Beyond White Innocence

Beschreibung:

In my lecture, I am extending an invitation to embark on a post- or decolonial, intersectional reading of Dutch history and culture, but by extension, also of other European nations that had empires during centuries. But even if a few European nations actually did not have empires, they still formed part of an ethos that put a lot of emphasis and importance on the duty «to expand beyond one's own domain». I will first zoom in on «White Innocence», the dominant Dutch self-representation, which combines a rosy, self-flattering view of the Dutch self with an erasure of the fundamental grammar of race in Dutch society. How does White Innocence manifest and by which strong paradoxes is it held up? Subsequently, I want to explore how this dominant habitus of «White Innocence» works in the Dutch academy. Here, I will investigate how «race» is a silent, but powerful organizing principle in the way that we have organized knowledge production. Finally, I will say something about how we can move in the direction of a decolonial university.

Zugänglichkeit:

Das Museum ist durchgehend rollstuhlgängig. Ein Lift ermöglicht den Zugang in den Eingangsbereich, die Foyerausstellung, die Ausstellungen im ersten und zweiten Stock sowie den hinteren Teil des Hörsaals. Im Untergeschoss befindet sich eine geeignete Toilette, die ebenfalls mit Hilfe des Lifts erreicht werden kann.