It seems like irony drips off the pages of Buruma's book Murder in Amsterdam.
Re-reading the chapters for this assignment, which focused on Muslim communities and "Submission," one gets the impression that they are reading Catch-22 rather than a discourse of life in Amsterdam during the last half-decade. The degree to which actions have unintended and/or opposite consequences, parties flip perspectives, and situations are generally fouled up by, well, themselves is staggering and heartbreaking.
Most significant in my mind is the assertion on page 121 about the rates of schizophrenia among Muslim men in the Netherlands. "A young male of the second generation was ten times more likely to be schizophrenic than a native Dutchman from a similar economic background," Buruma reports. That in itself is terrifying: that the shared experience of a single group of people can have such a damaging effect, and not socially or economically but psychologically. And then you start reading into the inferred causes of such a split, that deep disconnect with both their family's culture and the new place that they've been transplanted to, and it just seems all the worse and more hopeless. And then the liberal factions ask themselves why these kids turn to extremism...
It just goes round and round: The immigrants come to this place, bringing with them very different ideas of how to live, of what to believe; different social structures and expectations, and with very few inroads into the society that they are entering. In the name of tolerance, the natives balk at what they see as backwards or regressive social tendencies, and this in turn pushes the immigrants even further to the outskirts, unhinges their social orders. The natives see this and in turn ostracize them further. And so on. And so on.
The case of the second generation is particularly sad, raised in an environment that doesn't jive with the ways that they are taught to live by their families and cultures. There was a passage about how the fact that they speak the native language while their parents usually don't means that they have to negotiate through governmental bureaucracies on their parents behalf. This often undermines their faith in their parents, shaking the base of the family unit, stranding these kids in a world that their parents don't understand. And the irony lies in the fact that the lack of access to the society, the lack of social services and roads to integration, further alienates them from the society, and the society from them. The need to deal with a culture that doesn't accept them and that is, in many ways, contrary to the belief system that they have inherited can be psychically crippling.
Am I repeating myself? I feel like I'm repeating myself.
Anyways, Theo van Gogh's approach to irony ended up being his downfall. The whole of Dutch society in Buruma's world seems to be filled with people who want to let their words speak for them so they don't have to act, and once action happens its effects are devastating. I was really intrigued by van Gogh's work on Najib and Julia. The work seemed surprisingly frank and sincere in the way that Buruma described it, and actually concerned with portraying and engaging Dutch Muslims. It makes his blatant offense seem mostly like a game, like there was some world view buried under his bristly public persona that he did want to express. In light of that work (granted, I haven't seen it or anything else he has done, besides Submission - we should work on correcting that), at least in the way Buruma describes it, irony seems sadly and ultimately fatally self-defeating.
Admittedly, I'm having a difficult time drawing a conceptual link between these conversations and Wouter's article on the VKS. I did have a question though: One of the primary assertions in the intro to the article says taht "working in these new information environments, researchers should become more productive and better able to cope with interdisciplinary problems." Now, the productivity I can understand: the aim is to link researchers working on similar projects across distances in digital environments. But how does that necessarily relate to interdisciplinarity? Is it just the fact that large collections of information and data can be aggregated and shared, or is there something else?
I like the view that the work at VKS is inherently interventionist, and my pithy comment to tie this to Buruma is that some intervention is needed in Amsterdam on behalf of the immigrants there. I can understand the Dutch being leery of Muslim customs, and I believe that it is possible for the groups to engage each other openly and sincerely to foster understanding. However, this isn't likely to happen until immigrants are given the opportunity to join the culture, and encouraged to do so. I talked about the cycle of ostracization before, and it seems like fostering integration is the best way to break it.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
A Shot at the Abstract
The city of
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Reading the City: Deja Vu
Last night, Chase and I headed down to Deja Vu, which is at the corner of First and Pine, across the street from Seattle's venerable Pike Place Market. It's a combination sex shop and strip club, one of less than half a dozen strip clubs in Seattle. It was around 9:00 and dark, and the Vu's garish neon signs provided about 60% of the light on the block, advertising the products in the store (you can't help but giggle when you look up to see the word "lubes" flashing in blue neon 12 feet high over your head) and the schedule at the club. It's hard to miss.
