If he travels to his university in the US, this Dutch racism researcher would rather no longer say what he does exactly

Until recently, sociologist Jacob Boersema was not worried if he had to go to American customs. His suitcase with academic articles about racism, gender and colonialism was sometimes inspected, but then it remained a slightly sarcastic comment: « Gosh, you like reading. »

Now it’s different. When Boersema, who works at New York University, recently came to the Netherlands for a lecture, he took a few copies of his book Can we unlearn racism? What South Africa Teaches US about Whiteness Not along anyway. « After all, I also want to go back and you never know, » says Boersema in a Leiden lunchroom, a few days before his return trip to the US.

With the hunt that the American state has opened on science that deals with gender, racism and other ‘crazy left -wing’ topics, a Dutch sociologist with a Green Card But better be careful. He teaches about racism and colonialism, but keeps it to customs on his formal learning assignment, he says: « Sociological methods and techniques. »

Safe far away

Jacob Boersema (47), in addition to sociologist also a historian, obtained his PhD at the University of Amsterdam and has been teaching in the US for years, first at Columbia University and now at New York University. That university also trembles under the offensive that Trump has used.

And that, Boersema emphasizes, is not independent of what is happening in the Netherlands. “You feel a kind of here buzz That it will not go so fast with us all. People tell me: what is bad, what happens in America. We are happy to take a sort of neutrality, safely far away. Of course there are major differences between the Netherlands and the US, but the same mechanisms also work here. The whipped panic about ‘Woke’ in politics and media that was the pre -stage of Trumps measures, you can see that here too. ”

Are I talking about putting my job and income at stake?

After the Gaza protests that started at the end of 2023-and at Columbia University were terminated by the police at the request of the institution-fear also struck at his university, says Boersema. « In the building, everything has now been sealed to discourage protests. People pay attention to what they say, or just remain silent. Colleagues of color close the door when they are talking. They openly say nothing controversial, not even students. » He also weighs his words during lectures. « Not all students think the same about Trump. There is only one in between that takes offense to what you say and you can be the bobbin. »

Has there been any resistance? “It is now a matter of courage for everyone. Am I about to put my job and income at stake? I have no one myself tenurea permanent appointment, so it can just be over.  » As a precaution, he did not participate in the Gaza protests last year.

Undisguised

Moreover, also a question of conscience: does the university actually earn it in the current design to be defended? « Universities like mine are in the US neoliberal institutions that focus on a global elite with towering tuition fees. The control of staff and students is only very limited. »

In articles for the Dutch magazine Oneworld Since 2020, Boersema has been writing undisgested about the danger of a new fascism in the US – and here – also as a historian. « I like to say: it’s not about what the 1930s can teach us about Trump, but what Trump can teach us about the 1930s. You learn to understand how it worked at the time. Then you can conclude that we have sometimes drawn the wrong lessons. »

I am especially worried about acceleration, about an authoritarian oil slick that is spreading

He means, for example: look at how the Tech giants of Silicon Valley have joined the new regime in a short time-and even boost that. « Tech entrepreneurs were the heroes of Progressive America for a long time, still under Obama. They supported Hillary Clinton against Trump in 2016. Now Elon Musk’s Great performer has become a big performer. That surprised people in the 1930s, when the capital arrived at the new powers. A lesson we forgot. »

Reason enough for gloomy expectations. « I am particularly worried about acceleration, about an authoritarian oil slick that expands. In the Netherlands we also see signs of it with the current cabinet. That is a much greater danger than a few radical students who want to do something about the misery in the world. »

Ominous question

He is now working on a book about racism in the Dutch colonial empire, from the end of the eighteenth century to the Second World War. Historical notables such as the anti -revolutionary statesman Abraham Kuyper and the orientalist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, from their own texts, are discussed. « I am more of the empirica than to moralize, you can let the facts speak very well for yourself. You have to open the sources, it is all open and exposed. That still happens too little when it comes to this subject. »

Does his book – that will be teeming of words suspected by Trump – still has a chance at an American academic publishing house? That is now also an open, ominous question. « I hope so. »

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