getting the word out: interviews!

I've been here, in Amsterdam, hanging out, being a sociocultural sponge (or anthropologist as we're sometimes called), for a while now. In fact, my little red agenda tells me I only have about 100 days left (where did the time go?!) before I have to return to Canada and start making sense of all these notes, experiences, discussions, observations and ideas. Oh, and interviews!

Yes, I am now at the point in my research where I am actively trying to find folks to interview. I have done two interviews with very interesting people thus far, and happily have another two lined up over the coming weeks. But, I would really like to do more.

Although things have changed slightly since my initial research proposal in terms of finding people to tell me about their everyday lives and opinions about what it means to belong in Amsterdam and the Netherlands (shifting the focus from neighbourhoods to networks), I am still absolutely interested in talking to people who have some kind of professional interest in issues of 'Dutchness', citizenship, immigration and integration. Currently, I am trying to find people to interview who participate in voluntary work to discuss these things as well. I've contacted the organizers of the volunteer organizations I have been working with here - including the language-oriented programs of Gilde Amsterdam (SamenSpraak) and Hart Voor Amsterdam (Native Speaker Project) - and hopefully the replies will start trickling in very soon! (Thank you to Dominique at the Native Speaker Project for helping me to get the word out to the other Native Speakers!)

So, here's to getting the word out! If you know of anyone (preferably living in Amsterdam) who either has a professional interest (as a social worker, a language teacher, an inburgering-cursus instructor or participant, artist keen on representations of belonging in the Dutch context, etc.) or is involved in voluntary work who would like to have a bit of a formal chat with someone researching questions of feeling at home in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, please feel free to send them my way!

museums

Maybe too often, when people think of Amsterdam, the first (and sometimes, sadly only) things that come to mind characterizing this amazing city are marijuana and prostitution. But, there is so much more to Amsterdam than the overly touristy Red Light District would have you believe.

For example, Amsterdam, and the whole Netherlands in general, seem to really love their museums! I've never seen so many different museums: big and small, famous and practically unheard of (even by people who live here), exotic, grand, and everyday... And this past weekend - national museum weekend - was the perfect time to check some of them out (for free)!

I've already been to a handful of different museums in Amsterdam and elsewhere.

In Amsterdam:

• the Van Gogh Museum
• the Rijksmuseum
• the Houseboat Museum
• the comically horrid Sex Museum
• the secret Catholic church Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder
• Anne Frank House, twice
• and in both the Oud Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk.

I've also been to the wonderful Gemeente Museum in Den Haag, as well as Escher in het Paleis.

This weekend, what with all the great discounts and all, I went to three more:

• the neighbourhood museum in Amsterdam Noord aptly known as Museum de Noord (Museum the North),
• the city museum Amsterdams Historisch Museum (Amsterdam Historical Museum),
• and the famous former Colonial Museum today known as the Tropenmuseum (Tropics Museum).

I am trying to look at these three museums with eyes a little more critical than those of your average museum visitor. To me, these museums are interesting because of how they tell the stories of what it means to belong, to be Dutch, and to relate to the past and present, to each other inside and across these particular settings. The little Museum de Noord, just one year old, is actually housed in the former bath house for a neighbourhood in Amsterdam Noord. It's a tiny museum compared to most I've seen, but is still rich with the history of the area (through maps, pictures, and a very knowledgeable caretaker) and everyday lived experiences (as through the art of Liesbeth Verhoeven, whose work was on display when I visited on Friday). The Amsterdams Historisch Museum is much larger, and tells the story of the growth of Amsterdam as a city, its place in the Netherlands (especially during the Golden Age), and through the special exhibit on now, Hoerengracht (Whore's canal), takes a critical, artistic look at the Red Light District that for many visitors, characterizes (symbolizes?) Amsterdam. The Tropenmuseum looks outward to the Dutch connections (past, present and future) with the wider world, namely, places in the tropics - particularly, places where the Netherlands had colonial interests. It was really interesting to see how a museum that is clearly popular with children (lots of rugrats running around, and presentations and activities specifically to entertain and teach the little ones) covered historical topics just as clearly part of a past that Dutch people seem to be both proud (e.g. past glories and scientific advancements) and ashamed of (e.g. slavery).

