That old trope.

Last week Dre and I went to the Tropenmuseum.

When I rallied Dre for the outing, I knew our experience there would be complicated at best.

We are living in a former colonial state and the Tropenmuseum is a testament to that era.

(Of course, so is everything else. I mean the wealth, the amazing infrastructure, the good health of everyone living here has been shaped by the state's former extractive riches. But its not as blatant as it is at the museum, so lets get back to it.)

The Tropenmuseum was once the site where the citizens of Holland proper could admire the artifacts and "oddities" of their colonial holdings.

By the 1970s it was a little more self-aware and became an outpost dedicated to examining "the problems of the third wold" (a mirror would have been handy).

Now it is an anthropological museum that houses the histories and current representations of cultures around the world. Of course, most of the cultures represented happen to be from former colonial states. 

There is an appeal in seeing artifacts from around the world. I mean, the world is full of fascinating stuff and it can be illuminating to learn about it. One of the first exhibits we visited displayed fertility symbols from South America that look surprisingly like the head rests of Western Africa. It's fascinating to see the universal similarities and differences of people around the globe. 

I genuinely believe that we as people grow through our exposure to culture (our's and other's). It's just troublesome when the keeper, curator and storyteller of that culture is a former colonial superpower. 

One theory of international relations (or way of thinking about the world) is that the understanding, relationship and interaction between states (states being countries in this context) is shaped by social constructs about race and ethnicity. ie: what "we" think the population of another country dictates how we talk to them.

That seemed to be true at the Tropenmuseum, where the cultures of West Africa were presented as interesting and "other" while the accomplishments of Arab countries were reviewed with reverence and parallels were drawn between Europe and their Middle Eastern neighbors. I'll save you from details about the more offensive manifestations of the West Africa exhibit. 

Dre and I ultimately scrambled through the last of the exhibits, uncomfortable and anxious to return to the wider world.

Unfortunately, this time of year, the wider world includes many representations of Zwarte Pete. Zwarte Pete is SinterKlaas' black helper. Zwarte = Black.

Only its not, that Pete is simply black. Pete is coal black, as in black face black. And there is a whole social narrative here, justifying this representation but the cold hard fact is that the beloved Zwarte Pete is a completely blatant caricature of people of African descent and reinforces problematic stereotypes about people of color.

Here in the Netherlands there has been a small, growing movement to do away with the current incarnation of Zwarte Pete, but it has been met with much resistance. Including arresting a group of protesters for wearing the shirt Zwarte Pete is Racism.

Arresting critics won't silence them, nor absolve the Dutch of their responsibility to face facts and change ways. 

I'm not simply pointing fingers here. I acknowledge that I am a citizen of a neo-colonial state that is dripping with problematic practices when it comes to foreign relations (invasion, anyone?) and domestic policy ("welfare reform"). I'm also fortunate that I am a citizen of a state that allows me to think about, post and publish on such matters.

Enough of that for now. I've got a dinner to cook.