UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Communicating anti-racism Müller, F. Publication date 2009 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Müller, F. (2009). Communicating anti-racism. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:29 Sep 2021 Communicating Anti‐Racism Floris Müller 2 Communicating Anti-Racism ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT Ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D. C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op donderdag 24 september 2009, te 12:00 uur door Floris Müller geboren te Amsterdam 3 Promotiecommissie: Promotor: Prof. Dr. E. A. van Zoonen Overige leden: Prof. Dr. J. Jansz Prof. Dr. P. Neijens Prof. Dr. J. Rath Prof. Dr. K. Schönbach Prof. Dr. G. Wekker Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page number Introduction 7 PART I: Reception contexts 1. The recognition of racism in everyday life 25 2. Accidental racists: Experiences and contradictions in 43 Amsterdam soccer culture PART II: Promoting individual changes 3. ‘We can’t ‘Just do it’ alone!’: An analysis of Nike’s (potential) 61 contributions to anti racism in soccer 4. Entertaining anti-racism: Multicultural television drama, 79 identification and perceptions of ethnic threat PART III: Inclusive communities & citizenship 5. Urban Alchemy: Performing urban cosmopolitanism in London 95 and Amsterdam 6. The performance of cultural citizenship: Audiences and the 117 politics of multicultural television drama PART IV: Facilitating interpersonal communication 7. Making contact: The meaning, practices and politics of social 135 projects for intergroup contact 8. The soccer myth: An analysis of the imagined and real 153 effects of sport events for multicultural integration Summary of chapters 169 Conclusion 177 References 189 Dutch Summary 203 Acknowledgements 207 5 6 Introduction “Two academics are sailing down a river in the Amazon rainforest. All of a sudden, one of them falls into the river and is attacked by a crocodile. ‘Help me!’, he screams, ‘I’m being eaten by a crocodile!’. The other academic hesitates for a moment and then replies, ‘Esteemed colleague, that can’t possibly be a crocodile. Crocodiles have a much broader snout. They also have two teeth in their lower jaw that protrude noticeably. This one does not. It might be an alligator, but I’m not sure. It might also be a caiman. We need to define the terms of the problem correctly before we can start thinking about a solution!’”i Our common sense warns us about the downsides of an academic preoccupation with concepts, definitions and theories. Like the crocodile attack in the joke above, racism is generally seen as a problem that requires immediate action rather than a lengthy session of academic contemplation. However, fundamental disagreements persist about the kinds of speech, behaviour or (media) texts that should be regarded as racism and which ones should not (Augostinos & Every, 2007, Taguieff, 2001). Disagreement also persists about the kinds of action that are required to challenge racism effectively (Anthias & Lloyd, 2002; Lentin, 2004; Taguieff, 2001). Anti-racist policies and campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s have been criticized for a number of conceptual shortcomings that resulted in ineffective and at times even counterproductive practices (Gilroy, 1992; Lentin, 2004; Rattansi, 1992; Solomos & Back, 1996, Taguieff, 2001). While these shortcomings have been widely acknowledged, arguably few advances in anti-racist theory and practice have been made since (Williams, 1999). At present, therefore, an urgent need exists to develop new effective forms of anti-racist theory and practice. In this dissertation, I will argue and demonstrate that rethinking contemporary anti-racism crucially involves a reconsideration of the role of communication. Communication is defined here as those processes through which discourse is reproduced, disseminated and challenged in society. This deliberately broad definition includes practices that range from interpersonal 7 conversations to mass media communications. These practices are central to the ways in which the meaning of racial, ethnic and religious difference in public and private life are created, shared and negotiated (Hall, 1997). Therefore, communication processes are a crucial factor in the reproduction of racism. By the same token, they are also essential to anti-racism and the production of ‘non-racist’ meanings of racial, ethnic and religious differences. At present, however, the role of communication in anti-racism has not been investigated empirically or theoretically in much detail. This dissertation examines the role of communication for anti-racism in contemporary multicultural societies. It does so by investigating the content and consequences of six recent communication campaigns that explicitly or implicitly sought to challenge racism or promote the social inclusion of racial, ethnic and religious minorities. The study limits itself to communication campaigns held in the domain of popular urban culture. Two campaigns are situated in the domain of soccer (the Nike campaign ‘Stand up Speak up’ (Chapter 3) and the Dutch multicultural soccer tournament ‘the Amsterdam World Cup’ (Chapter 8)). The four other campaigns address a general urban audience through mass media entertainment (the multicultural television show ‘West Side’ (Chapters 4 and 6) or through appeals to a shared urban life and identity (the campaigns ‘We are Londoners, we are one’, ‘What are you doing for the city’ (Chapter 5) and ‘We Amsterdammers’ (Chapter7)). The following questions will be answered by analysing these six campaigns: First, how do audiences give meaning to the selected communication campaigns? Second, to what extent are these communication campaigns effective in the struggle against racism? Third, what can be learned from these empirical cases about the potential of communication for anti-racism? The answers to these questions contribute to anti-racism in two ways. First, they are intended as a contribution to the further development of anti-racist theory. As was mentioned above, the criticism of anti-racist practice and theory has crystallized some time ago but little advances have been made in the development of new theoretical perspectives on anti-racism that build on and learn from these critiques (Williams, 1999). By considering the role of communication in anti-racism in specific campaigns, the chapters that follow are intended to offer a starting point in this respect. Second, this dissertation addresses the potential role of communication in both state and NGO based interventions that seek to improve intercultural tolerance and harmony in a multicultural society. Such interventions increasingly focus on citizenship, social cohesion and the integration of minority groups in social, economic and 8 cultural domains of society (Shukra, Back, Keith, Khan & Solomos, 2004). In so doing, the fact that racism constitutes a serious obstacle to minority participation in each of these domains can be overlooked (Ibid.). This dissertation investigates the ways in which racism is currently addressed implicitly by communication campaigns that focus on citizenship, social cohesion and integration and contrasts this with more ‘head on’ approaches to anti-racism. It assesses the anti- racist potential of such campaigns in order to contribute to the ongoing discussions about the ways in which state and civil society may contribute effectively and responsibly to the development of a racially, ethnically and religiously inclusive society. In the remainder of this introduction, I will argue that academic theory about (anti-)racism suggests two related ways in which communication campaigns may benefit anti-racism. On the one hand, communication may aid in the popularisation of a shared sense of community that is inclusive of racial, ethnic and religious differences. On the other hand, communication can be used to facilitate an ongoing democratic negotiation about the role of cultural diversity in society. These two starting points are explained below in a number of steps. First, a definition of racism is postulated and discussed. Next, the criticisms levelled at anti-racism are discussed in more detail. This is followed by a synthesis of the various theoretical suggestions for new theoretical approaches to anti-racism and the role of communication in them. The introduction ends with an overview of the various chapters that follow. Defining