Deja Vu's placement is one of it's most peculiar features. The rest of the street mostly houses mostly restaurants, clothing shops, and stores aimed at tourists, mostly ranging towards the upscale. Several major construction projects are currently in the works, including a Four Seasons Hotel less than a block away, with rooms and residences. As is true of much of downtown Seattle, condos proliferate. We didn't notice anyplace on the street that resembled a "seedy" bar, the type of place that you could imagine patrons of Deja Vu "loading up" in before heading to the non-alcoholic club.
Chase and I set up camp across the street at an outdoor table in front of an African restaurant, and ordered tea to sip while we watched. The atmosphere in the neighborhood was strange, with about 50% of the people around looking like up-scale tourist power-couples, and the other 50% looking like... well, like what you expect in an urban downtown.
As we sat, I kept an eye on the people as they walked in front of the spectacle that is Deja Vu. 80% of the men (no matter which of the demeaning and limited categories that I invented up there) turned their heads to look as they walked past, while only about 10% of the women did, either trying to pretend it didn't exist or avoid being blinded. The ages of male "lookers" ran the gamut while the female"lookers" skewed younger. A steady stream of men entered during the hour or so that we observed, mostly in their 20's and 30's. We only saw two women enter the establishment, both on the arm of a guy, and both couples re-emerged shortly thereafter, suggesting they were more interested in something in the store than the show happening in the back.
The position of the club and the generally bemused reactions of most of the people walking by suggests a tolerance of the establishment and their goods and services. Its presence not only amid such generally high-class surroundings but also at the tourist epicenter of Seattle lends further credence to the tolerant assumption: if Seattle didn't want everyone who comes to visit seeing the direct evidence of its seething undercurrent of vice in the form of the Vu, odds are someone (the city, surrounding businesses, etc.) would have it closed or moved. The young-ish male skew of the people actually entering the establishment is in keeping with my expectations of who the clientèle or intended audience was likely to be.
After a stint of people-watching, Chase and I decided to go and talk to the parking-attendant in the lot adjacent to the Vu. As we approached we noticed that the attendant was talking to a twenty-something year-old man in a sharp suit who, when we got closer, looked at me with a glint of recognition and said, "Jack?" Turns out, this guy was actually the friend of a friend who I had met only once, and who on that occasion had done a commendable job of pissing me off (I'll spare you the details of that evening, but the curious are welcome to ask). This guy was now a bouncer at Deja Vu, and was happy to answer the lingering questions that Chase and I had about the club, its relationship to the rest of the block, and the atmosphere around it.
We asked him his impressions of how the club is viewed, both by visitors and neighboring businesses. He confirmed our previous assumption that people will generally ignore it, look at it bemusedly, or go in. He claimed that relationships with neighboring businesses were good. Its neighbors acknowledge that it is a draw for certain people, and that there is spillover from the club to their own businesses, particularly those of the alcohol and food variety. The club owners have actively reached out to its neighbors, try to be understanding and respectful of their concerns, and have acted swiftly to address problems around the club. He acknowledged the presence of certain groups of social undesirables (mostly crack-heads in the back alley) and the fact that there are occasionally problems like fights and drugs that have to be dealt with in the club, but the fact that much of this happens late at night probably means that it is not much of a concern for either neighboring businesses or the tourist crowd. The approach from the outside seems to be very cost-benefit oriented: as long as the costs in terms of social disruption are not too great, those in the neighborhood accept the benefit of increased business traffic and refrain from moralizing.
During our conversation, the scene around Deja Vu remained very much the same: people trying to navigate the tiny parking lot, groups of young men walking in, other groups walking past. A man in a priest's collar did walk by in the company of several others, speaking loudly of salvation and the word of God, punctuating his sentences with "Hallelujah!" though he didn't seem overly concerned with the club itself. He neither slowed nor looked askance, and his sermonizing could still be heard as he made his way further up the block.
After talking with our informant for about 20 minutes, we walked on, politely declining his offer of half-off admission. On the way back to the car we stopped briefly across the street from the Lusty Lady about a block away, but there was nothing at all happening there, and with the rain starting we decided to call it a night.
