Bachelor thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (BSc)
closed access
The thesis explores notions of whiteness among three different countries, the United States, Brazil and the Netherlands through the discussion of the notion of race and post-racism. Through the...Show moreThe thesis explores notions of whiteness among three different countries, the United States, Brazil and the Netherlands through the discussion of the notion of race and post-racism. Through the notion of colourblindness in the United States, mixture in Brazil and white innocence in the Netherlands, post-racial states enhance whiteness as the superior norm to justify racial discrimination.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
Anthropological writing on the Dutch context has long evidenced the dissonance between the white Dutch identity and the realities of racial tolerance and inclusion in Dutch society. This dissonance...Show moreAnthropological writing on the Dutch context has long evidenced the dissonance between the white Dutch identity and the realities of racial tolerance and inclusion in Dutch society. This dissonance is palpable in the social scene and is reflected in historical, political and cultural discourses alike. The purpose of this thesis is to ethnographically examine the concept of the cultural archive in Rotterdam’s interracial dating scene from the perspective of white Dutch men in their early to mid-twenties. In a diverse social context such as Rotterdam, characterized by its historic tolerance, fierceness and multiculturalism, interracial sexuality forms amongst the remnants of unacknowledged colonial legacies and complex constructions of white masculine identity. Through ethnography, I demonstrate how the dating practices of white Dutch Rotterdammers reflect a lack of racial/cultural awareness and reenforce legacies that exclude and exoticize the colonial Other. The complexities behind these dating practices, white Dutch masculinity and the formation of interracial sexuality are explored through different qualitative methods and film analysis.Show less
“Colorism”, the unofficial term for discrimination or preferential treatment not based on the construct of “race”, but based on skin color, is a term created by writer Alice Walker in 1982....Show more“Colorism”, the unofficial term for discrimination or preferential treatment not based on the construct of “race”, but based on skin color, is a term created by writer Alice Walker in 1982. Although the term is reasonably new, the construct it represents is not. At the intersection of race, class and gender there is the construct of “colorism”which has for hundreds of years influenced Blacks in America. It is the construct of “colorism” of African American women within the Black American community in the early twentieth century during the New Negro Movement or Harlem Renaissance which I have examined in this MA thesis. Focusing on the writings, and imagery from the covers and advertisements of the highly influential Crisis Magazine when created and under the leadership of scholar and activist W.E.B Du Bois from 1910 until 1934, and supported by theories on race and whiteness, I have researched the dominant middle class Black beauty ideals of the early twentieth century, through the “passing” narratives and images of "black" women in the magazine.Show less
This thesis discusses the relationship between Jews in British Dominions and Jews in the Metropole, through looking at the major Jewish institutions. This thesis argues that Jewish institutions...Show moreThis thesis discusses the relationship between Jews in British Dominions and Jews in the Metropole, through looking at the major Jewish institutions. This thesis argues that Jewish institutions responded to their ambivalent position within British Imperial racial taxonomies through adopting a form of British identity, in order to gain access to the social and political benefits entailed by whiteness.Show less
