During the first two days of December 2016 intellectuals (traditional, organic and vernacular and all what lays between) from all parts of the Dutch Kingdom and other areas within the Caribbean region, came together at the University of Saint Martin (USM) to discuss the important matter of racism at the conference: Raising the Curtain on Race; Globalizing A Critical Analysis of Race and Racism. This ties into our NWO project 'Imaging the Nation in the Classroom' as ideas of racialism and racism are also part of constructions of national identity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
After an introduction by Dr. Teresa Leslie of the Eastern Caribbean Public Health Foundation (ECPHF), one of the organizers along with Dr. Francio Guadeloupe (USM) and Lianne Leonara of the National Anthropological and Archaeological Memory Management (NAAM), Jorgen Unom JG of Poetry Circle Nowhere opened the conference. His opening was directly followed by the insightful keynote of the social activist and vernacular intellectual Mr. Quincy Gario, who discussed his experiences with Black Peter and racism in the Netherlands. After informing all those present of his struggle for justice, he entered into a lively debate with the USM students most of whom had never encountered this Dutch caricature/festivity.
After an introduction by Dr. Teresa Leslie of the Eastern Caribbean Public Health Foundation (ECPHF), one of the organizers along with Dr. Francio Guadeloupe (USM) and Lianne Leonara of the National Anthropological and Archaeological Memory Management (NAAM), Jorgen Unom JG of Poetry Circle Nowhere opened the conference. His opening was directly followed by the insightful keynote of the social activist and vernacular intellectual Mr. Quincy Gario, who discussed his experiences with Black Peter and racism in the Netherlands. After informing all those present of his struggle for justice, he entered into a lively debate with the USM students most of whom had never encountered this Dutch caricature/festivity.