarily choose to have single duvets, let alone that people could have two duvets on one bed. Most people he spoke to in Denmark about it hadn't given it much thought whereas his friends back home thought couldn't believe it.
Everyone was curious to learn more and so he began researching the topic: reaching out to scientists, historians and people around the world. It became natural to share what was being found via podcast. Sam teamed up with Josefine, who could give a Danish perspective to the discussions.
Whilst duvets might seem quite light-hearted, more broadly we believe it's a problem when cultures can't understand each other. Denmark is one of the hardest places to settle in as a foreigner and much of that is simply down to cultural confusion.
There's plenty of content about how Danish culture is different and what Danes do that confuses non-Danes, but not much on why. It's one thing to say Danes have an ironic sense of humour, but (we believe) much more interesting and useful to understand that it comes as a result of having a common shared culture compared to, say, the US.
A high quality podcast opens up the opportunity to really explore a topic, and bring in multiple voices and perspectives in a way that is much more accessible than just a blog post/ short video.
It's important to us that we make a show that speaks to Danes as well as non-Danes.
Pointing fun at peculiar things (like loving liquorice) is easy, but not particularly interesting or useful. As well as ensuring our episodes are entertaining, we make sure that listeners come away with a better understanding of why Danes behave in the way they do.
The show is a team effort and developing and supporting everyone who works on the show is important to us as well as giving a voice to a broad spectrum of Danish society through our guests and topics.
Sam runs a company (Cofruition) that makes podcasts professionally. As with many non-Danes, he moved to Denmark for love. Before Denmark he lived in Kenya where he ran one of Africa’s top business podcasts. Before that, he was in London.
Josefine is co-founder of Inspire Film. She has produced content for international media houses including the Guardian, the BBC, ABC, CNN and Vice News Tonight. She has lived in London, South Africa and the Middle East before returning to her native Denmark.
Decoding Danish Culture