I was surprised at how much can be deduced about a place by stopping and watching it. Watching the people, both those walking past and heading in, one could begin to make assumptions about the club's social standing and some generalizations about the cultural impressions of vice. If people had scowled, if more people had refrained from staring, if it had been located in a different part of town, etc., I would have guessed that people's views on the place were somewhat more negative. These are all assumptions and should not be taken as fact in isolation, but can provide a blueprint for understanding.
The fact that I knew the bouncer was an amazing bit of coincidence, and highlighted the importance of finding informants. Speaking to people who work in the coffeeshops and around the Red Light in addition to observation is a useful way of understanding both the behavioral expectations and the realities. Especially as regards industries of vice, the impressions of business owners around the area are good sources for information as problems that arise are going to probably affect them more directly than most other people. That will definitely be something to keep in mind when I hit the ground in Amsterdam.
Deja Vu's placement is one of it's most peculiar features. The rest of the street mostly houses mostly restaurants, clothing shops, and stores aimed at tourists, mostly ranging towards the upscale. Several major construction projects are currently in the works, including a Four Seasons Hotel less than a block away, with rooms and residences. As is true of much of downtown Seattle, condos proliferate. We didn't notice anyplace on the street that resembled a "seedy" bar, the type of place that you could imagine patrons of Deja Vu "loading up" in before heading to the non-alcoholic club.
Chase and I set up camp across the street at an outdoor table in front of an African restaurant, and ordered tea to sip while we watched. The atmosphere in the neighborhood was strange, with about 50% of the people around looking like up-scale tourist power-couples, and the other 50% looking like... well, like what you expect in an urban downtown.
As we sat, I kept an eye on the people as they walked in front of the spectacle that is Deja Vu. 80% of the men (no matter which of the demeaning and limited categories that I invented up there) turned their heads to look as they walked past, while only about 10% of the women did, either trying to pretend it didn't exist or avoid being blinded. The ages of male "lookers" ran the gamut while the female"lookers" skewed younger. A steady stream of men entered during the hour or so that we observed, mostly in their 20's and 30's. We only saw two women enter the establishment, both on the arm of a guy, and both couples re-emerged shortly thereafter, suggesting they were more interested in something in the store than the show happening in the back.
The position of the club and the generally bemused reactions of most of the people walking by suggests a tolerance of the establishment and their goods and services. Its presence not only amid such generally high-class surroundings but also at the tourist epicenter of Seattle lends further credence to the tolerant assumption: if Seattle didn't want everyone who comes to visit seeing the direct evidence of its seething undercurrent of vice in the form of the Vu, odds are someone (the city, surrounding businesses, etc.) would have it closed or moved. The young-ish male skew of the people actually entering the establishment is in keeping with my expectations of who the clientèle or intended audience was likely to be.
After a stint of people-watching, Chase and I decided to go and talk to the parking-attendant in the lot adjacent to the Vu. As we approached we noticed that the attendant was talking to a twenty-something year-old man in a sharp suit who, when we got closer, looked at me with a glint of recognition and said, "Jack?" Turns out, this guy was actually the friend of a friend who I had met only once, and who on that occasion had done a commendable job of pissing me off (I'll spare you the details of that evening, but the curious are welcome to ask). This guy was now a bouncer at Deja Vu, and was happy to answer the lingering questions that Chase and I had about the club, its relationship to the rest of the block, and the atmosphere around it.
We asked him his impressions of how the club is viewed, both by visitors and neighboring businesses. He confirmed our previous assumption that people will generally ignore it, look at it bemusedly, or go in. He claimed that relationships with neighboring businesses were good. Its neighbors acknowledge that it is a draw for certain people, and that there is spillover from the club to their own businesses, particularly those of the alcohol and food variety. The club owners have actively reached out to its neighbors, try to be understanding and respectful of their concerns, and have acted swiftly to address problems around the club. He acknowledged the presence of certain groups of social undesirables (mostly crack-heads in the back alley) and the fact that there are occasionally problems like fights and drugs that have to be dealt with in the club, but the fact that much of this happens late at night probably means that it is not much of a concern for either neighboring businesses or the tourist crowd. The approach from the outside seems to be very cost-benefit oriented: as long as the costs in terms of social disruption are not too great, those in the neighborhood accept the benefit of increased business traffic and refrain from moralizing.
