Identity,
Diversity and
Inclusion
Lectures, articles, notes 2021-2022
1
,INHOUDSOPGAVE
Concept 1: Identity ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Lecture 1: What is identity? ................................................................................................................................ 3
Lecture 2: queer, trans, femme .......................................................................................................................... 4
Concept 2: Intersectionality ............................................................................................................................. 5
Lecture 3: Intersectionality ................................................................................................................................. 5
lecture 4: migrants and health ........................................................................................................................... 7
Concept 3: Migrant identity ............................................................................................................................. 8
Lecture 5: migration and identity ....................................................................................................................... 8
Lecture 6: Migrant domestic labour ................................................................................................................. 12
Concept 4: Superdiversity / assimilation ........................................................................................................ 16
Lecture 7: Superdiversity .................................................................................................................................. 16
Lecture 8: De Voorkamer .................................................................................................................................. 19
Concept 5: Identity politics ............................................................................................................................. 20
Lecture 9: Identity Politics ................................................................................................................................ 20
Lecture 10: Parents and diversity ..................................................................................................................... 23
Concept 6: Religious identity .......................................................................................................................... 26
Lecture 11: religious identities ......................................................................................................................... 26
2
,CONCEPT 1: IDENTITY
LECTURE 1: WHAT IS IDENTITY?
Identity involves:
- Social categorization: (a difference and) a link between the personal and the social: individual and
social identity
- Social comparison: being the same as some people and different from others
- Social identification: identification as active engagement
- Agency and structure: a tension between how much control I have in constructing my identities and
how much control is exercised over me
Social sciences accounting for identity
- Mead: we construct our identity by imagining ourselves thereby using symbols
o Agency: we have autonomy in imagining ourselves
o Structure: we have to use existing language and symbols
- Goffman: identity is, we act out a role in a play where the scripts have already been written
o Agency: negotiation of roles, we can interpret the parts we play
o Structure: the parts of the scripts have already been written for the roles we play
- Freud: we make an identity our own by a process of largely unconscious identification
o Agency: we can come to understand our childhood experiences and shape our own identities
o Structure: social forces can operate though the unconscious, which shapes our identities
Conceptualizing social structures
- Class: a large grouping of people who share common economic interests, experiences and lifestyles
- Gender: the systematic structuring of certain behavior and practices, which are associated with
women or with men in particular societies
- Social structures: e.g. gender and national identity
o Until 1963 Dutch women who married a foreigner automatically lost Dutch citizenship.
Culture of societies
Identities are as much a part of each of us, as they are a part of “the organization of a society” (Woodward,
2003, p. 21).
Societal change: identities are part of the culture of a society
Structures shape our identities but…
There is also agency for shaping our identities:
- 1960s: new social movements
- Making identity a key factor in political mobilization
- Through collective action and through individual projects people resist dominant cultural
representations of identity.
Subverting stereotypes
- Representations, associations, symbols, meanings
3
,Identities, differences and hierarchies
“The key point about difference in the example of the poem is that being black or white is not only a way of
marking difference but is used as a means of asserting superiority” (Woodward, 2003, p. 33)
Identities in crisis? Dutch statues and street names
national traditions (zwarte piet), national treats (negerzoen), dutch golden age
Conclusion
- How are identities formed?
Everyday interactions, social identification (sameness) & comparison (difference). Symbols as markers
of identity and difference.
- How much control do we have in shaping our identities?
We can negotiate our roles, through social action we influence constraining social structures but there
are clearly limits.
- Are there particular uncertainties in shaping our identities?
Yes, a social change continuously takes place, so are identities never fixed but fluid and constantly
redefined making room for diversity.
LECTURE 2: QUEER, TRANS, FEMME
“about trying to fit in”
Homonormativity: the belief that ideally, marginalized gender and sexual groups other than cis-heterosexuals
can and should conform to heteronormative institutions and practices (Duggan, 2012)
Homonationalism: concerns the idea that gay rights and sexual freedom are incompatible with Islam. It’s a
dominant idea that western acceptance of homosexuality corresponds with having achieved an advanced stage
of modernity. Muslims are depicted in opposition to such ‘modernity’ as homophobic and ‘behind’ in terms of
emancipation (Wekker, 2009)
Gender bending queer party – queer according to the genderclowns
Queer is not exclusively gay and lesbian, it is an independent, equal, borderless, D.I.Y, self-conscious,
provocative and genderfuck way of thinking, behaving and acting.
