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Ethnically mixed relationships in a postcolonial context, 1945-2000
| My research focuses on mixed relationships. In this paper I will look at how gender and ethnicity are constructed or invented in public and political debates and debates in media relating to mixed relationships in the Netherlands, 1945-2000. I use a historical perspective which will shed light on changes in ideas on what is ‘mixed’. In this paper I will focus on ethnically mixed relationships from a gender perspective.
Import aspects of gender are the different (perceived) vulnerabilities of men and women. Vulnerability is constructed in the political and public discourse. Differences between men and women influence the way in which ethnic differences are ‘made visible’ and have an influence on the (perceived possibility of) integration.
Debates on mixed relationships in the American context focuses on race. In these debates whiteness and blackness are constructed, in relation to each other. Marriages between blacks and whites were regarded as a problem, especially during the Jim Crow era.
In Europe, mixed relationships were seen as a problem in terms of nationality. Until the twentieth century, a European woman who married a native man from the colonies, lost her citizenship and obtained the nationality of her husband. The underlying assumption was that these women (had already) lost their affiliation to the culture of the nation. However, a European man who married a native woman retained his nationality and his wife obtained his nationality. In these debates gender and ethnicity were intertwined. Nowadays, due to restrictions on immigration in several European countries, governments fear that marriage are a way for immigrants, (the only way for some), to enter the country. Although both men and women could use (bogus) marriages to enter a country, men and women who do are viewed differently.
As a case study, I will look at immigrants from the former colonies of The Netherlands in the period 1945-2000. These migrants are especially interesting because of the colonial legacy they brought with them to the Netherlands, with its ideas concerning mixed relationships. What they perceived as ‘different’ was changed by the process of migration. Most migrants from the former colonies had the Dutch nationality. As a result ethnicity and nationality can be separately investigated.
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