Het Ongelijkheidsdiner
Jarne van Zetten
In the documentary 'The Post-Racisitiche Planeet' (VPRO.nl 2020), Ikenna Azuike tells the audience that he does not know how to explain racism to his eight-year-old daughter. That question is the basis of this research. How do you explain racism to your own child?
This project deals with conversations about racism in young families. The focus is mainly on families who do not think they are exposed to racism on a daily basis. In Dutch schools, children often receive little or no education about their history of slavery and how to deal with racism. According to Gloria Wekker (2016), the cause of this lies in the Dutch educational system, which is often ignorant and colour-blind when it comes to racism. This while it is precisely at a young age that education in this area is important and formative (Clark & Clark 1940; Sullivan, Wilton & Apfelbaum 2020).
The discussion on race. When should this happen? Many families educate their children about racism, but too late in life. ‘Het Ongelijkheidsdiner’ shows that it’s precisely at a young age that it’s important how to deal with inequality in society. During this dinner the layers of inequality are made more and more visible throughout the courses. By having these conversations, children become more and more aware of this.
Discrimination based on race is present when children start primary school. At an early age of four to five years, children are already capable to think about complex subjects such as racism (Sullivan, Wilton & Apfelbaum 2020). If adults do not or not correctly explain racism, children can develop wrong ideas that can be harmful to themselves and others.
In this project, I am creating a tool that helps parents start a conversation about racism with young children. In fact, this project has two objectives. In interviews, parents of young children often indicate that they think their children are too young to talk about racism. I hope that this project can contribute to the realisation that children are aware of skin colour and the difference between skin colour at an early age, and that conversations about this can therefore be relevant. In my project I asked parents to educate their children about the inequality in racism. How do you teach young families about racism in an accessible way? The first objective is thus to make parents aware of the importance of having conversations with their children about racism at an early age. The second objective is to make young children aware of racism in society.
Het Ongelijkheidsdiner
Jarne van Zetten
In the documentary 'The Post-Racisitiche Planeet' (VPRO.nl 2020), Ikenna Azuike tells the audience that he does not know how to explain racism to his eight-year-old daughter. That question is the basis of this research. How do you explain racism to your own child?
This project deals with conversations about racism in young families. The focus is mainly on families who do not think they are exposed to racism on a daily basis. In Dutch schools, children often receive little or no education about their history of slavery and how to deal with racism. According to Gloria Wekker (2016), the cause of this lies in the Dutch educational system, which is often ignorant and colour-blind when it comes to racism. This while it is precisely at a young age that education in this area is important and formative (Clark & Clark 1940; Sullivan, Wilton & Apfelbaum 2020).
Discrimination based on race is present when children start primary school. At an early age of four to five years, children are already capable to think about complex subjects such as racism (Sullivan, Wilton & Apfelbaum 2020). If adults do not or not correctly explain racism, children can develop wrong ideas that can be harmful to themselves and others.
In this project, I am creating a tool that helps parents start a conversation about racism with young children. In fact, this project has two objectives. In interviews, parents of young children often indicate that they think their children are too young to talk about racism. I hope that this project can contribute to the realisation that children are aware of skin colour and the difference between skin colour at an early age, and that conversations about this can therefore be relevant. In my project I asked parents to educate their children about the inequality in racism. How do you teach young families about racism in an accessible way? The first objective is thus to make parents aware of the importance of having conversations with their children about racism at an early age. The second objective is to make young children aware of racism in society.
The discussion on race. When should this happen? Many families educate their children about racism, but too late in life. ‘Het Ongelijkheidsdiner’ shows that it’s precisely at a young age that it’s important how to deal with inequality in society. During this dinner the layers of inequality are made more and more visible throughout the courses. By having these conversations, children become more and more aware of this.
