The Making of a Black Youth Culture: Lower-Class Young Men of Surinamese Origin in Amsterdam

Abstract

Discusses the evolution & creation of black youth culture with specific focus on African-Caribbean young people ages 15-30 of Surinamese descent (Creoles) living in Amsterdam, Netherlands, based on individual case studies. It is suggested that Dutch Creoles have drawn on traditional Caribbean culture, global black cultures, & white Western culture to create a diverse & eclectic black subculture characterized by both synthesis & separation. Although the Westernization & globalization of urban cultures in some ways inspires homogenization, these processes also offer a diverse range of symbols & meanings that can be reconfigured in unique ways. Under these circumstances, Dutch Creoles have been forced to negotiate a number of social & cultural contradictions: between their adoption of Western values of social mobility & their persisting social marginalization, & between the media depiction of a monolithic loud, street-wise black culture & the reality of a much more heterogeneous social community. Due to their exclusion from the employment world, leisure activities & consumption represent the major point of intersection between black & white cultures in much of Western Europe. It is concluded that the heterogeneity of these groups must be recognized to overcome racist stereotypes & the fictional separation of black & white culture. 49 References. T. Sevier