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dc.rights.licenseCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.contributor.advisorBelia, V
dc.contributor.authorTas, S.H.
dc.date.accessioned2017-08-02T17:02:11Z
dc.date.available2017-08-02T17:02:11Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.identifier.urihttps://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/26532
dc.description.abstractOn March 15, 2017, 13.33% of the Dutch electorate voted for the Freedom Party (FP) of Geert Wilders, making his party the second largest party represented in our countries national parliament. Wilders is a much-contested politician, who stands out mostly because of his crude language about Muslims and Dutch Moroccans. His victory emphasizes an increasingly hostile political divide in the Netherlands about the position of (im)migrants. This divide - and its hostility - urges for an understanding of the position of FP voters, so as to sustain a peaceful society. In this research, an attempt is made to understand the concerns of the people who vote for the FP, led by the research question: How do FP voters construct the ‘Self’ via the ‘Other’? In order to answer this research question, the discourse of the respondents in the book KWAAD (ANGRY) by Joost Niemöller, is analyzed. KWAAD consists of extensive interviews about immigrants with a diverse group of 31 ‘angry’ Dutch people who (plan to) vote for the Freedom Party. The analysis establishes that the sense of ‘Self’ of the FP voters in KWAAD is derived from a notion of national identity that treats culture as a possession instead of a process. This binary understanding of culture means that the Dutch identity is in a zero-sum conflict with outside influences, resulting in intolerance for other cultures. Furthermore, we see that Muslims – who are the ultimate ‘Other’ – are painted as intolerant, disrespectful, backwards, aggressive, inferior, criminal and oversexualized, which conversely renders the ‘Self’ as an innocent, feminized victim of the presence of this invasive ‘Other’. The accumulation of these characterizations is seen in the fact that respondents consider themselves to be oppressed. The interviewees report being marginalized and excluded from the public debate by the dominant mainstream, and feel silenced when expressing their opinions about Muslims. When accepting the foundational understanding of national identity as static and incompatible with outside influences, it becomes self-evident that ‘our’ culture should be defended against outside influences, most notably against Muslims. It subsequently becomes understandable that a vote for Wilders and his radical views is the only alternative.
dc.description.sponsorshipUtrecht University
dc.format.extent296985
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.titleBANG: The consequences of FP voters' static understanding of national identity in contemporary multicultural society.
dc.type.contentBachelor Thesis
dc.rights.accessrightsOpen Access
dc.subject.keywordsFP voters, Self/Other distinction, National identity, Multiculturalism, Whiteness,
dc.subject.courseuuTaal- en cultuurstudies


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