"Everyday Racism," "White Innocence," and Postcolonial Society: A Deeper Look into the Dutch Cultural Archive

Abstract

This paper explores Dutch postcolonial society through looking at it from the lens of critical race studies. In particular, this paper highlights the complex societal debate surrounding race, skin colour, and ethnicity in the Netherlands through examining the voices of Dutch individuals who come from an immigrant background and who are writing critically about these issues. Through looking at Surinamese-Dutch anthropologist Gloria Wekker’s “white innocence” and Surinamese-Dutch critical scholar Philomena Essed’s “everyday racism,” this paper explains how colonial discourses of racial thinking still substantially influence Dutch society today. I then employ these concepts to examine the nonfiction writings of the Russian-Cameroonian-Dutch author Anousha Nzume’s Hallo Witte Mensen[1](2017)and the Turkish-Dutch Zihni Özdil’s Nederland mijn Vaderland[2](2015) as two texts that critically engage in, within the realm of popular culture, contemporary discussions about the position of race and the way it is ingrained in the dominant conception of Dutch national identity. In doing so, I provide insight into how “new” migrant-descent voices within the realm of Dutch popular media are actively challenging hegemonic ideas about race and racism.   [1]English translation: Hello White People. [2]English translation: The Netherlands, my Motherland.