A Black Perspective on the Language of Race in Dutch

Bibliographic Data

ID2286336
AuthorsSibo Rugwiza Kanobana (0000-0001-5481-1528, Ghent University)
Year2021
Volume31
Issue2
Pages271-274
Publication date2021-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Linguistic Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1055-1360 • E-ISSN: 1548-1395
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jola.12325
OpenAlexW3199322647
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited11

In Dutch, the standard language of the Netherlands and the Flemish region of Belgium, ras (tr. race) is not a word that one can just throw around without raising questions. Ras carries a very heavy ideological weight. As a result, claiming that the social processes by which people of color are stigmatized, marginalized, and delegitimized is raciaal (tr. racial) is often considered imprecise, at best, and a reproduction of racism itself, at worst (see Lo 2019). However, it seems crucial to underscore the importance of studying the social processes that shape racial categories and structures, and the specific position of blackness in relation to whiteness in various contexts. Indeed, a concept like antiblackness becomes deeply resonant, conceptually and experientially, because with its rhizomorphic characteristics (see Ibrahim 2014) blackness reminds Belgium and the Netherlands of their own exclusionary hardened self-image

Gender Studies in Language · Linguistic Education and Pedagogy · Multilingual Education and Policy

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