The Impact of Homonationalism: Analyzing the Dutch government’s self-identity in relation to violence against queer asylum seekers

Abstract

"In the last decades, there have been numerous cases of violence against queer asylum seekers in Dutch reception facilities. This contradicts the image of the Netherlands as a progressive safe haven for queer people. This raises questions about this image and the identity of the Dutch government. By employing homonationalism, developed by Jasbir Puar, I have analyzed government documents and conducted interviews with people working in the field of queer asylum to explore the interaction between violence against queer asylum seekers and the Dutch government’s self-identity. My findings show that there is a discrepancy between the general discourse and practice. The general discourse, which is mostly constructed in parliamentary debates and documents, establishes a homonationalist narrative. This narrative portrays non-queer asylum seekers as inherently queerphobic and queer asylum seekers as vulnerable victims. The Dutch government is depicted as the savior of queer people. This narrative results in a shift in responsibility. The Dutch government focuses on perpetrators and victims as the sole responsible actors in relation to violence. However, the structural problems in the Dutch asylum contribute to the unsafety that queer asylum seekers experience. This factor in violence is rarely acknowledged by the Dutch government, which is why violence against queer asylum seekers can be sustained. Consequently, the homonationalist narrative is dangerous and contributes to violence. However, in practice this narrative is regularly opposed. Several of the people I interviewed acknowledged the nuanced and complex reality of the Dutch asylum system and violence against queer asylum seekers. Therefore, the interaction between violence and the Dutch government’s self-identity is mostly in line with homonationalism, but also encompasses blurry components that show the complexity of this interaction."