Constructing Difference, Contesting Exclusive Citizenship in the Classroom Resonances of Debates on Dutch Immigrant Integration and Multiculturalism in New Realist Times By Maartje van der Zedde MA Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Department of Cultural Anthropology and Sociology of non-Western Societies, University of Amsterdam. 12 August 2013 Student number: 9759700 E-mail:
[email protected] Supervisor: Dr. A. de Koning Second reader: Dr. V. de Rooij Third reader: Dr. F. Guadeloupe Contents Acknowledgements 3 CHAPTER ONE Introduction 4 Dutch debates on integration and multiculturalism 5 The framing approach 8 Allochtonen and autochtonen 9 The rise of new realism 10 The demise of multiculturalism 12 Setting: The Cartesius Lyceum in Amsterdam 15 Research population 19 Research methods 20 Chapter overview 23 CHAPTER TWO Constructing difference: ‘The problem with “Moroccan” boys’ 25 The problem with ‘Moroccan’ boys 30 The problems with ethnic labelling 37 Conclusion 40 CHAPTER THREE National language and its discontents 41 Language as commodity 41 Language as an exclusive practice 45 Language as deviant behaviour 47 Contesting national language 50 Conclusion 55 CHAPTER FOUR Performing difference in the classroom: Re-appropriating stigmatising labels 57 The difference between a ‘Turk’ and a ‘Moroccan’ 57 ‘I am a Moroccan!’ 59 ‘Do you hear what you are saying?’ 65 ‘He makes fun of everyone’ 66 Conclusion 68 CHAPTER FIVE Playing down differences in new realist times 70 ‘That’s disrimination, isn’t it?’ 71 Playing down differences in new realist times 75 Contesting exclusive citizenship 81 Conclusion 83 Conclusion 85 Bibliography 88 2 Acknowledgements First of all I want to express my gratitude to the teachers, staff and pupils of the Cartesius Lyceum in Amsterdam for accepting me in their midst and making me feel part of everyday school life.