Fieldtrip!!!

This past Thursday I packed my bags and set off for a day trip to Arnhem. Arnhem is a little city 97 kms east of Rotterdam, which takes approximately 2 hours to get to by train. I was in Arnhem because I was fortunate enough to have a meeting with the Director of Volkshuisvesting, which is a housing corporation in Arnhem. How, might you ask, did I land a meeting with the director of a very successful housing corporation? A corporation that has approximately 13,000 units in Arnhem alone? Well, I was lucky enough to have an inside source, we'll call her Bird, who was able to snag me an appointment with the big man, Mr. B, himself.

I arrived in the early afternoon and we began our visit with a short interview. I was especially interested in a project that I know as 'the Mediterranean (housing) project'. This project is quite unique in that these houses were designed with input from women who immigrated to the Netherlands. This project began when an architect connected to volkshuisvesting interviewed a group of women (who would be considered 'allochthonen') in order to learn more about what an ideal family home would look like from their perspective. Why, you ask, would a housing corporation go to such lengths to research/design/build an accommodation for a particular group of individuals in their renting population? It was thought that the preferences of this group in particular had yet to be accommodated for in building house(s) practices. I personally found this project to be unique in its conception and approach (holding numerous focus groups...why it's damn near anthropological (!) although I cannot make any comment on the questions asked at the time since I was not present at the meetings). I also learned that it was only one of many ideas by volkshuisvesting which sought to create a dialogue between the corporation and its renters for the purpose of what I came to understand as 'better housing practices'. If individuals are happy in their homes and their surrounding neighbourhoods, then they make better renters and a better place or neighbourhood to be. At least, this is my general impression. I was in awe that a housing corporation did not just care about the physical housing. Most of the emphasis was put on the individuals in the houses in addition to their social connections to other renters, to their neighbourhoods and to their city.

But it was not enough to have a chat about these things. Mr. B (in his nice suit and shoes) and I hopped on a pair of bikes and cycled to the neighbourhood where the Mediterranean houses were built. It was interesting to see the buildings and their surroundings as it gave you an idea as to how different they were from the other houses but not in an 'out-of-place' way. The results from the focus groups identified a couple of areas where the design of the house could be changed. These included: a closed separation between the kitchen and living room; creating a larger distance between the main bathroom and the living room; the ability to park one's car close to the house instead of in the street. From this photo you can see that at least one of these suggestions was accounted for (with the possibility that all were accounted for however, we did not go inside). While these were not the only findings from the research, and those that I have provided, are from memory so please take this into account, I found the whole process of taking renters thoughts and preferences into account when building houses, to be very positive.

My fieldtrip to Arnhem is not the only experience that I've had with housing corporations. Housing corporations are becoming important for my research because their housing and neighbourhood projects have quite a significant impact on how people come together in the neighbourhood. Most housing corporations have 'visions' for a particular neighbourhood that could result in a neighbourhood being torn down and rebuilt in a different fashion, or having buildings renovated to change the occupancy or doing something as simple as painting the outside frames of all the windows to make things look nice. It also includes building playgrounds, doing landscaping, creating parks, many things that are possibly outside the scoop of a housing corporation. From what I've heard, experiences with housing corporations are not all positive but depend somewhat on the vision of the neighbourhood held by the corporations and by the other inhabitants. While I came away from volkshuisvesting with quite a positive feeling, I will follow up with housing corporations here in Rotterdam in order to better understand where these money-making businesses figure into the scheme of things in the neighbourhood and in between neighbours.

Just as an ending note, I've personally been living in an apartment owned by a social housing corporation here in Rotterdam and have had no issues to date. A very positive personal experience here as well.

Slowwwwwwwwwwwwwww

This week is going to be a little slow. As there are rainy seasons and dry seasons, winter breaks and summer breaks, so too is there a short, one-week vacation for all children in grade school and high school here in the Netherlands. What does this mean for me? It means that I'll be taking a break from my usual weekly activities in the buurt centruum (neighbourhood centre) because all regularly scheduled activities have been cancelled for the week. This fact has made me take notice of a couple of things. First, the majority of people who attend the activities and use the buurt centrum are women (typically with young children). While this may have appeared obvious to anyone who has previously walked into the place, it's something that I have taken distinct notice of, during this week (she says as tumble weeds blow through the doors of the neighbourhood center. There is literally no one is around!). Second, the majority of activities at the neighbourhood centre are directed at adults rather than children (there is at least one recent exception to this as a group has started children’s identity workshops). Although I thought that the majority of women would bring their children to the centre for their usual activities, this appears not to be the case. Instead, activities for children have been moved to a different location (see below).
photo

