Summer School on Black Europe – Exploring Dimensions of Citizenship, Race and Ethnic Relations

June 13th-30th, 2010

For additional information over this course, please contact Amy Abdou a.abdou@ninsee.nl.

Course Description

The Summer School on Black Europe is an intensive two week course offered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The course is a collaboration between the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and NiNsee, the National Institute for the study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy.

This course will begin with a historical overview of social and civil conflict in Europe leading to the formation of laws and antidiscrimination legislation within the EU. We will look specifically at anti-discrimination laws as they have arisen in various European countries; comparing the history of regulation and management of race and ethnic relations and the discourse surrounding the concept of Blackness and self-identification. Historically, social forces within Europe have given rise to policies to combat racism. We will trace the chain of events following social and civil conflicts that prompted these policies and analyze the legislative and intellectual discourse produced in the aftermath.

In the second week, we will explore the notions of blackness as; an official categorization; as a social construction, employed by natives to indicate (non) belonging; as a Diaspora living within Europe; and as a contestation of the dominant (White) paradigm. We will focus on the historical and colonial legacies of European countries to discuss the origins of Black Europe and investigate the impact of these legacies on policies and legislation.

This course will also seek to address the dimensions of race and ethnic relations that are unique to Europe; examining the ways in which conceptions of the “other” are institutionalized and reproduced; the rise of xenophobia in various EU countries; the legal definitions and discourse surrounding the conceptualized “other”; and examining the ways in which each country has dealt with issues of race and national identity.

Instructors 2010
Dr. Ramon Grosfoguel, University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Stephen Small, University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Kwame Nimako, University of Amsterdam
Dr. Philomena Essed, Antioch University
Dr. David Theo Goldberg, University of California Humanities Research Institute
Dr. Dienke Hondius, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Dr. Thomas Spijkerboer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Programme Manager

Amy Abdou

Certificate and Credits
This course is accredited through the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Students wishing to receive university credit (3 US credits of 5 ECTS credits) for the course must submit a paper (15-20 pages) before September 1st, 2010. The paper topic must first be submitted to the directors of the programme for approval. Proposals are due at the end of the first week of the programme. Please do not submit a paper proposal in advance of the programme. Once a paper topic has been approved, the students may begin with their research. University libraries will be made available to the students during the course. The paper will be graded on its relevance to Black European Studies and its ability to process the course material. The paper must be relevant to the subject and incorporate some of the readings from the Summer School.
All students who attend and successfully complete the Summer School on Black Europe will receive a certificate of attendance.

Tuition
Non-credit tuition € 1600
Credit tuition € 1850

Tuition does not include housing during the programme or travel to and from Amsterdam. Tuition covers all course materials, lunch during the days when the course is held and travel and entry fees on excursion days. Housing is available through the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for a fee of €400 per month.