Developing a Sense of Belonging: Young People with a Migrant Background in Dutch YA Literature

This chapter engages with the topic of racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity in Central-European children’s and young adult (YA) literature. It first presents an overview of relevant studies from several European countries. Writing from a Dutch perspective, it then maps the field in the Netherlands. Subsequently, drawing on critical discourse analysis and cognitive criticism, the chapter zooms in on two Dutch YA novels on the intersection of the refugee narrative and the ethnic bildungsroman, to examine how the protagonists grapple with their sense of belonging, partly due to the tension between their self-image and the identity imposed on them. The main finding is that the novels paint a complex picture, as they portray identity formation as a multifaceted process and do not imagine the protagonists as comfortably fitting in with their new social context, due to ostracism and prejudice. They depict the young adult characters as struggling with a self-image characterized by in-betweenness and therefore do not avoid addressing the effects of racism and discrimination.