After my fancy new museumkaart (discount card for Dutch museums) arrives in the mail, hopefully this week, I think I need to visit all of these museums again - in the research-minded sense, and because they're just so (unexpectedly) large that I didn't get to see everything! I'm also planning to check out:

• the Amsterdam city archives' exhibits (Stadsarchief); in particular, the earliest photos of Amsterdam, and their Giro d'Italia photos.
• the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum (Dutch Maritime Museum)
• the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Dutch Open Air Museum) in Arnhem - really excited for this one!

So, as Ms. Long would probably say, "Red Light, schmred Light. Bring on the museums!"

attention to detail...

Paying attention to the little things can be both wonderful and kind of hindering. Wonderful, when it comes to enjoying the little things in life (like getting perhaps unusually excited about finding an organic brewery in a windmill, or seeing a cat on the street, or the first flowers of the season). Terrible, when it takes much, much longer than expected to finish (or start) a task because I feel like I just don't have all the facts straight yet.

Then there's the times when paying attention to the details is just downright intriguing.

Yesterday, on my way back home from my volunteer work in Amsterdam Noord, I was waiting for the ferry. I had just missed the last boat by seconds, so had about 8 minutes to wait before the next one arrived. That's when I saw a little white sticker, no bigger than a name-tag pasted onto a pole. I had to get closer to read it, but it said

Geef Almere

AAN DE

Palesteijnen

which translates as "Give Almere to the Palestinians."

Almere, if you recall, is the city near Amsterdam where the PVV (the far-Right, staunchly anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim party of Geert Wilders) recently swept the municipal elections. Woah. The things is, there aren't a whole lot of 'allochtonen' (which in public discourse usually means, non-white, non-Western people, immigrants, probably Muslims and therefore, probably in need of integration) actually living in Almere (surprise, surprise), but the people that do live in Almere seem to be very concerned about this 'group' of 'newcomers' and their effect on the Netherlands. So, the fact that someone is proposing that the city should be given to the Palestinians (as a new homeland?), well that's just interesting! When I came home I googled the phrase to see what else is out there, whether it's some kind of organized campaign, or a random incident, or what?

What I found was that more people around the city have run across similar graffiti. Random expressions of anger, frustration, ridicule, or disassociation of Almere from... what? From Amsterdam, from the Netherlands, from the Dutch as a people, from the artists themselves? For instance, this one was posted on Twitter in January 2010 (notably even before the municipal elections in March 2010. And according to someone else on Twitter, the same graffitied message was in de Volkskrant in February, and I've found similar images posted from the Sarphatistraat in Amsterdam):

Or this one ('Give Almere back to the sea')... posted in December 2009:

I'm wondering now if these messages are only being found in Amsterdam, or if they're being pasted and sprayed on the urban landscapes of other cities as well. Back in mid-March I was walking on the Waterlooplein in Amsterdam one weekend, and came across this poster taped up to the side of a building on the fairly busy, even in grey weather, street. One of the many little old accordion playing women was sitting a few metres away (interesting contrast), and people were strolling the street, visiting the shopping plaza the next building over, or whizzing past on bicycles or scooters on their way to other parts of the city.

In a city as diverse as Amsterdam, as historically tolerant as Amsterdam, as tourist-magnet-y as Amsterdam, it's an interesting question to ask. Who is the real alien? What does being alien actually mean here? Does it have to do with geography, personal biography, or maybe with social or cultural values? And, the thing is, this poster, in English, is taped up to the side of a building in Amsterdam Centrum. Despite some social housing in the nearby streets, the centre is a place for wealthier, and better educated people, and predominantly white, 'native' Dutch people (2008 stats for this neighbourhood mark only about 12% of inhabitants as 'non-Western allochtonen' - which basically mean people whose families immigrated from non-Western countries, probably Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia or Suriname). Even so, I get the feeling that this poster wants the reader to set aside questions of race or ethnicity or autochthony and ask what it really means to belong in Amsterdam, or even in the Netherlands. Who is the real alien?