Disavowal and space: The aesthetics of postcolonial activism and LGBTQIA+ advocacy

Studies on the ‘symbolic’ quality of ‘diversity’ express concern about superficial ‘aesthetics’ that perpetuate discrimination and its ‘disavowal.’ Disavowal is understood as turning a blind eye to counterhegemonic narratives, looking away, covering up, erecting façades. Critical race scholars working in and on the Netherlands argue that disavowal is characteristic to Dutch racism and intersects with LGBTQIA+-discrimination. While studies on disavowal address the relationship between knowledge and politics, we know little about its spatial aesthetics in situated geographies. This is surprising given the spatial politics that are constitutive to disavowal. My objective is to bring into view the aesthetics of disavowal in a landscape where postcolonial activism and LGBTQIA+-advocacy intersect. This article is based on ethnographic field research in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The ‘Dutch-West-India Company’ has been the largest slave trader in the world, and cities in Zeeland owned the largest shares. Key findings are that social justice activists attribute relevance to symbolic artefacts—monuments and flags—and rituals—statements of commitment and apologies—that are considered ‘symbolic politics.’ While authorities in Zeeland commissioned historical research about its role in slavery and collect data on racism and LGBTQIA+-discrimination, facts are not always rendered consequential, and artefacts and rituals are not always given headway. I argue that the dismissal of symbols and rituals as non-performatives can easily be mapped onto disavowal. Uncoupling aesthetics from knowledge, implying that ‘aesthetics’ are superficial, and upholding that symbols and rituals are nonperformative, disregards the signifiers that symbols mobilize and downplays their role in counternarratives.