Muslim Cool: Identity, Self-representation & Coolness

SOLD OUT Event | 6 Sep 2018 | Tropenmuseum

The Research Center for Material Culture is pleased to invite you for the first iteration of Muslim Cool. Muslim Cool is a two-part event that traces, via various voices and perspectives, the different forms of self-expression, identity and their influence on popular culture. In what ways does Muslim Cool express a complex concept of Dutch citizenship?

Muslim Coolness

In the past few years, a wave of Muslim Coolness has slowly gained reputation within popular and digital culture in the Netherlands and across Europe. It blends a particular brand of coolness, cultural identity and creativity that showcases the growing impact of a new generation of Dutch Muslims of diverse cultural backgrounds — redefining music, visual culture and social media, language, style and politics of youth culture in the Netherlands and across Europe.

Muslim Cool consist of two events and is part of the program series Who Are We – On Citizenship & Cultural Identity. The first event on the 6^th of September looks into artistic and research practices in relation to identity, self-representation and coolness. This event is a prelude to a larger public event on Muslim Coolness scheduled for January 2019.

Who Are We – On Citizenship & Cultural Identity

What does it mean to be Dutch and who decides that? Over the last few decades, the discussion about who we are, about multiculturalism, Dutchness and the future of the Netherlands in a globalizing world has become more urgent, and more polarized.

The contested concept of nationhood is currently renegotiated throughout society and this renegotiation pushes for the integration of the histories of slavery, colonialism and migrants and their afterlives, towards a shared understanding of Dutch histories. Central to this discourse is the question; who are we? Cultural institutes and museums also reflect on these developments. What is their role in these discussions and in what ways can they facilitate alternative discourses within society?

Since 2016, the Research Center for Material Culture facilitates a series of events that look into the cultural archive, citizenship, identity and (self) representation within Dutch society. By opening the doors for diverse audiences, makers and perspectives, the museum revisits its own colonial history, collection and future.

Program

14:00-14:10 Introduction
14:10-14:30 Mirjam Shatanawi (curator NMVW)
14:30-14:35 Q&A
14:30-14:50 Jasmijn Rana (Leiden University)
14:50-14:55 Q&A
14:55-15:15 Malique Mohamud (Concrete Blossom)
15:15-16:15 Roundtable conversation with Jasmijn Rana, Mirjam Shatanawi & Malique Mohamud