Body politics - Ine Beijaars

Kizomba music and dance being already popular in London and Portugal since 2006, the Dutch kizomba dance scene is developing rapidly from 2011. This book tries to go beyond understanding the Dutch kizomba scene by and of itself. Its broader intent is to explore the more micro-performative aspects of the scene: the balancing act between freedoms and restrictions that shape, guide, and inform peoples behaviour, and in turn, produce difference. This is relevant in a time characterized by confusion and heated debate concerning who is Dutch and who is not. Tying into existing literature regarding the paradoxical state of contemporary Dutch society regarding gender, race, nationality and ethnicity, the author attempt to uncover the performative mechanisms through which difference is reproduced within a part of Dutch society. The author argues that the schismatic and bipolarizing actions of Dutch institutions and the state actually create the opposite of what the Netherlands prides itself to be: a non-egalitarian society that promotes and emphasizes difference.