Negotiating a Sea of White: Whiteness and Diversity in Dutch Opera Practices

Abstract

The police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 sparked large-scale protests and drew worldwide attention to the Black Lives Matter movement. Subsequently, conversations on racism and police violence arose globally. Opera houses, such as the Dutch National Opera (DNO), also discussed racism and promised to diversify. On social media, DNO acknowledges its responsibility to change as a predominantly white organisation. This statement raises the question of how DNO has dealt with their whiteness and measures regarding diversity and inclusion so far. Therefore, in this thesis, I examine how the diversity and inclusion efforts of DNO between 2017 and 2021 reflect upon the organisation's whiteness. First, I position DNO within the contexts of whiteness concerning opera, the Dutch arts sector and Dutch society. The subsequent chapters address diversity and inclusion within the programme, public, personnel, partners and positioning (5 Ps) as the areas in which DNO aims to diversify. The analysis of DNO's 5 Ps reveals how whiteness inhibits the organisation's diversity and inclusion aims. Within the programme, the overwhelming whiteness of the composers, writers, conductors and directors supports whiteness as a mechanism of exclusion through stereotypical casting and whitewashing. The chapter on public indicates that the convergence of both age and diversity within DNO's aims and projects enforces whiteness by centring a young white audience. Personnel analysis shows the workings of whiteness as an orientation, gender advancement at the expense of people of colour, and tokenism. DNO's partners mirror the whiteness of surrounding networks and the Netherlands, as most collaborators struggle with whiteness. Lastly, DNO's positioning strategy reinscribes systemic whiteness. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to the discourse on whiteness and institutional racism within the realm of opera and Dutch society at large and stresses the critical reflection on the role of diversity and inclusion strategies within these contexts.