Beyond the Master’s House: Science or silence?
In a time of multiple, overlapping crises – rising fascism, ongoing genocides and increasing evidence of the colonial involvement of Dutch universities – there is a growing call for academics to step down from the ivory tower. Now more than ever, research must move beyond studying society from a distance and instead be done with and for communities. This calls for meaningful collaboration with grassroots movements, activists, artists and policy makers. Yet collaboration between academia and grassroots movements is shaped by deep and persistent tensions: historical mistrust, institutional hierarchies, unequal access to funding and conflicting ideas about knowledge production. At the same time, academics of colour and/or with migrant backgrounds continue to face additional structural barriers within the institutional spaces they represent. As Black feminist, poet, professor and civil rights activist Audre Lorde urges in her essay The Master’s Tool will never Dismantle the Master’s House: “How can we move from divide and conquer to define and empower?”.
Met in dit programma Kenneth Cuvalay Political Activist, President of Foundation Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance, Founder and President of Foundation The Quill Yuli Minguel Dutch singer and theatre maker with Curaçaoan rootsMore about the programme
Within a collectively created safe space, this evening brings together activists, artists, grassroots organisations, and academics or institutional professionals to explore these challenges together. Departing from our experiences with decolonial practices in healthcare and archaeology, we will facilitate an interactive dialogue that weaves together conversation, food, and storytelling.
Background speaker & Performer :
Yuli Minguel is a Dutch singer (Idols 1, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake) and theatre maker with Curaçaoan roots, born in Heerlen. She is known for her candor, powerful stage presence, and strong focus on the human message in her self-written music.British music entrepreneur Simon Cowell describes her as a modern mix of Tina Turner and Bette Midler—a combination of powerful performance, emotion, and personality. Yuli’s life story plays a central role in her work. Experiences with youth care and social systems, among other things, have shaped her into an artist and expert who artistically translates her story into music and theatre. Her work, “Verloren Onschuld,” has grown into a significant project in both theatre and film.
As a singer, writer, and creator, she presents her personal musical theatre performance, “A Queen’s Soul.” In this performance, she exposes the souls of people under pressure from racial profiling and youth care. Her work is recognized as socially relevant and guiding within the cultural landscape, as cited in Rotterdam’s Cultural Plan 2025–2028, among other places. Yuli represents authentic and autonomous artistry: she tells her stories in her own unique way and stays true to her voice. Her singing style ranges from warm and honeyed to raw and powerful. She creates music in the moment and shares her strength and vulnerability live—a combination that deeply impacts her audiences.
Kenneth Cuvalay was born and raised on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius (former Netherlands Antilles), he has two children and three grandchildren. His nationality is Dutch and his roots are Afrikan, living in the diaspora. Both his parents are of Afrikan descent. His mother was born on the island of St. Kitts and his father on St. Eustatius. He grew up in a poor family with thirteen children. At the age of eight, he went to work to support his family economically. It was not until later in life that he went to school and developed himself. Since then, he has been fighting for equality, human rights and against injustice and disparities towards the most vulnerable people in our Afrikan communities and in general for reparations and reparatory justice. Kenneth is also the president of the St. Eustatius Afrikan Burial Ground Alliance – a grassroots organization formed as a result of the protests against the excavations on the 18th-century burial ground of enslaved Afrikans, the Golden Rock, that were started by a team of international archaeologists in June 2021 in St. Eustatius.
He was involved in the development of addiction and psychiatric care in the Caribbean Netherlands from the very beginning. He believes that it is important that access to care, the implementation of care and the methods used are tailored to the needs of the population on the islands. The Dutch government and many mental health institutions in the Netherlands do not pay attention to this. ‘I am seeking.’ He seeks to connect with health organizations in the Caribbean. It is also important in the Netherlands that transcultural care receives attention. People of Afrikan descent have different ideas about health, about being ill and about treatment methods.
The basis of his ideological conviction is founded on the struggle of his life against economic inequality and the legacy of Dutch Trans-Atlantic colonialism and the enslavement of the Afrikan people. He believes that the legacy of colonialism continues to form the basis for structural institutional racism and discrimination. Marginalizing the Afrikan people and domination of the people within the communities of the so-called former Netherlands Antilles, is destroying their cultural identity, heritage and self-determination. In other words, a heinous crime against humanity that continues against Afrikans.