As for myself, I'll be changing scenery and joining my volunteer group at the Bergweg station (in the Hofbogen lijn) for 'Villa Zebra', which is a series of children's activities for two to three hours held in the morning and again in the afternoon. The first day that I'm scheduled to work is this Wednesday and I'll be interested to see whether or not the same women that use the buurt centruum will attend the children’s activities in the station. The difference between these two activities (in addition to the ones noted above) is that the buurt centruum provides services free of charge, whereas one must pay to take part in these children's activities. Parents must pay per child in fact. While the cost is still quite low, it will be interesting to see how this difference affects who is able to participate and who is not.

Overall, this vacation has affected the pace of the neighbourhood reminding me of the weeks leading up to the Christmas season here. I usually look outside my window in the early morning, where I can typically see mothers and fathers hoisting their children onto their bikes and cycling off to school and/or work. This morning, my street was a ghost town as I suppose both parents and offspring enjoyed a later wake-up time. While it is not yet time for me to take another vacation (but it’s coming up…) this shake-up to the weekly scheduling is a nice change.

Government...scmovernment. The Dutch do it their own way!

As many of you already know (if not all of you), the Dutch government fell in the wee hours of this past Saturday morning due to a rift between coalition parties. In what is reminiscent of divorce proceedings, the parties split due to irreconcilable differences over whether or not the Netherlands should extend their military presence and participation in Afghanistan until 2011. The supposed hard-liner was Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos of the Labour Party who refused to accept any further extension of Dutch troops despite NATOs written request to the government early in the term.

The fall of the government did not come as a shock to most who follow Dutch politics, especially after the results from the independent Davids commission were released in early January. The Davids commission was an independent body which analysed whether or not the Netherlands' support of the invasion of Iraq was illegal or not (it was found to be illegal). When this report was released, Jan Peter Balkenende (the Dutch Prime Minister) shrugged off the results as unimportant and very-narrowly missed toppling the coalition then.

One might also be less than surprised at this happenstance considering this is nothing new to the Dutch politics. This cabinet was Balkenende's fourth and it was also the fourth time that Balkenende has failed to bring a coalition government to the end of the full four-year term. In my opinion, I think it would be more shocking if the government lived out their full term at this point! (but I digress…)

As one might guess, the government’s dissolution was a hot topic at the going-away party that I attended last Saturday night after the news was reported earlier that day. A friend of mine, we'll call her Farsi, is going home to Iran for two months for a vacation. She has not been back to Iran in over a year and was quite excited to return. When the topic came up, she told me that when she had heard the news about the Dutch government falling, she asked her vrindt (boyfriend) something to the effect of: "What does this mean? What will happen? Is their going to be a revolution in the streets?" To which her vrindt responded, "No, this just means that there will be another national election in three months." While his response seemed quite a bit less extraordinary than what my friend's original interpretation and expectation of the situation had been, I agree with some of the news reporters who are weary of the outcome of another election at this time.

Although there may not be mass protests in the streets, this next election will come at a time of instability and growing exasperation and lack of trust held by the voters for traditional politicians and their parties. Many of the recent news stories covering the dissolution of the Dutch cabinet have also trotted out the shocking and sudden rise of Pim Fortuyn's right-wing politics back in 2001. They believe that Fortuyn’s rise may have paved the way for other right-wingers such as Geert Wilders, the leader of the right-wing political party PVV. According to popular opinion, Wilders’ is manoeuvring into a position to take up Fortuyn's legacy.

I agree with other commentators out there when they surmise that Wilders will most definitely profit from the current unstable political climate and exasperated voters. In what has been deemed 'the Wilders' effect', some reporters have been guessing at which parties will flop toward Wilders' extreme views and which against, but all agree that Wilders will be a formidable force in these coming elections. Another conclusion is that, the major parties which constituted the last cabinet will not be able to make-up much of the ground they've lost and have been loosing for quite some time with the Dutch voters. The Dutch electorate itself is quite fractured as is evinced from the fact that no one party has held a majority in recent history. There are typically about eight parties that share parliamentary seats, this last government housing eleven different parties in parliament. Although you might think that this would mean that the ideals of a party like Wilders' PVV would then be held at bay due to the numbers, he would only need about 20 seats or so in order to make an impact on policy and Dutch society.

