Meeting the Other: An Intercultural Approach to Dutch Culture and Society (TL2V19001)
Institution
Universiteit Utrecht (UU)
Book
Discovering the Dutch
In this document you will find an extensive summary of all literature for the Meeting the Other exam. Except for one article (Rob van Ginkel, 1996), the summary is in English. Thanks to this summary, I got an 8 on the exam!
Week 3 10
Ch8. The Golden Age - Maarten Prak (2014) 11
Ch9. A Tradition of Tolerance - Wijnand Mijnhardt (2014) 13
Ch22. Legal Culture - Wibo van Rossum (2014) 15
Thinking of the Netherlands: Social and Cultural Report - Beugelsedijk (2019) 18
Week 4 22
Exploring Intercultural Communication: Language in Action - Zhu (2019) 22
Intercultural Communication - Ten Thije (2017) 26
Week 5 28
Introduction - Besamusca & Verheul (2014) 28
Ch6. Distinctive within the Global Fold? - Paul Schnabel (2014) 29
Ch20. Excellence and Egalitarianism in Higher Education - Jeroen Toerenbeek & Jan
Veldhuis (2014) 32
Modern Language Studies: Language, Culture, Nation - Risager (2007) 34
Perspectives Matter - Zeefuik & Modest (2018) 39
Week 6 40
Ch1. Citizens, Coalitions, and the Crown - Besamusca (2014) 40
Ch2. Politics between Accommodation and Commotion - Ido de Haan (2014) 43
Anti-nationalist nationalism: the paradox of Dutch national identity - Kesic & Duyvendak
(2016) 45
Ch4. Dilemmas of the Welfare State - Lex Heerma van Voss (2014) 49
Week 7 52
Ch10. From Colonial Past to Postcolonial Present - Gert Oostindie (2014) 52
Acculturation: When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet -
Sam & Berry (2010) 56
Ch21. Immigration and Diversity - Han Entzinger (2014) 62
Feeling Dutch: The Culturalization and Emotionalization of Citizenship and Second-
Generation Belonging in the Netherlands - Slootman & Duyvendak (2015) 65
,Week 1
Ch24. In Foreign Eyes - Jaap Verheul (2014)
The only way to understand paradoxes about the Netherlands is to explore the history and
function of these conflicting images of Dutchness, which often tell us more about the writers
who produced them than about their topic.
Envy, Fear, and Wonder
After the new political entity was formally recognized in 1648 (quite some time after the
declaration of independence), many travelers for the first time reported back about this
Calvinism, republicanism and prosperity, creating an image of the Netherlands as a unique
political and cultural entity in Europe. Italian trader Lodovico Guicciardini published - one
year before the Dutch revolt broke out - a lively history of the Low Countries and attempted
to describe the Dutch national character. His well-timed book was translated into many
languages, introducing the identity and culture of the newly created nation to a European
public.
The European neighbors soon found reason to envy and fear the new republic when
it became a prosperous trading nation that sailed the seas and proved a formidable naval
power. The English developed an elaborate anti-Dutch narrative of morality, since they also
fought a series of costly maritime wars. Similar images of sea, rivers and mud, windmills,
clogs and the dikes, would remain associated with the image of Dutch society for many
centuries.
But the educated English reading public also learned about the origins of the wealth
and power of its perpetual maritime enemy from a number of travel journals during the 17th
century. William Temple was an ambassador to the Netherlands and befriended the Dutch
ruling elite and nobility. His positive work influenced the image of the Netherlands until well
into the 18th century.
Cradle of Freedom and Tolerance
While the English view of the Netherlands was characterized by jealousy and competition,
French and German intellectuals discovered it as beacon of freedom and tolerance in a
world that remained obscured by monarchical absolutism. The Dutch Republic had offered
asylum to many refugees who had been persecuted for their religious or political views, and
had provided an intellectual haven for those who sought scholarly innovation and publishing
houses for controversial ideas. The philosophers of the French Enlightenment warmly
embraced the Dutch Republic in their battle for tolerance, religious freedom and progress.
However, Voltaire, an important philosopher of the French Enlightenment, was sometimes
frustrated by Dutch daily life and repeated many stereotypes concerning Dutch greediness
and hypocrisy.
The Netherlands suggested an image of decline to its European neighbors. Yet, at
the same time the heroic history of the Dutch Revolt and the Golden Age became a popular
theme. A historian from Scotland (Robert Watson) published an influential work about the
Dutch Revolt. This work, in turn, proved an inspiration for German writers and scholars who
struggled with the problem of German national unity. Many saw the establishment of Dutch
freedom as one of the most important achievements in world history.
This idealistic and romantic perspective also radically changed the American
perception of the Netherlands. In the first years of independence the young American
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,Republic looked with mixed feelings to its fellow republic across the Atlantic. Americans had
inherited much of the popular anti-Dutch folklore from England. The Netherlands became a
byword for all shortcomings of federalism that the American Constitution was intended to
avoid. But when educated Americans on the East Coast began to explore the languages and
cultures of continental Europe in the early 19th century, they, too, discovered the attractive
richness of Dutch history. Historian John Lothrop Motley successfully presented the Dutch
Revolt as a precursor to the American Revolution. This bestseller laid the basis for an
enduring pro-Dutch sentiment in American popular culture.
As tourism developed during the 19th century in a romantic quest for authenticity and
exoticism, a picturesque image of the Netherlands found its way to travel guides. Information
on especially the complicated system of dikes, canals, polders, sluices and windmills was
published.
