Unpacking Cultural Logics: A Rhetorical Listening Analysis of the Public Black Pete Debate in Flanders

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.