If the Netherlands is entering a period of political instability then this has quite a lot of meaning for my research. Wilders is famous for his tirades against Muslims and Moroccan immigrants. Much of his policies seek to lessen non-western immigration and to see that more assimilative policies are put into place for immigrants already living in the Netherlands. These national party politics and all the hoopla that goes on during national elections will definitely affect how people come together in everyday in somewhere as local as my neighbourhood. How will this affect the activities that I'm currently participating in (for example, the inburgering classes, the fietsles (biking lessons), and the conversation circle)? How will this affect how neighbours view one another and their place within larger society? These are questions that I continue to follow in my daily excursions into the Dutch wild. Seeing as we'll now have both municipal and national elections during the course of my research, it appears that my research has now become a little more political than I originally intended.

If you'd like to read more about the topic please follow this link. I found this site to be most helpful when writing this particular blog, my thanks to Mr. Tyler for his well-written and comprehensive piece.

Inburgering (Citizenship) Lessons

After a failed attempt last Tuesday, I was thrilled to receive an email from the inburgering lessons' teacher ‘Fleur’ on Monday night letting me know that I was welcomed to join the lessons the following day. So at 9 o'clock in the morning I biked through the ice and snow to the neighbourhood centre to have my first class. As mentioned in my last blog these classes include Dutch language instruction and learning about Dutch history and current affairs. They also involve learning more practical information that can help individuals get along in every day life (for example, what to do/say when visiting the apotheek which is our version of the shoppers drug mart), in addition to providing a safe space for practicing this knowledge. These particular classes used to be housed in the Moroccan mosque just across from the hofbogen lijn (from what I understood however, I'll have to double check this point) however due to an opening in the neighbourhood centre, the classes were moved to its present location a couple of months ago. Since this time Fleur has been busy giving lessons at the centre, three days a week, to women who are on a 3, 6, 12 or 18 month plan to complete their inburgering certifications.

The inburgering process in the Netherlands was developed to help immigrants integrate socially into their host society in addition to allowing other members of Dutch society to recognise them as full citizens. The end goal of inburgering courses is to have immigrants fully-participating in Dutch society. Although this process is chiefly aimed at new immigrants, not all of the women at my inburgering class were in fact “new”. As a matter of fact, the majority were what the Dutch call Oudkomers or ‘old comers’. This label does not refer to their age but to the amount of time that they've lived in the Netherlands. There were even a couple of women who had lived in the Netherlands for longer than they had lived in their native countries however, they had been asked by the government to complete these courses. In order to take these courses (and have them paid for by the government) one must receive an invitation from the government. However, maybe invitation is the wrong word maybe since one only has a certain amount of time to complete these courses if they wish to receive permanent status. Oudkomers are those individuals who came to the Netherlands before these inburgering courses were in place (before 2007) and have been asked in retrospect, to complete these courses. For more details concerning who and under what conditions individuals must take these courses please follow this link.

The course itself is quite interesting and in my opinion, extremely practical and helpful. Although I continue with my Dutch taal curses (language instruction) every Monday night I found myself learning a lot in just one session. The example of the apotheek that I used above was something that we covered in addition to discussing the latest news stories from the weekend (Sven winning the gold in Vancouver! And the tragic train crash in Belgium). Fleur also went over the different political parties that are involved in the upcoming March 3rd municipal election. This was especially topical since the leaders of the parties had been on television the night before having a debate over current events and issues in the Netherlands. During the debate Geert Wilders had claimed something to the effect that Moroccans and Muslims were the greatest problem facing the Netherlands because they were refusing to integrate. I wonder if being in my Tuesday morning class would change his mind…I’d like to think so.

Overall, I'm pleased that this activity is very informative toward my research as well as being a really great way to supplement to my other learning!

Let's Play a Game

I bet you'll never guess how any of these fit into my research...They're all pictures that I've taken or have been taken of me over the last month...can you guess how these could possibly relate to my research?

I'm a Dancin' Machine!

