Speech acts. observing antisemitism and holocaust education in the Netherlands

Abstract

Over the last few years, resistance to Holocaust education among Muslim students has been big news in the Netherlands. This chapter discusses the debate and presents findings of observations during a series of Holocaust lessons in six different classes in secondary education at two Amsterdam schools. This concerned a separate teaching package, in which two peer educators taught on the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In order to gain a better understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication in the classroom, we have made use of the speech act theory by Austin and Searle. Our findings make clear how students make casual anti-Jewish remarks that indicate a more lasting attitude toward Jews and their position in present-day society, but also indicate that insinuations, sarcasm and types of non-verbal communication complicate straightforward interpretations of the practice of speech.