Black Man in the Netherlands

Francio Guadeloupe is senior researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. He also teaches anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. He is author of Chanting Down the New Jerusalem: Calypso, Christianity, and Capitalism in the Caribbean and Adieu aan de nikkers, koelies en makambas: een pleidooi voor de deconstructie van raciaal denken binnen de Nederlandse Caraibistiek and coauthor of Zo zijn onze manieren... visies op multiculturaliteit in Nederland.

This is a work of obvious broad appeal--spanning the fields of Caribbean studies, anthropology, critical race scholarship, Black studies, and beyond. Moreover, the beautiful prose of this book makes it valuable for anyone interested in questions of Black life.--Amisah Zenabu Bakuri and Linda Musariri "Transforming Anthropology" As readers we are reminded of the fact that we have a choice about how we perceive the world. Guadeloupe's concept of Urban Blackness allows us to build a meta identity that surpasses the classic race identification and gives us agency in creating our own narratives. This book inspired me, and will hopefully inspire many more academics to embrace complexity, plurality, and optimism in our attempts to contribute to the creation of a liberated, nonracist, nonoppressive society.--Martine Beijerman "new West indies Guide" The new book of Francio Guadeloupe is an (auto) ethnographic engaged and beautifully written account of urban life and popular culture in relation to Blackness and questions of identity and anti-Black-racism in the Netherlands. . . . Through showing that categorizations are abstractions and not lived realities this book proposes an inclusive way to think about, theorize on and combat anti-Black racism as a cultural practice and politics "from below". In that sense it is also a very hopeful book and a must read for all interested in ethnic and racial studies and debates on de- and postcolonialism, urban popular culture, belonging and questions of Citizenship.--Tine Davids "Ethnic and Racial Studies" This book addresses the notion of race in a visceral, personal way. . . . It is unique in its honesty and rawness. Guadeloupe opens the door to his world and invites the reader in, offering personal accounts of lived experience that is also supported by scholarship.--Jason N. Vasser-Elong "Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies" Black Man in the Netherlands is an important addition to the literature of the complex relationship between people of the Dutch Caribbean and their ties to the Netherlands. Though written in the genre of the memoir, it provides a rich ethnographic account of what it means to be Black and Caribbean, while navigating the cultural, racial, and immigrant spaces of the Netherlands. Provocative and erudite, this book is reflective and personal, while simultaneously inviting the reader to plumb the depths of existential racism, activism.--Linden F. Lewis, coauthor of Caribbean Masala: Indian Identity in Guyana and Trinidad and editor of Caribbean Sovereignty, Development and Democracy in an Age of Globalization