Why is it that people have so much admiration for former refugee and top athlete Sifan Hassan and at the same time vote for a political party that sees immigrants as a problem? Prof Dr Jacco van Sterkenburg, endowed professor of racism and sport at ESHCC, talks in Trouw about the positive influence that top athletes with a migrant background can have, but why this does not necessarily lead to structural changes on people's perception of refugees.
The article in Trouw features people from the working-class district of Wielwijk in Dordrecht, who are downright complimentary of Hassan and her gold marathon at the Olympics. As a migrant, Hassan caused a momentary revival of national pride. And that is special, especially since most neighbourhood residents do have a certain image of ‘other’ asylum seekers and the vast majority of them voted for PVV last November.
‘You would want such a sports icon to bring people closer together. That effect is there, but only for a while. To have an impact, Hassan would have to be in the news structurally, but after a while the negative stories about migrants take over again in the media and politics. People give meaning to things around them through stories they draw from. That is why local athletes that people see weekly on the sports field probably have more influence on people's acceptance than international champions,’ says Van Sterkenburg.
Van Sterkenburg concludes on a positive note: the medal ceremony with Sifan Hassan. ‘Hassan shows that you can also represent the Netherlands with a hijab (headscarf) on. She shows that multiple identities can go together. Something like that can also be an example for all Dutch people’.
- Professor