The ‘Black Pete’ debate in Flemish newspapers

From Conflict to Moderation

Bibliographic Data

ID6784830
AuthorsMartina Temmerman (0000-0002-1482-8488, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, corresponding author), Belinda Tournet (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Year2025
Volume22
Issue5
Pages531-550
Publication date2025-09-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Discourse Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1740-5904 • E-ISSN: 1740-5912
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17405904.2024.2331161
OpenAlexW4393387358
LanguageEN
References cited17

In recent years, a lot of academic attention has been paid to the public discussion on 'Black Pete' (Zwarte Piet) in the Low Countries. Black Pete is a much-debated blackface character which is part of the Saint-Nicholas tradition – a yearly festive event taking place at the beginning of December associated with gifts and celebration. 'Tradition' versus 'racism' seem to be the main arguments in the debate. The current study analyses the debate as it evolved in Flanders from 2012 until 2022, applying Critical Discourse Analysis to find out how the thinking about the event and the Black Pete character, as reflected in the newspapers, changed over a decade. Our sample consists of 143 articles from the four most read newspapers in Flanders (De Standaard, De Morgen, Het Laatste Nieuws, Het Nieuwsblad). All journalistic genres were included, news reports as well as opinion articles, but also readers' letters. Based on an analysis of naming, modality and evidentiality (Fairclough [2013]. Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. Routledge; Halliday [1994]. An introduction to functional grammar. Arnold), we illustrate and demonstrate how the tone of the debate gradually changed from a discourse of conflict into a discourse of moderation and appeasement

Archaeology · Flemish · Media studies · Moderation · Newspaper · Political science · Sociology · Gender Studies in Language · History · Linguistic research and analysis · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Psychology · Social Psychology

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