During our conversation, the scene around Deja Vu remained very much the same: people trying to navigate the tiny parking lot, groups of young men walking in, other groups walking past. A man in a priest's collar did walk by in the company of several others, speaking loudly of salvation and the word of God, punctuating his sentences with "Hallelujah!" though he didn't seem overly concerned with the club itself. He neither slowed nor looked askance, and his sermonizing could still be heard as he made his way further up the block.
After talking with our informant for about 20 minutes, we walked on, politely declining his offer of half-off admission. On the way back to the car we stopped briefly across the street from the Lusty Lady about a block away, but there was nothing at all happening there, and with the rain starting we decided to call it a night.
I was surprised at how much can be deduced about a place by stopping and watching it. Watching the people, both those walking past and heading in, one could begin to make assumptions about the club's social standing and some generalizations about the cultural impressions of vice. If people had scowled, if more people had refrained from staring, if it had been located in a different part of town, etc., I would have guessed that people's views on the place were somewhat more negative. These are all assumptions and should not be taken as fact in isolation, but can provide a blueprint for understanding.
The fact that I knew the bouncer was an amazing bit of coincidence, and highlighted the importance of finding informants. Speaking to people who work in the coffeeshops and around the Red Light in addition to observation is a useful way of understanding both the behavioral expectations and the realities. Especially as regards industries of vice, the impressions of business owners around the area are good sources for information as problems that arise are going to probably affect them more directly than most other people. That will definitely be something to keep in mind when I hit the ground in Amsterdam.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Web Presence (or present lack thereof...)
I found some blog links that feature some general information on Amsterdam. They primarily comprise different official channels for tourist information, many of which are originating from within the Netherlands.
http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/
My efforts at finding more community- or interaction-based information has so far been negligible. I spent a long time digging through some fairly dull travel blogs with individual posts about how wasted people got in Amsterdam (many of which were found here: http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Amsterdam/). I suppose that in and of itself is somewhat instructive, but not exactly what I had in mind. I am hoping to be able to uncover some stuff that is more official - respectable travel blogs that a person might turn to if they were trying to learn about what traveling to a place is like. Additionally I need to try to hunt down some stuff from within Amsterdam that may be related to native views on outsiders coming in.
Or I need to scrap the whole idea and come up with something else...
http://www.holland.com/amsterdam/gb/
http://www.amsterdamtourist.nl/en/default.aspx
I also found the website for the the Prostitution Information Center:http://www.dewallenwinkel.nl/start.html
and the Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory:http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/
My efforts at finding more community- or interaction-based information has so far been negligible. I spent a long time digging through some fairly dull travel blogs with individual posts about how wasted people got in Amsterdam (many of which were found here: http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Amsterdam/). I suppose that in and of itself is somewhat instructive, but not exactly what I had in mind. I am hoping to be able to uncover some stuff that is more official - respectable travel blogs that a person might turn to if they were trying to learn about what traveling to a place is like. Additionally I need to try to hunt down some stuff from within Amsterdam that may be related to native views on outsiders coming in.
Or I need to scrap the whole idea and come up with something else...
Monday, April 9, 2007
At the risk of sounding redundant here...
After a little bit more thought and the assembling of what I hope to be an honest-to-god research group, I can confidently present an ever more slightly refined idea of what the hell it actually it is that I'll be doing. So:
I will be working with Chase and Edward (assuming he writes back sometime) on a study into perceptions of Amsterdam's culture of permissiveness and pragmatic tolerance. Chase and Edward have both shown an interest in studying the apparent conservative backlash growing within against Amsterdam's anything-goes social policies. I meanwhile will be looking at these policies from the outside, by talking to tourists in Amsterdam about their impressions of the social norms and cultural and cultural currents that they are aware of, if any, as well as exploring issues of how presence in a more permissive culture effects their behavior or opinions in regards to drugs and/or prostitution. We will be able to use one another's research to build upon the missing halves of our questions: they giving me insights on how A'dammers see their own city, and me on the way it's seen from without.
Some sources that we can consult before heading over are the universe of blogs (me travel blogs and they message boards elating to certain political parties or persuasions). In addition, I will also be looking at information from Dutch tourist organizations and embassies (official discourse), as well as information distributed by the Museum of Prostitution and Marijuana and/or different organizations from within the "vice" industry to see what kinds of information are presented by them.
