Keeping things Negotiating Dutchness and racism in the struggle over ‘Black Pete’ gezellig This study concerns itself with the controversy surrounding the Dutch winter holiday tradition Sinterklaas, which involves the fi gure of Zwarte Piet or ‘Black Pete’. At fi rst glance, the struggle revolves around whether or not Zwarte Piet is a racist ‘blackface’ character. However, this thesis explores how people’s participation in the debate can also be viewed as affi rmations, claims or propositions about the norms of discussion them- selves – who is allowed to have a say, what kinds of arguments are legitimate and how and where should the discussion take place? Through a detailed analysis of interactions in three widely diverging institutional con- texts, the author traces how ostensibly neutral interaction norms for debate about the topic imply specifi c understandings of history, racism and national belonging and iden- tity that go beyond the question whether or not the holiday tradition carries any racist elements. This reveals how protest against the fi gure of Zwarte Piet can function as an Heleen Schols opportunity to deepen the understanding and expand the practices of democratic debate in the Netherlands. Heleen Schols Keeping things gezellig Negotiating Dutchness and racism in the struggle over ‘Black Pete’ Heleen Schols Keeping things gezellig. Negotiating Dutchness and racism in the struggle over ‘Black Pete’ ISBN 978-94-6375-482-8 Heleen Schols Amsterdam, 2019 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Cover design and layout: evelienjagtman.com Printed by www.ridderprint.nl The research resulting in this thesis was partly supported by the Amsterdams Universiteitsfonds. Keeping things gezellig Negotiating Dutchness and racism in the struggle over ‘Black Pete’ ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op woensdag 18 september 2019 te 12:00 uur door Heleen Schols geboren te ‘s Gravenhage Promotores: Prof. Dr. M.A. Hajer, Universiteit Utrecht Dr. M.J.M. Maussen, Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: Dr. S.A. Bonjour, Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. Dr. M. De Goede, Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. Dr. A. A. M’charek, Universiteit van Amsterdam Dr. F.F. Vermeulen, Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. Dr. G.D. Wekker, Universiteit Utrecht Prof. Dr. D. Yanow, Wageningen University & Research Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen Table of contents Acknowledgements 9 PART 1. INTRODUCTION Chapter 1 A tradition in dispute 15 1.1 ‘Don’t let them get into your head. You are not a racist’ 17 1.2 The winter holiday tradition of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet 21 1.3 The Zwarte Piet debate: an overview 26 1.4 The Zwarte Piet debate as a prism 37 PART 2. CONCEPTS & METHODS Chapter 2 Contesting patterns of meaning and power in 43 interactions 2.1 The norms of public discussion: talking as equals? 45 2.2 Understanding power inequalities in communication: an 55 analytical toolbox 2.3 Conclusion: tracing interaction logics in the debate about 66 Zwarte Piet Chapter 3 Methodology and research practices 71 3.1 Introduction 73 3.2 Data collection and data analysis 75 3.3 Pursuing reflexivity and negotiating tensions: my position as a 82 researcher Chapter 4 Understanding racism and exclusion in the Netherlands 87 4.1 Introduction 89 4.2 Otherness and racism in the Netherlands: shifting viewpoints 91 4.3 Understanding racism and exclusion: scholarly approaches 104 PART 3. CASE STUDIES Chapter 5 Public hearing, 2013 127 5.1 Introduction 129 5.2 Dramaturgical analysis: questioning the ‘fairy tale’ during a 136 pivotal public hearing 5.3 Zooming in: (in)appropriate discussion of atrocities 142 5.4 Zooming in again: taking up the gauntlet – or not 152 5.5 The disruption as part of a larger chain of events: subsequent 160 court cases 5.6 Conclusions 164 Chapter 6 Keti Koti, 2014 171 6.1 Introduction 173 6.2 Dramaturgical analysis: disrupting a ceremony in ‘one of the 181 freest places in the world’ 6.3 Zooming in: defiance as necessary – or as out of place 187 6.4 The disruption as part of a larger chain of events: Keti Koti 2015, 207 2016 6.5 Conclusions 211 Chapter 7 Sinterklaas parade, 2014 217 7.1 Introduction 219 7.2 Dramaturgical analysis: a ‘children’s celebration’ 229 7.3 Dramaturgical analysis: ‘making our well-grounded displeasure 234 known’ 7.4 Zooming in: the simultaneous apex of celebration and 237 repression 7.5 The Sinterklaas parade and protest: media analysis 241 7.6 Conclusions 255 PART 4. CONCLUSIONS Chapter 8 Debating Zwarte Piet, negotiating Dutchness and racism 261 8.1 Introduction 263 8.2 The micro mechanisms of curbing dissent 268 