By Sophie Koolma Many labels are applied to Schilderswijk, a multicultural neighborhood in the city of The Hague. Slum, ‘problem area’, ghetto, disadvantaged, poor. These are all words which people use to describe this neighborhood.…
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Marjo de Theije, one of the staff members of the Anthropology Department of the VU, carries out research on Brazilian goldminers in Suriname and was in Albina two days after the riots. She wrote a personal account of the situation in Albina:
Nobody was prepared for a tragedy like this. Suriname is a country proud to be a place where many cultural groups live peacefully together. This is exemplified by the close proximity of the mosque and the synagogue in the centre of Paramaribo. However, “Albina” happened. And society is short of explanations. Albina, or better Papatam, the industrial area where the attack on the Brazilians happened, was surprised by the riots on Christmas eve 2009. Papatam housed several commerces related to the gold mining business along the upstream Marowijne river (and Lawa and Tapanahoni and into French Guiana).
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