“I feel very much like a Rotterdam native, and I experience that both in the Netherlands and in Montenegro,” says Nina. She was born and raised in Rotterdam-West, but her roots lie in Montenegro, which was part of the former Yugoslavia at the time. Her parents came to the Netherlands in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They were part of a larger group of migrant workers who were desperately needed at the time.
“My father came to the Netherlands with his company. He worked in shipping, and Rotterdam is the place to be for that.” Her mother, who had just come of age, was mainly interested in discovering the opportunities the West had to offer. Because there were bound to be more opportunities here than in Yugoslavia at that time for such young people.
An immigrant for the first time
Montenegro feels small and green to Nina, a world of peace and nature. “In terms of population, Montenegro fits into the whole of Rotterdam.” Rotterdam is big, busy, and international. Montenegro does not have “such big cities” and has a different rhythm. Yet she feels at home in both places.
“Everyone in my childhood was ‘different’ in a way, and that’s what connected us.” That diversity shaped her view of the city. It was only during her studies at Erasmus University that she noticed that the rest of the Netherlands is less obviously multicultural: “That’s where I felt like an immigrant for the first time.”
Micro-discrimination
In Rotterdam, Nina feels accepted for who she is. “You are who you are, and that’s okay.” Nevertheless, she sometimes experiences microforms of discrimination, such as comments about her language use. “Your Dutch is so good” or “I can hear a different accent” – these are comments she heard regularly.
She emphasizes that these are minor examples, but they remind her that Rotterdam’s self-evident openness does not prevail everywhere.
Both identities
Although she is completely Rotterdam, Nina also cherishes her Montenegrin background. “I like to cook traditional dishes, I listen to music from all over Yugoslavia, and I try to teach the language to my children.”
For her, it is not a matter of choosing between two identities: “I am both.” And perhaps that is precisely what makes Rotterdam’s identity so strong, that all these different stories together form one city.