I've just arrived home from one of the most pumping parties here in Rotterdam! I spent the night drinking, eating, and dancing and I had a fantastic night! This party boasted many forms of entertainment including a live band (I cannot believe that this band played from 5pm until 12 midnight - practically straight through!), a fashion show, a traditional dance demonstration, and numerous raffles for some great door prizes! So how is this research? Only Turkish women and their guests (like me) were invited. I bought a ticket with the woman who I work with at the buurt centrum, and the two of us met two of her friends there. The importance of this party for my research was seeing how people in my neighbourhood come together. In between eating and drinking (my new favourite drink is espresso and hot chocolate!), I began thinking of how people who were not at this party, might perceive it. Would it be seen as an example of integration (due to the organisation of such an event which included applying to the local government for a subsidy), or the exact opposite (is holding a Turkish party an example of not being connected to the host nation)? While I know that any individual belongs to more than one group identity (Dutch, Turkish, artist, etc.), and that these groups do not have to be mutually exclusive in order to belong - where would this party fit in terms of community (you can pick one) belonging?
It’s a question I’ll have to follow up on as I was one of the lucky ones to be inside.

The event itself was held in a rented hall that was located under the hofbogen train line (another neighbourhood project of mine). The hall had a large dance floor, bar area, and enough room to seat up to 500 people. I would estimate that there were approximately 300 women and children there tonight. My friends and I had a wonderful time learning Turkish dances, listening to great music, and sampling home cooked food. Although the small group that I arrived with were not a part of the Turkish community per say (and we weren’t the only ones), we were warmly accepted. This included having food shared with us, dances taught, and all the Turkish translated into Dutch throughout the night. Although this was the first year for this event, I think it was a huge success because it drew a very large crowd with people coming from all over Rotterdam. I was told by one of the women that she recognised other guests whom she knew to live in Rotterdam south. (A trip from the south of Rotterdam can take over a half an hour which is quite far by Dutch standards!) Despite the distance and the cold (the hall was a bit cold except when you got dancing), the place was hoping! I had a great time and knew that I was out of my partying-league when I saw one of the women from our table actually dancing on the table. I was humbled!

Although this didn't seem the right time to ask my questions, I felt the night was very successful in that I made some new connections with the other revellers. Otherwise, I had a lot of fun and that has to count for something, doesn't it? I think the overall lesson to be learned here is that no one should say that partying can't be field work. Ever!

Out in the Cold

Brrrrrr. It's in the negatives here again in Rotterdam and I realise that I've become acclimatised to the weather and find it to be very cold. This is especially the case as I whip along on my bike between A and B. I believe cycling adds wind chill on top of the expected wind chill! Would this be considered exponential wind chill? No, it's probably not that dire but it's double wind chill levels at least!

This morning I decided to drop in on the inburgering lessons (integration/citizenship/participation sessions) that are given three times per week at my local buurt centrum (neighbourhood house). The buurt centrum is extremely diverse in its activities and these inburgering sessions are one of the latest editions to plethora of activities one can find there. In these sessions alone, one can practice speaking and writing in Dutch, have lessons on the computer, receive training for their inburgering exams, and learn more about parenting and children as well as issues of health and social skills. I would like to understand what each of these subjects entails as I think it could be very important to my research.

Yet, as I crawled out of bed this morning I questioned whether showing up unexpectedly was really a smart idea and chewed it over in my head as I chewed on my porridge. The Dutch, ahem, are known for their love of organisation (this process has even garnered a name - the 'polder model') and their dependence on their agendas to plan social gatherings. During my many hours of reading before coming to the field, I also learned that it was uncouth to show up unexpectedly at someone's house for dinner because there is typically only enough meat for the people who are expected to be at dinner, and that one should never take more than one cookie from a proffered cookie jar during tea (a mistake that I made all too often last year in my preliminary trip). While I have no way of knowing the veracity of these claims, I still felt weary of showing up this morning and changed my mind twice before setting off to arrive early in order to ask if I might join the group.

Having locked my bike up to one of the metal stands, I waited outside the doors of the centrum for the teacher to arrive - mon dieu, was it cold! One, then two and three students showed up for the course and the four of us stomped our feet in unison and commented on the weather together. Whether by design or luck, one student had our teacher’s number and called her to determine her location as oppose to our own. Alas, the teacher was sick and the student was told that she would be well enough to continue for the next session. Although left out in the cold, I think I'll try this method again as it has not yet been proven, to not work. I think I'll call it the surprise method...or better yet, ninja ethnography (just kidding). I hope that the next time I try it, I won’t be thwarted by extenuating circumstances and that next week I might be able to come inside (in more ways than one).

