Stories and the self: Identity and fear of the ‘other’

This chapter begins with an outline of the main findings of the interview-based study, detailing how the following three chapters will in turn discuss stories and mobilization around the themes of identity, materiality, and voice, hereby connecting these themes to macro-level mobilization theories presented in Chapter 2. Next, it discusses the ways in which stories about the ‘self’ in relation to various ‘others’ contributed to anti-asylum seekers' centre mobilization in Beverwaard through mechanisms of cultural grievances. It will cover three dominant storylines: the neighbourhood has a ‘village’, asylum seekers as the threatening ‘other’, and the multiple and in part contradictory narratives about identity that circulate in the multi-ethnic local space. Overall, this chapter argues how interactions between macro-level cultural conditions, local storytelling about identity, and individuals' perceptions of themselves in relation to others together shaped mobilization in the neighbourhood space.