8.3 Feel free to participate, but please don’t be disruptive 273 8.4 Understanding change over time: intertextuality and shifts of 275 meaning 8.5 Concluding remarks 277 PART 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND APPENDICES Bibliography 283 Appendix 1: Index of figures and images 313 Index of figures 315 Index of images 316 Appendix 2: Index of abbreviations 319 Appendix 3: Research material 323 Videos 325 Interviews 328 Observed events 329 Summaries 333 Summary in English 335 Nederlandse samenvatting 339 Acknowledgements | 9 Acknowledgements Even if it is only my name on the cover, this book has come about thanks to the effort, insight and generosity of many, some of whom I want to thank in these pages. Firstly, I am enormously indebted to the authors, thinkers and activists on whose shoulders I stand and with whom I have been in dialogue for all these years – sometimes face-to-face, more often through my studying of their ideas – while working on this research and grappling with its themes. Then, a huge thanks to my wonderful supervisors Maarten Hajer and Marcel Maussen. Thank you for believing in me and in this project, and for again and again helping me sharpen my analysis through your critical questions and insightful suggestions – and then insisting I pull myself up by my bootstraps and improve my texts even when I felt I had already given all I could in writing a chapter. David Laws, you generously opened the doors for me when I came knocking at the University of Amsterdam. Thank you so much for introducing me to new ways of understanding the messy and beautiful business of human interaction. Many of the ideas and literature that you introduced me to have found their way into this dissertation, and your mentorship during the first years of this PhD adventure has been very valuable to me. Before even starting this PhD trajectory, I was lucky to get some help on navigating aspects of the academic world which I had little knowledge of. Edwin Praat, Onno Sinke and Dorien Zandbergen, thank you for acting as sounding boards when I was still only considering taking the leap. Jethro Pettit and Linda Waldman, thank you so much for your willingness to provide letters of recommendation to help me get through the application process for the AISSR PhD programme. Getting officially underway as a PhD candidate continually meant there was more new territory to navigate, and I could not have done it without the help and companionship of many of the people I encountered on the way. I am grateful to my colleagues from the AISSR’s programme group Transnational Configurations, Conflict and Governance for their helpful feedback on early versions of some of the case studies in this book. I especially want to mention the directors of the programme group, Marieke de Goede and John Grin, for their kind support in getting through a rocky stretch of this PhD journey. Jan Willem Duyvendak, thank you for discussing some of the topics of my research with me when I was still in the early stages of defining my approach. Thanks also to Yannick Coenders for so readily making time to help me strategise the next steps when I needed it. And Rob Zaman, I’m so glad we met at that Winter School in Vienna – hanging out with you, writing together and sharing plenty of laughs as well as struggles has meant a lot. Judith van de Kamp, thank you for sharing your experience and advice on applying for funding. Jet Visser, with your knowledge about ideas of Dutchness in historiography you knew just what literature 10 | Acknowledgements recommendations to give me. Sophie Ginoux Deformon, thank you for providing me with a fresh perspective on the concluding chapter. Michelle Parlevliet, our chance encounters always led to interesting exchanges that made me feel energised. Thank you for your advice! I also would like to express my appreciation to the Amsterdams Universiteitsfonds for providing financial support towards completing the final stages of this project. Arieke Duyzer and Sara Blom, I am so happy and proud to call you my paranymphs. Having you by my side throughout the highs and lows of life – including this PhD journey – is a treat. Thank you for being there for me! The process of conducting this research has also included deeply personal reflections about topics that are as crucial as they can be delicate and difficult. It has meant the world to be able to ponder questions of racial justice and racism in the Netherlands in conversation with some amazing, thoughtful and fierce companions and friends. To the folks I met through Amsterdam’s University of Colour – thank you! Ewout van den Berg, Ernestine Cath, Katrien Depuydt, Lassy, Talissa Soto, Sharon Tremour and Bob Wester, thank you.