Hans Brinker: Morality Behind the Dikes
Hans Brinker is a popular children’s novel that embedded the pastoral image of the
Netherlands in American popular culture. The writer, Mary Mapes Dodge, explained in her
book that she considered Holland as “Odd-land or Contrary-land; for in nearly everything it is
different from other parts of the world”. The American editions and translations brought the
total of sold copies to seven million. It became an enduring global icon of Dutch
perseverance and courage. The story never resonated in the Netherlands.
Dutch Dystopia: Permissiveness and Ethical Issues
Although this picturesque image of Holland never disappeared from international mass
culture, it was supplemented by a dystopian perspective on Dutch society during the 1960s.
The frankness and public character of the political discussions about ethical issues and
welfare reform made the Netherlands into an especially accessible case study for other
countries. International newspapers began to turn out gloomy articles about permissiveness
and moral decay in the Netherlands. Readers were treated to a picture of a welfare state
gone awry: street violence, vandalism, uncontrollable “squatters” who took over the inner
cities, durg abuse, drug tourism and, of course, wayward secuality. In Tarantino’s movie the
Dutch dystopian reputation was craftily inverted into a criminal utopia.
Frau Antje: Ambassador of Dutchness
Perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the Netherlands in neighboring Germany is Frau
Antje. The wholesome young girl in traditional costume who cheerfully advertises cheese
and other dairy products represents “typical” Dutch culture, although both her role and
appearance have reflected the changes in Dutch-German relations. Frau Antje was invented
to promote Dutch cheese on German television. Although she remained totally unknown in
her country of origin, she soon became a celebrity in Germany. Accordingly, the export of
Dutch cheese to Germany grew immensely. Frau Antje fell victim to the forces of modernity.
Its arguments that the Dutch period of tolerance was coming to an end was effectively
illustrated by a cartoon that displayed a defiantly looking Frau Antje who smoked a hash
cigarette, showed marks of drug needles and carried a crumpled Heineken beer can with
discarded wooden shoes and tulips. After relations between Germany and the Netherlands
improved at the end of the century, Frau Antje sprang back to life as a modern, efficient and
environmentally friendly ambassador of Dutch culture and cheese.
The main example of Dutch moral decay, however, was found in its attitude towards
euthanesia. The Vatican for instance routinely argued that the line between Dutch and Nazi
2
, euthanasia was blurring. The Netherlands was also cited as an example of failed
multiculturalism and European elitism after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Conservative journalists described the political murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh
as a “Dutch 9/11”. In many books in which American conservative journalists attacked the
European tolerance towards Islamic extremism, the Netherlands is described as a
particularly disappointing example.
Usable Dutchness
Foreigners embrace or reject aspects of Dutch society to define or reinforce their own
national identity. Opposition to other cultures and societies is an indispensable ingredient in
each national identity. Consequently, the Dutch “other” has been used to legitimize
geopolitical ambitions or facilitate domestic debates about the relationship between
government and citizen, the moral and ethical fabric of society and integration and diversity. .
In that sense, ‘Dutchism’ may be added to infamous essentialist concepts such as
Orientalism and Occidentalism. Foreign perceptions of the Netherlands have served as a
convenient mirror to the spectator and as a carnival mirror for the Dutch.
Foreigners’ views of the dutch: past and present - Rob van Ginkel 1996
Het artikel geeft een overzicht van het ‘nationale karakter’ van de Nederlanders, niet vanuit
hoe Nederlanders waren of zijn, maar hoe ze worden en werden gezien: de perceptie van
hun collectieve mentaliteit.
Oudere beelden van het Nederlandse nationale karakter
Volgens Italiaanse aristocraat Guicciardini waren Nederlanders kalm,trouw, gematigd,
vriendelijk, betrouwbare en openhartige mensen, die niet ambitieus, niet aanmatigend en
niet jaloers waren. Aan de negatieve kant achtte hij de Nederlanders hebzuchtig,
nieuwsgierig, goedgelovig, koppig en dipsomaan. Guicciardini’s reisverslag werd een
belangrijke bron voor 17e eeuws schrijvers over Nederland. De balans tussen positieve en
negatieve kwalificaties veranderde over tijd en waren onlosmakelijk verweven met de interne
ontwikkelingen in de naties van de bezochte en bezoeker, maar ook met de veranderende
machtsverhoudingen tussen deze naties.
Dit was vooral duidelijk in het geval van de Duitsers. De Duitsers waren in de eerste
helft van de 18e eeuw vrij positief over Nederlanders. Zij hadden grote bewondering voor de
rijkdom van Nederland en zijn verworvenheden op het gebied van wetenschap, kunst en
literatuur. In het algemeen prezen zij het Nederlandse nationale karakter. Maar in het
midden van de achttiende eeuw vervaagde dit vleiende beeld vrij plotseling en werd
vervangen door een eerder kritische kijk. Het idee dat in Holland alles vijftig jaren later dan in
de rest van de wereld gebeurde (toegeschreven aan Heinrich Heine) ontstond in deze tijd.
Het moet gezegd worden dat de Gouden Eeuw van de Republiek voorbij was en hoewel
Nederland nog steeds rijk was, was er weinig om trots op te zijn. Tegelijkertijd beleefden de
Duitsers een periode van zelfvertrouwen, en hun schrijvers verheerlijkten hun eigen land en
volk.
De Nederlanders werden door de Fransen afgeschilderd als een welvarend, tolerant,
deugdzaam en gematigd volk. Ze idealiseerden het land zelfs. Natuurlijk was er ook kritiek,
vooral over de onbeschoftheid, gierigheid, hebzucht, traagheid etc. De kritiek werd
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