Project Showcase: At Home in Holland

06 June 2014 – editors

“At Home in Holland,” a new digital history project by students at the University of Amsterdam, responds to the way that hostile reactions to immigrants have undermined the traditional idea of Dutch tolerance and hospitality in recent years. The current Dutch asylum policy was developed in the 1980s. In that same period, Amnesty International Netherlands held its first campaign to draw attention to the problems faced by refugees in the Netherlands. How did a human rights organization usually focused on the plight of people abroad end up campaigning against human rights abuses back at home?

Inspired by this question, four students from the MA in Public History program at the University of Amsterdam researched the changing attitude towards refugees in the Netherlands and how the language of the debate has shifted, from refugee, to asylum seeker, to illegal immigrant, to criminal. Based on interviews with experts, archival research, and historical analysis, we cast a critical eye on the idea of Dutch hospitality in an online exhibition. The Dutch situation is explained for international visitors with or without prior knowledge. A historical narrative, visual documents, video interviews, and more draw the visitor in.

The exhibit demonstrates that refugee issues aren’t just about policy. Several controversial events and the work of Amnesty International Netherlands illustrate other aspects of Dutch hospitality, or the lack thereof. This exhibit delves into the history of this issue and also raises questions. Through talks with undocumented migrants, historians, and writer and performer Massih Hutak, we sought to open a new dialogue about the issues today. Are new residents at home in Holland? Or not?

“At Home in Holland” was written and developed by the students themselves under the guidance of Dr. Manon Parry. The project creators can be reached at [email protected], or via the project’s Facebook page.

~ Anna Foulidis, Hanneke van Kessel, Arvid van de Reep, and Roos Verkleij