Dutch civic integration courses as neoliberal citizenship rituals

Abstract

The neoliberalization of the Dutch citizenship manifests itself through the responsibilization, contractualization, and marketization of civic integration. We conceptualize civic integration courses as a neoliberal citizenship ritual the migrants are required to participate in to earn Dutch citizenship. By studying the practice of Dutch civic integration, we demonstrate the repressive and productive aspects through which migrants and course providers become objects and subjects of the state's neoliberal citizenship ideology. Our ethnographic data enable us to understand how civic integration is experienced and interpreted by state agents and migrants. Cost optimization and quantitative policy targets have dominated; the quality of Dutch language teaching suffered, leaving the migrants without the power to vocalize and realize their own interests. The courses have become rituals to prepare for the civic integration examination, and the state's professed goal to create self-reliant citizens has been comfortably neglected in the shadow of a ritualized success story.

Keywords::

• neoliberal citizenship
• civic integration
• responsibilization
• ritualization
• the Netherlands

Notes

^1. TK 2005–2006, 30, 308, nr. 7, 22.

^2. STB 2008 12150 604.

^3. Starting from 1 January 2013, the Wi has been adjusted, so that migrants now have to arrange and finance their courses themselves, as it was foreseen in the initial government plans. The changes that have taken place since 2013 are beyond the scope of our fieldwork.

^4. Linguists, however, argue that testing language abilities by untrained officials fails to conform to the most basic criteria for judging the quality of language testing (Piller 2001).

^5. Participant observation, March 2008, Utrecht.

^6. See note 5 above.

^7. Participant observation, October 2007, Amsterdam.

^8. Interview with migrants, May 2008, Amsterdam.

^9. In Amsterdam, many migrants were unaware that there was an office of complaints within the municipality, the Discrimination Reporting Point (Meldpunt Discriminatie). The caseworker could only spend little time on such issues and was unable to fundamentally challenge the practice of uninformed contract signing (Interview at Meldpunt Discriminatie, August 2008, Amsterdam).

^10. During a course in The Hague, students completed one writing assignment consisting of writing a postcard informing a friend you have moved to another city in 3 hours.

^11. However, during the research we understood that this rarely happened.

^12.Wi, 2006, Article 7, Paragraph 1. Asylum seekers and ‘old migrants’ have 5 years to fulfill their obligation (Significant 2010, 11).

^13. Participant observation, February 2008, Amsterdam.

^14. Talks with migrants, October 2011, The Hague.

^15. Interview with course manager, October 2011, Utrecht.

^16. Participant observation, October 2011, The Hague.

^17. Interview with teacher, March 2011, Breda.

^18. Interview with two members of Kwaliteitsgroep Inburgering, November 2011, Utrecht.

^19. See www.kwaliteitsgroepinburgering.nl.

^20. Interview with two members of Kwaliteitsgroep Inburgering, November 2011, Utrecht.

^21.http://www.blikopwerk.nl/inburgeren/kwaliteitsgids (accessed on 27 May 2012).

^22. Interview with two members of Kwaliteitsgroep Inburgering, November 2011, Utrecht.

^23. Interview with course teacher, March 2008, Amsterdam.

^24. See also Rekenkamer Den Haag (2009).

^25. Interview with four migrants, May 2008, Amsterdam.

^26. Interview with teacher, March 2011, Breda.

^27. See note 26 above.

^28. See note 26 above.

^29. Interview with Rita Verdonk, November 2011, Nootdorp.

^30. Talks with migrants during the break, October 2011, The Hague.

^31. Interview with migrants, May 2008, Amsterdam

^32. Talk with teacher, October 2011, The Hague.

^33. Interview with Wim Coumou, November 2011, Vaassen.

^34. Interview with Marli Tijssen, CINOP, October 2011, Den Bosch.

^35. Interview with Wim Coumou, November 2011, Vaassen.

^36. Interview with Marli Tijssen, CINOP, 18 October 2011, Den Bosch.

^37. See http://www.coe.int/t/DG4/Portfolio/?M = /main_pages/levels.html (accessed on 1 June 2012).

^38. Interview with two course managers, October 2011, Utrecht; Interview with course teacher, March 2011, Breda.

^39. Interview with teacher, March 2011, Breda.