National Paradigms of Migration Research / Schriften des Instituts für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien (IMIS) (PDF)

"How to Face Reality. Genres of Discourse within Durch Minorities Research (p. 81-82)

By Baukje Prins

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of developments within Dutch minorities studies from the 1980s onward. Starting from a constructivist view of the performativity of language and the situatedness of all knowledge claims, four genres of discourse are discussed, each using its own rhetorical strategies to make readers ›face reality‹, and each appealing to one particular ethical-political value. The genre of denunciation calls for solidarity, the genre of empowerment promotes the value of diversity, while the report is dedicated to the emancipation of minority groups. In the 1990s, due to emerging critical voices in the public debate and the backlash against (Muslim) immigrants since the ›September 11‹ attacks on the US and the murder of Pim Fortuyn in 2002, these three genres gradually lost credibility because of their presumed ›political correctness‹. This led to the dominance of a fourth genre of discourse, that of new realism, which appeals to the value of individual responsibility. Although the four genres seem to be incompatible, this appears to be the case neither in theory nor in practice. Across what look like unsurpassable boundaries, the Dutch discourse has also produced unexpected alliances between these different genres. The chapter concludes with some selfreflexive remarks on the values and political perspective underlying this analysis itself, ending with a plea for exploring an alternative genre, that of heterogeneity, as most suitable to the ethical-political value of a liberal democracy: a responsiveness to otherness and a commitment to justice and fairness for all.

Introduction

Since the early 1980s, the Netherlands have pursued an active policy to further the integration of ethnic minority groups in Dutch society.

Prof. Dr. Dietrich Thränhardt lehrte an der Universität Münster Politikwissenschaft. 2008/09 war er Fellow an der Transatlantic Academy, Washington, mit dem Arbeitsgebiet Vergleichende Politik- und Migrationsforschung.
Since 2008/09, Dr. Dietrich Thränhardt, Professor emeritus for Political Science at the University of Münster, Germany, is Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington D.C.