Three days of the West – What is Westernization?
Last week in the Netherlands we had, again, a debate on young asylum seekers. It was decided that a 14-year old Afghan girl could remain in the Netherlands although their asylum request had been rejected. One of the criteria that played a role in the recent decision to let them stay is that she is ‘westernized’ over the years. The criterium of ‘Westernization’ is not defined however. Service oriented as this anthropologist is, I have decided to look into the matter of Westernization a little more closer in order to come up with a definition.