PhD | ‘Belonging and Unbelonging in Amsterdam’s Het Zuid-Afrikahuis:A Decolonial Study of Dutch Whiteness in Relation to Afrikaner Whiteness’ – Pieter du Plessis

Dutch cultural heritage institutions have faced calls for decolonisation in recent years. Issues of belonging in these institutions and how they are informed by Dutch whiteness have come to be interrogated. Dutch whiteness is mainly understood in relation to racialised and colonised subjectivities, yet, how Dutch whiteness has been constructed in relation to other forms of whiteness still requires exploration. Through decolonial theory, a critical biography of “Het Zuid-Afrikahuis”, a cultural and knowledge center about South Africa, will be produced, illustrating how Dutch whiteness is informed relationally by Afrikaner whiteness. This will be examined through ethnographic and archival research.