Queer is against racism, sexism, classism, ableism, body-shaming. There is no beauty standard.
Consent is key (permission for something)
Queer
The term queer is used as:
- A umbrella term for non-heterosexual, non-cisgender identities (Jagose, 1996)
- More importantly, as non-conformity (not ‘inactive’ as identity, rather ‘active’ in doing and thinking)
- To underline the intersections of race, ethnicity and class with gender and sexuality (Butler, 1999)
Alok Vaid-Menon
- Niceness
- Pronouns
- Language (every changing and western dominance)
4
, Trans
Transgender is an umbrella term for those who do not
identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. So,
anyone not cisgender.
Some non-binary folk identify as both non-binary and
trans, some don’t. only refer to fold by terms they use for
themselves.
While some transgender people ar4e non-binary, many
transgender people have a gender identity that is either
male or female and should be treated like everyone.
Essentialism vs gender is a social construct.
Oppositional sexism: the belief that female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories, each possessing
a unique and nonoverlapping set of attributes, aptitudes, abilities and desires (Serano et al, 2007).
Identity is fluid, not fixed.
Femme as research lens
- Relational, embodied, contextual, engaged
- Connecting personal narratives to larger societal debates
Hoskin (2021) – can femme be theory?
Bringing feminine multiplicities and feminine devaluation into focus within interdisciplinary and intersectional
research.
Recognizing feminine intersections as central to understanding the ebbs and flows of power.
Questioning the assumptions made about femininity and seeking to understand how these assumptions are
informed by way of intersecting aspects of identity, or modes of oppression.
Situating femme subjectivities in order to unpack anti-femininity and femmephobia.
Connecting experiences based on shared femininity or perceived femininity.
Recognizing that current assumptions about femininity and feminine inferiority are rooted in colonization.
Decolonizing understandings of femininity by looking to the past in order to imagine the future.
Consider the possibility that femininity is not the source of oppression but the assumptions and associations
attributed to femininity itself.
CONCEPT 2: INTERSECTIONALITY
LECTURE 3: INTERSECTIONALITY
Intersectionality: a lens, for making power relations visible and system of power interact and combine. They
create distinct constellation of power which will otherwise not be recognized.
5
Diversity and
Inclusion
Lectures, articles, notes 2021-2022
1
,INHOUDSOPGAVE
Concept 1: Identity ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Lecture 1: What is identity? ................................................................................................................................ 3
Lecture 2: queer, trans, femme .......................................................................................................................... 4
Concept 2: Intersectionality ............................................................................................................................. 5
Lecture 3: Intersectionality ................................................................................................................................. 5
lecture 4: migrants and health ........................................................................................................................... 7
Concept 3: Migrant identity ............................................................................................................................. 8
Lecture 5: migration and identity ....................................................................................................................... 8
Lecture 6: Migrant domestic labour ................................................................................................................. 12
Concept 4: Superdiversity / assimilation ........................................................................................................ 16
Lecture 7: Superdiversity .................................................................................................................................. 16
Lecture 8: De Voorkamer .................................................................................................................................. 19
Concept 5: Identity politics ............................................................................................................................. 20
Lecture 9: Identity Politics ................................................................................................................................ 20
Lecture 10: Parents and diversity ..................................................................................................................... 23
Concept 6: Religious identity .......................................................................................................................... 26
Lecture 11: religious identities ......................................................................................................................... 26
2
,CONCEPT 1: IDENTITY
LECTURE 1: WHAT IS IDENTITY?
Identity involves:
- Social categorization: (a difference and) a link between the personal and the social: individual and
social identity
- Social comparison: being the same as some people and different from others
- Social identification: identification as active engagement
- Agency and structure: a tension between how much control I have in constructing my identities and
how much control is exercised over me
Social sciences accounting for identity
- Mead: we construct our identity by imagining ourselves thereby using symbols
o Agency: we have autonomy in imagining ourselves
o Structure: we have to use existing language and symbols
- Goffman: identity is, we act out a role in a play where the scripts have already been written
o Agency: negotiation of roles, we can interpret the parts we play
o Structure: the parts of the scripts have already been written for the roles we play
- Freud: we make an identity our own by a process of largely unconscious identification
o Agency: we can come to understand our childhood experiences and shape our own identities
o Structure: social forces can operate though the unconscious, which shapes our identities
Conceptualizing social structures
- Class: a large grouping of people who share common economic interests, experiences and lifestyles
- Gender: the systematic structuring of certain behavior and practices, which are associated with
women or with men in particular societies
- Social structures: e.g. gender and national identity
o Until 1963 Dutch women who married a foreigner automatically lost Dutch citizenship.
