ABSTRACT

In Flanders and the Netherlands, a controversy arises each year over “Black Pete”, a blackface character that is one of the traditional figures of the children’s festival of Saint Nicholas. Through a rhetorical listening analysis of mainstream print media sources in Flanders, this article aims to understand the conflicting positions and unproductive stances haunting the public Black Pete debate. Our study explores how analysing these positions by unpacking the cultural logics behind it can be used to get past unproductive stances and move towards accountability, critique, and change. Our findings illustrate that many positions in the debate remain within an unproductive stance and leave no room for productive debate and/or action. A rhetorical listening analysis is relevant, because it contributes to an understanding of the public Black Pete debate as a topical case to inform a broader discussion on (de)colonization and anti-racism today.

摘要

在法兰德斯和荷兰，每年都会出现关于“黑皮特”的争议，这个黑脸人物是圣尼古拉斯儿童节的传统人物之一。通过对法兰德斯主流印刷媒体资源的修辞倾听分析，本文旨在了解困扰公众 Black Pete 辩论的相互冲突的立场和无效的立场。我们的研究探讨了如何通过解开其背后的文化逻辑来分析这些立场，以摆脱非生产性立场并走向问责、批评和变革。我们的研究结果表明，辩论中的许多立场仍然处于非生产性立场，没有为生产性辩论和/或行动留下空间。修辞听力分析是相关的，