Multiculturalism revisited: towards a shared national membership in a multicultural, democratic nation-state
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Date
25/11/2015Author
Dix, Eeke
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the negotiated interpretations of “self” amongst 2nd
generation Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Turkish individuals. It thus enhances our
understanding of a national identity that is both cohesive as well as susceptible to
the multicultural dimensions the modern nation-state inhabits. As part of a
theoretical evaluation of multiculturalism, the focus is on the relationship between
nationalism and multiculturalism, and between acknowledging the civic and ethnic
dimensions that embody and unite the national “self”. The thesis unpicks how and
in which ways these elements influence the accommodation, the respect and
inclusion of the ethno-culturally diverse “other”. Multiculturalism theory tends to
overlook this important symbiosis which might explain the current, widespread
public and political stance that no longer regards multiculturalism as a viable,
sustainable approach to diversity.
The Netherlands is an interesting case study not least because it was portrayed as
the multicultural example and yet illuminates a gradual, yet devastating and
definite abandonment of multiculturalism. This was symbolized by the assassination
of film maker and Islam critic Theo van Gogh whose murderer, a young, educated,
Dutch-Moroccan man, claimed to have killed in the name of Islam. The main
analysis involves data from thirteen interviewees conducted with seven Dutch-
Moroccans and six Dutch-Turks. Such 2nd generation migrants have seen their
“Dutchness” contested and/or questioned despite the fact that their upbringing,
education and daily life has largely occurred in the Netherlands. Other forms of data
collection include a small scale online survey, a pilot participant observation
session, and conducted interviews with experts of relevant organisations. This
hybrid mélange of data illuminates methodological issues of researching a target
group that is highly “researched”.
The thesis commences with a contextual chapter that illuminates changing
(inter)national public and political discourse on integration and offers a critical
overview of Dutch immigration and integration policies (chapter 4). The Dutch
approach of “pillarized multiculturalism” illuminates a key flaw in the practical
implementation of multiculturalism where the focus on bonding rather than
bridging accentuated a rigidified, “pillarized” segmentation of cultural difference
according to social categories rather than individual integrity. As a consequence of
these policies, an embedded notion of categorical “differentness” is sustained, and
is reflected in Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Turkish individuals’ identification
processes of “self”. In this regard, the role of culture is highlighted in two distinct
ways that acts a) as a tool that serves Dutch-Moroccans and Dutch-Turks to
negotiate an individualistic, civic, inclusive “Dutchness” as part of their religious and
ethno-cultural affiliations and b) as an essentialist force that embodies a
“culturalist” Dutch identity that is ethno-ancestrally exclusive (Chapter 5, 6 and 7).
The thesis thus demonstrates the civic-ethnic dialectic inherent in national identity.
This dialectic, comprising dilemmas of exclusion and inclusion and boundaries
between majority and minority cultures, can shape a better understanding of a
national membership that induces both national cohesion as well as accommodates
multicultural diversity.