“It Is Not Possible to Be Dutch, and Muslim, and Black”: Second-Generation Youths' Everyday Practices of Resisting Racism
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“It is not possible to be Dutch, and Muslim, and Black”: Second-Generation Youths’ Everyday Practices of Resisting Racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands by Valerie Stam A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2019, Valerie Stam Abstract Xenophobia and nationalism are rising in countries across Europe and ‘Western,’ liberal democracies globally. Alongside anti-immigrant discourses, Islamophobia and anti-Blackness – two forms of racism – work to exclude certain bodies from full social citizenship. Taking the Netherlands as a case study, this research interrogates normative constructions of citizenship and the everyday register of belonging by investigating how second-generation Black and Muslim Dutch youth resist and subvert processes of exclusion and how they imaginatively prefigure different futures and realities. In this research, semi-structured interviews and a 14-week theatre project are both the method and the object of study in and of itself. Approaching this research with an ethics of solidarity, I use theatre to engage participants more fully in the research process and as a tool to further theorize more unconscious or intuitive practices. I specifically focus on the everyday: this micro-level of analysis reveals how marginalized Dutch youth grapple with complex yet mundane dilemmas and enact different visions for the future through seemingly ordinary and commonplace gestures and decisions. First, I look at how normative white Dutch discourses of exclusion, such as the expression doe normaal and the lexicon around ‘othering,’ work to foster a fragmented sense of belonging among racialized Dutch youth. Second, I examine the importance of affect and emotion as tools both in normative discourses of exclusion of mainstream white Dutch society and in coping mechanisms and visions of alternate realities of marginalized Dutch youth. Third, I analyze how the practices of everyday resistance employed by second-generation Dutch youth are mediated and tempered by pressures to assimilate but also how resistance, instead of being against something, prefigures alternate futures. This research calls for racialized Dutch youth, policy makers, and educators to expand the lexicon with which to engage and enhance public dialogue around racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands. It also invites white Dutch society to sit with and practice discomfort as a way of moving beyond white innocence and other forms of privilege which shut down conversation. Finally, it contributes to understanding resistance as working in the margins of consciousness towards a third space of imagined possibilities. iii Acknowledgements There are many people who have been a part of this journey and cheered me along at different stages. While there is not enough space to name everyone, I would like to recognize certain individuals and organizations that have been integral to the success of my PhD. Though I cannot mention them by name, I would like to extend my biggest thanks to all the youth who participated in this project. You generously gave your time, shared your experiences, and entrusted me with your thoughts. I am in awe of what we collectively created and the energy you brought to this undertaking. I hope you feel this dissertation does justice to what we have experienced together. This project also could not have happened without The Seed in Rotterdam. Specifically, I would like to thank Maurice Blokhuis for all the time, energy, and enthusiasm he gave to this project and Edmund Twumasi Gibson for supporting our antics. Max Wright, your volunteer time and gentle presence contributed a lot to the success of our theatre project. Shah Tabib, thank you for your generous and thought-provoking workshop and your enthusiastic support of this project. We all learned a lot from you. At Carleton University, I would like to thank Jackie Kennelly for her keen supervision and ongoing support, and Luisa Veronis, Xiaobei Chen, and William Walters for their guidance and support as members of my committee. The Political Science department at the University of Amsterdam generously hosted me for a year while I was doing field work. Thank you to Floris Vermeulen for smoothing out the logistics and Anja van Heelsum for being such a wonderful, supportive host supervisor. Colleagues at the UvA quickly became friends. Special warmth goes to Natalie Welfens, Heleen iv Schouls, Sara Ozogul, Diliara Valeeva, Asya Pisarevskaya, Juanfra Alvarado, Mutsumi Karasaki, Anastasiya Halauniova, Adeola Enigbokan, Dmitris Bouris, Polly Pallister- Wilkins, Jeroen Doomernik, Michelle Parlevliet, Jana Krause, Beste Isleyen, and Darshan Vigneswaran. I would like to thank Anja van Heelsum, Said Handulle, Nawal Mustafa, and Ilse van Liempt for connecting me to people in Amsterdam, as well as the staff of the Euro-Mediterraan Centrum Migratie & Ontwikkeling (EMCEMO) for orienting me to discussions around Islamophobia in the Netherlands. Anja van Heelsum, Ilse van Liempt, Ineke van der valk, Martijn de Koning, Rogier van Reekum, and Jan Willem Duyvendak all provided feedback at various stages of my field research and writing. Thank you. In the summer of 2015, I participated in the Black Europe Summer School (BESS) in Amsterdam, which deserves props for excellent critical teaching on race in Europe. Through BESS I met Jennifer Tosch and I learned a lot from her while walking and boating through Amsterdam on her Black Heritage Tours. I highly recommend taking a tour if you are in Amsterdam. My friends in Amsterdam were a real blessing. I could not have made it without you. Special love to Christine Jameson and Hamid Jalalzadeh, Olloriak Sawade, Pam Delahunt, Shen Tan, and Laura Sundblad. Also, much thanks and love to all my Dutch relatives who welcomed me with open arms. Back home in Ottawa, all my love and gratitude go to Sarah Lussier, Ben Hoskyn, Ariane, and Laurent for being such a great co-housing family and never complaining about my long absences. I love you all. Writing group friends helped with discipline and shared in joy and tears: Janna Klosterman, Jamie Lenet, Sheila Rao, Anna Przednowek, Nina Doré, Vivianna Boiles-Leonard and Kirsten Francescone. I also want to v acknowledge my dear friends whose cheerleading got me to the finish line: Erin Leigh, Kelti Cameron, Laura Sie, Blythe McKay, Alejandro Hernandez, Qamar Mohammed, Ubah Hersi, Fatiha Rochelle, Daniella Carpio, and Mike Bulthuis. Finally, much love to my parents, John and Sharon Stam. Thank you for always supporting me, never telling me my ideas are too crazy, and always making time to visit me wherever in the world I find myself. vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vii Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 A short introspective ..................................................................................................... 8 A note on terminology and grammar ........................................................................ 11 Chapter 1: Theorizing Belonging, Citizenship, and Resistance with Second- Generation Youth in the Netherlands ........................................................................... 15 Belonging as a Foundational Concept ....................................................................... 15 Emotional Belonging ................................................................................................... 16 Social and Legal Belonging ........................................................................................ 26 Negotiating Belonging ................................................................................................. 35 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 2: A Brief History of Migration Practice, Policy, and Discourse in the Netherlands ...................................................................................................................... 48 History of migration ................................................................................................... 51 The Dutch Colonial and Imperial Era: 1600-1950 ................................................ 51 Temporary Guests: 1950-1975 ................................................................................. 55 Minorities: 1975-1990 .............................................................................................. 58 Integration: 1990-2000 ............................................................................................ 60 The Culturalist Turn: 2000-present ........................................................................ 62 A History of Dutch Tolerance .................................................................................... 66 The Culturalist Turn, Gender, and Migration ........................................................ 73 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................