I will follow this research up with interviews with tourists on the ground in Amsterdam. I will have to look into where the best places to encounter and interact with tourists are, though Daam Square, museums, the train station, and hash bars are all likely options (again, preferably before the interview subjects have smoked...) I believe that it will be relatively easy to access my population, as tourists are often eager to talk to people that speak their language when visiting other countries.
With this research, I hope to be able to contrast the ways that tourists understand or misunderstand cultural/behavioral expectations, analyze the ways in which cultural messages and norms are transmitted, as well as assess various sources of information that tourists may be using to understand the customs on the ground in Amsterdam and make suggestions for improving the dissemination of information to these groups.
Groovy?
I will be working with Chase and Edward (assuming he writes back sometime) on a study into perceptions of Amsterdam's culture of permissiveness and pragmatic tolerance. Chase and Edward have both shown an interest in studying the apparent conservative backlash growing within against Amsterdam's anything-goes social policies. I meanwhile will be looking at these policies from the outside, by talking to tourists in Amsterdam about their impressions of the social norms and cultural and cultural currents that they are aware of, if any, as well as exploring issues of how presence in a more permissive culture effects their behavior or opinions in regards to drugs and/or prostitution. We will be able to use one another's research to build upon the missing halves of our questions: they giving me insights on how A'dammers see their own city, and me on the way it's seen from without.
Some sources that we can consult before heading over are the universe of blogs (me travel blogs and they message boards elating to certain political parties or persuasions). In addition, I will also be looking at information from Dutch tourist organizations and embassies (official discourse), as well as information distributed by the Museum of Prostitution and Marijuana and/or different organizations from within the "vice" industry to see what kinds of information are presented by them.
I will follow this research up with interviews with tourists on the ground in Amsterdam. I will have to look into where the best places to encounter and interact with tourists are, though Daam Square, museums, the train station, and hash bars are all likely options (again, preferably before the interview subjects have smoked...) I believe that it will be relatively easy to access my population, as tourists are often eager to talk to people that speak their language when visiting other countries.
With this research, I hope to be able to contrast the ways that tourists understand or misunderstand cultural/behavioral expectations, analyze the ways in which cultural messages and norms are transmitted, as well as assess various sources of information that tourists may be using to understand the customs on the ground in Amsterdam and make suggestions for improving the dissemination of information to these groups.
Groovy?
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
More Random Research Ideas
As I have been considering this more carefully, I am thinking that perhaps talking to tourists would be a very interesting way of going about things, and might lead to nice overlaps with people who are interested in looking at the ways that Amsterdammers themselves understand both the reality and the perceptions of their own country.
I would be interested in seeing where visitors to Amsterdam go and what they do, as well as what their understanding of the Dutch culture of tolerance and permissiveness, and how they develop those perceptions. I'd like to explore how cultural information is transmitted, especially in places that are as beyond most people's experience in their own home-countries as hash bars and the Red Light. I would be interested in seeing how a perceived permissiveness affects and changes people's prejudices and behaviors, both while they are in Amsterdam and after they leave. This research would couple nicely with research about how Amsterdammers view the steady stream of tourists that flock to their cities, and how they understand their own "exotic customs."
Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow.
I would be interested in seeing where visitors to Amsterdam go and what they do, as well as what their understanding of the Dutch culture of tolerance and permissiveness, and how they develop those perceptions. I'd like to explore how cultural information is transmitted, especially in places that are as beyond most people's experience in their own home-countries as hash bars and the Red Light. I would be interested in seeing how a perceived permissiveness affects and changes people's prejudices and behaviors, both while they are in Amsterdam and after they leave. This research would couple nicely with research about how Amsterdammers view the steady stream of tourists that flock to their cities, and how they understand their own "exotic customs."
Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Preliminary Thoughts on Research, or Too Many Ideas
It was my love for libraries as community centers as well as places for free intellectual and cultural exploration that led me to my pursuit of a Masters in Library and Information Sciences. Therefore, I would like to be able to explore the public library system in
Some questions: What is the function of the public library in
Evidence: This research should be conducted in several libraries in
That’s one idea, thought there are others that I am interested in pursuing.
For example, it would be interesting to spotlight a community somewhat unique to
Additionally, it may be interesting to do a study of tourists in
I know, that’s more than one idea. I just have a hard time making my mind up about these things, particularly so early in the game…
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