Re-Graffiti-ing Hoograven:
Dutch-Moroccan Youth Identity Rehab: Re-Graffiti-ing Hoograven
_Dutch-Moroccan youth are lost in transition between the origin of their parent generation culture and the surrounding dutch culture. Living in Western culture provides them opportunities to be exposed toward outside of the cultural boundary of their parent generation. Meanwhile, confusion outbreaks and these immigrant youth’s social identity is questioned and challenged. They are separated from their parent generation’s cultural boundary, and simultaneously segregated from the native-dutch youth culture. These separations force them toward their own version of American Dream that they are eager to adapt to. Seen through media, dressing baggy outfits as American rappers do gives them a certain amount of satisfaction upon their desire of chasing American Dream. Being a youth without clearly imprinted social identity in mind drives them into looking for an exit out of what makes them feel caged and lost in the surroundings and the community. With all these collapsed social and cultural identity, American cultural acceptance level seems wider than what is around them. Driven by all these factors, Dutch-Moroccan youth chase enthusiastically American youth culture including gang-originated cultural by products, too. As the baggy outfits mentioned above, fashion industry is one of the first to adopt this idea and commercialize it worldwide. Gang culture is not simply gang culture any more. It has evolved and transformed into another species of human culture. It may remain as a part of this new species, however it would be more appropriate to be described as youth culture. Today, youth culture in the world, is globalized in some degree having a common ground. Maintaining the youth culture on the positive side for the community leads to additional positive side effects such as safety concerns, education related problems. Hoograven holds its own local youth culture with clearly shown American cultural influence. Graffiti is a symbolic and iconic cultural aspect of all. The generation who are grown in the immigrant community tends to get less-attached to the cultural origin of their prior generation. This social phenomenon applies to Moroccan immigrants community in Hoograven, too. Still, without complete detachment from their parent generation, they still remain in their parents’ Moroccan cultural boundary. Simultaneously they are localized by the surrounding cultures that they are exposed to. When this exposure occurs, local dutch youth culture influences on them and even American youth culture becomes easily accessible through media technology such as internet today. Providing them spatial quality and service for the local youth helps the community be safer and prevents teens from being on the street. This project, Re-graffiti-ing Hoograven can lead the local youth activities of the community toward the positive side, even possibly assist them to contribute for the community themselves making it safer and culturally flourishing.
Photograph by Igor Bilic 2006