Festivals in the City

Since this film festival has taken up much of my waking hours the past two weeks (from the 24th of January until tonight's last hurrah!) I feel as though I should give a little more detail about what the festival meant to the city in my eyes.

The festival itself, while concentrated in the centre of Rotterdam (North), was visible through all of Rotterdam. Last Saturday, I travelled toward Rotterdam South in order to meet up with another English teacher for some preparatory work for my English lessons. While there, I noticed numerous posters of the iconic 'tiger' face were plastered everywhere! Rotterdam's mascot for the festival is a tiger. These fuzzy faces were not only in my tram but also littering the pleins (open grass areas), tram and bus stops, and hanging-up on the sides of buildings. In the area where I live in the north, I also saw these posters and was handed one of the variously designed postcards in the local cafes announcing the arrival of the festival. However, it's not just advertising however that makes the presence of this festival felt.

Photo - Although it's hard to see, these are flags with the festival's tiger on them that are surrounding a central fountain (Hofplein). I saw these a week before the festival started. They are on my way into the city.

In and around the centre one has a hard time finding a cafe to sit in or an empty seat in a square (weather depending of course). While walking around the festival last week, I was able to step out for a quick bite with some of Pdot's friends, Ddot and his wonderful girlfriend Rana. As we had only a short time we tried to find a place close by however, we ended up walking in and out of four places due to their busyness before finally settling in the Selexy-Doner (the Dutch version of Chapters or Indigo).

On the streets, one can feel the accelerated pulse of the city as it beats faster with all the international as well as national visitors. Malt, my cousin, came to no fewer than four movies during the festival and I think this is typical of the intensified vibrancy that seems to have suddenly gripped Rotterdam. Cinemo actually said to me, on our only coffee break (we were working very hard during the festival!), 'Rotterdam portrays itself as a festival city, in order to attract tourists'. While I've heard that Rotterdam has begun to loose its reputation as the place to party in the Netherlands, no one can dispute the popularity of the festival that seemed to reach quite far into the boroughs throughout the city and beyond.

Instead of hanging around in the neighbourhood bars, more people came to the centre of town to watch a movie and then come to the after parties (of which there were many to choose from). The festival itself had its own Rotterdam section where people from Rotterdam were able to showcase their work. For the first time ever there was a focus on African Cinema which most likely spoke to certain Rotterdammers over others. The festival, while not directly linked to my research question, affected people living in my neighbourhoods just the same.

Where have you been?!?

Where have you been?!? This is a question that I feel like I might get a lot in the coming week or two. Since last Sunday, January the 24th I have been helping out at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. I am lucky to be an assistant to a very big name in the field and we have been working night and day (literally) trying to bring all the right people together since the festival began. While I was told that I would have a special position that would necessitate a bigger time commitment than most other volunteers, nothing could prepare me for the 81.5 hours that I've worked since last Sunday. Now some would think, this sounds like a normal North American work week (and a half) and they'd be right in some cases. However, I've tried to maintain my schedule of volunteering that I do for my research-such as the English lessons on Sundays, and now Mondays and Thursdays. The volunteering I do on Wednesdays (and now Monday's) for homework help, Fridays with the biking lessons still and Monday's for my own conversation circle with the ladies from the area. I also have my own language classes still, the bi-weekly meetings of the neighbourhood organisations and meetings to do with upcoming celebrations. I'm definitely as tired (and I've actually had a bad cough during the entire festival) as this schedule sounds and although it may sound ungrateful...I can't wait for the festival to be over on Sunday!

However, despite my weariness, there are some wonderful highlights from this past week and a half that I would never had had without participating. At the festival I was able to meet wonderfully talented film makers, directors, actors and producers all of whom were puzzled as to why I was involved but who welcomed me nonetheless. I shared a lunch with the delegates from a local Embassy. I was so very close to meeting the mayor Abutalleb and telling him all about my project! So close! I met a political analyst who will be filling me in on the current political climate from her perspective in the coming weeks. I have been fed and watered for the last week and a half for free (something which is good for the budget!). I had an article written about me in the daily volunteers magazine detailing what I do at the festival. I was able to receive an award on behalf of a couple of co-directors who were no longer at the festival - it was only in front of 400 people (ack!) and I was featured in the newspaper. I experienced all these things in addition to meeting some great people, which has made this week a fabulous memory.