Title

How dual identifiers affect interethnic relations in social networks

Abstract

Improving relations between ethnic minority and ethnic majority groups is one of the most pressing needs in modern societies. During this talk, I will present research from my group in which we test a new theory: that such relations can be improved by descendants of immigrants who identify with both the ethnic group of their parents and the national majority group, because these dual identifiers can create social bridges between communities. However, not all dual identifiers are recognized as such by others, as many descendants of immigrants experience being labeled, for instance, “Turks” or “Moroccans” instead of (also) “Dutch”. This may undermine the amount of bridging that dual identifiers can accomplish. 

In this talk, I will present a series of studies in which we explored why ethnic majority members do (not) ascribe co-national belonging to descendants of immigrants and how descendants of immigrants can signal their national identification. Our hypothesis is that dual identifiers’ relationships with members of both groups are seen as signals of their dual belonging, but that the degree to which these signals are picked up depends on people’s perception of the structure of their social networks. To test this hypothesis, we have developed a novel open-source software that allows collecting data on perceived social networks and the perception of other’s ethnic/national belonging.

If you wish to attend this seminar online, please send an email to w.merbis@uva.nl to receive the zoom-link.