Culture of societies
Identities are as much a part of each of us, as they are a part of “the organization of a society” (Woodward,
2003, p. 21).
Societal change: identities are part of the culture of a society
Structures shape our identities but…
There is also agency for shaping our identities:
- 1960s: new social movements
- Making identity a key factor in political mobilization
- Through collective action and through individual projects people resist dominant cultural
representations of identity.
Subverting stereotypes
- Representations, associations, symbols, meanings
3
,Identities, differences and hierarchies
“The key point about difference in the example of the poem is that being black or white is not only a way of
marking difference but is used as a means of asserting superiority” (Woodward, 2003, p. 33)
Identities in crisis? Dutch statues and street names
national traditions (zwarte piet), national treats (negerzoen), dutch golden age
Conclusion
- How are identities formed?
Everyday interactions, social identification (sameness) & comparison (difference). Symbols as markers
of identity and difference.
- How much control do we have in shaping our identities?
We can negotiate our roles, through social action we influence constraining social structures but there
are clearly limits.
- Are there particular uncertainties in shaping our identities?
Yes, a social change continuously takes place, so are identities never fixed but fluid and constantly
redefined making room for diversity.
LECTURE 2: QUEER, TRANS, FEMME
“about trying to fit in”
Homonormativity: the belief that ideally, marginalized gender and sexual groups other than cis-heterosexuals
can and should conform to heteronormative institutions and practices (Duggan, 2012)
Homonationalism: concerns the idea that gay rights and sexual freedom are incompatible with Islam. It’s a
dominant idea that western acceptance of homosexuality corresponds with having achieved an advanced stage
of modernity. Muslims are depicted in opposition to such ‘modernity’ as homophobic and ‘behind’ in terms of
emancipation (Wekker, 2009)
Gender bending queer party – queer according to the genderclowns
Queer is not exclusively gay and lesbian, it is an independent, equal, borderless, D.I.Y, self-conscious,
provocative and genderfuck way of thinking, behaving and acting.
Queer is against racism, sexism, classism, ableism, body-shaming. There is no beauty standard.
Consent is key (permission for something)
Queer
The term queer is used as:
- A umbrella term for non-heterosexual, non-cisgender identities (Jagose, 1996)
- More importantly, as non-conformity (not ‘inactive’ as identity, rather ‘active’ in doing and thinking)
- To underline the intersections of race, ethnicity and class with gender and sexuality (Butler, 1999)
Alok Vaid-Menon
- Niceness
- Pronouns
- Language (every changing and western dominance)
4
, Trans
Transgender is an umbrella term for those who do not
identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. So,
anyone not cisgender.
Some non-binary folk identify as both non-binary and
trans, some don’t. only refer to fold by terms they use for
themselves.
While some transgender people ar4e non-binary, many
transgender people have a gender identity that is either
male or female and should be treated like everyone.
Essentialism vs gender is a social construct.
Oppositional sexism: the belief that female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories, each possessing
a unique and nonoverlapping set of attributes, aptitudes, abilities and desires (Serano et al, 2007).
Identity is fluid, not fixed.
Femme as research lens
- Relational, embodied, contextual, engaged
- Connecting personal narratives to larger societal debates
Hoskin (2021) – can femme be theory?
Bringing feminine multiplicities and feminine devaluation into focus within interdisciplinary and intersectional
research.
Recognizing feminine intersections as central to understanding the ebbs and flows of power.
Questioning the assumptions made about femininity and seeking to understand how these assumptions are
informed by way of intersecting aspects of identity, or modes of oppression.
Situating femme subjectivities in order to unpack anti-femininity and femmephobia.
Connecting experiences based on shared femininity or perceived femininity.
Recognizing that current assumptions about femininity and feminine inferiority are rooted in colonization.
Decolonizing understandings of femininity by looking to the past in order to imagine the future.
Consider the possibility that femininity is not the source of oppression but the assumptions and associations
attributed to femininity itself.
CONCEPT 2: INTERSECTIONALITY
LECTURE 3: INTERSECTIONALITY
Intersectionality: a lens, for making power relations visible and system of power interact and combine. They
create distinct constellation of power which will otherwise not be recognized.
5
