Writing an Asian perspective into the Dutch racism debate. An autoethnography of the lived experiences of Chinese-Indonesian restaurant, snack bar, and pub employees

Abstract

Pivotal scholarship on racism in the Netherlands (Essed, 1991; Van Dijk, 1993; Essed & Hoving, 2009; Wekker, 2016) doesn’t pay much attention to racism experienced by people of Asian descent (Hoogervorst & Tarisa, 2021). Also, the Netherlands has a tendency of selfpraise, in which the Dutch are tolerant and anti-racist people (Van Dijk, 1993; Wekker, 2016). However, in the Dutch context there are many examples of anti-Asian racism (Asian Raisins, 2020; 2022). Oftentimes, people of Asian descent encounter food-related slurs with references to dishes served by Chinese-Indonesian restaurants (Hoogervorst & Tarisa, 2021). Therefore, this research reflects on the ways in which anti-Asian racism experienced in a ChineseIndonesian restaurant, snack bar, and pub contest the Netherlands’ identity as a liberal, colourblind and anti-racist-country.

An autoethnography is build of the lived experiences of Chinese-Indonesian restaurant, snack bar, and pub employees, to value and honour these experiences and contribute to awareness about anti-Asian racism in the Dutch context. The research method used is participant observation. Prior to this research, I have worked seven years at the fieldwork location as a restaurant, snack bar, and pub employee of Asian descent. The analysis is grounded in Asian critical theory [AsianCrit]. AsianCrit is developed in the US context and in the field of Education, to look at Asian American experiences and the role of racism herein (Chang, 1993; Iftikar & Museus, 2018). Resulting from the analysis, it becomes clear that anti-Asian racism is a container concept, and that the employees from Asian descent rather experience anti-Southeast Asian racism. Particularly white older employees and white customers perpetuate and play down anti-Southeast Asian racism. Thus, this research shows a denial of anti-Southeast Asian racism experienced in a Chinese-Indonesian restaurant, snack bar, and pub.