Bachelor of Arts (BA)
The Dutch Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley is of unique national and international importance. It offers a comprehensive education in Dutch language, literature, cultural history, and linguistics. The Berkeley Main Library and Bancroft Library possess one of the richest Dutch book collections in the United States. Intensive collaboration with Dutch and Flemish universities and cultural organizations has made Berkeley a leading Dutch intellectual center in the US.
Learn about the language, literature, culture, and history of the Netherlands. Dutch Studies offers English-taught courses on Dutch cultural history, literature and linguistics, as well as Dutch language courses. Through a broad curriculum, students study important cultural developments from the medieval towns in Flanders over the Dutch "Golden Age" and the Netherlands' colonial expansion up to the contemporary multicultural, liberal, and European identity of the Low Countries.
Declaring the Major
For further information regarding declaring the major, please contact the undergraduate adviser Nadia Samadi at [email protected]
Honors Program
A grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 in the major and an overall GPA of 3.3 are required for participation in the program during the senior year.
Course requirement: writing an honors thesis (30-40 pages) is a commitment over two semesters. In the first semester, the student must enroll in a 2-unit independent study (199; P/NP). In the second semester, the student must enroll in H196 (4 units). Students are urged to meet with professors who might serve as thesis advisers prior to enrolling in GERMAN 199. The honors committee, consists of the major advisor and the thesis director, approves the topic and evaluates the thesis.
Minor Program
The Dutch Studies Program offers a minor in Dutch Studies. For information regarding declaring the minor, please contact the undergraduate adviser Nadia Samadi at [email protected]
Visit Program Website
The structural idea of Berkeley's Dutch Studies Program is that Dutch Studies are also world studies. Each course in the program allows students to learn about the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) and to sharpen their view of world history, global problems and transnational cultural connections. The program offers four levels of Dutch language acquisition in combination with a rich variety of English-taught courses dedicated to the culture, language, politics and history of the Low Countries. In cooperation with Summer Sessions, Dutch Studies also organizes an annual travel study course: The Amsterdam-Brussels Connection.
Learning Goals for the Major
- Dutch History is World History
- Through a broad curriculum, Dutch studies offers a critical reflection on the multicultural past and present of the Netherlands. Few European countries have as profound a legacy as the Netherlands in both colonial and post-colonial studies. Some of the best world literature has been written in the former Dutch East Indies and in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Traces of Dutch influence can be found all over the world, from Japan and Indonesia to South Africa to the United States, where present-day New York City goes back to the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.
- Dutch Politics are World Politics
- Dutch studies offers a critical reflection on the political past and present of the Low Countries. Few European countries have as profound a legacy in freedom, liberty, and tolerance as the Netherlands. Historically, it was not the aristocracy, as in most European nations, but the citizenry that shaped Dutch culture and identity. Its strong attachment to freedom is what makes the Netherlands unique in the world as a model for progressiveness. The Dutch Act of Abjuration of 1581 served as a model of inspiration for the American Declaration of Independence.
- Dutch Economy is a World Economy
- Dutch studies pays attention to the importance of the economy in the Low Countries. Located at the estuary of some of Europe's most important rivers, the Low Countries represent a vital economic artery of the European continent. According to some of the world's leading historians, the Netherlands became the first modern economy in the world in the 17th century. Today, the Netherlands is the third biggest foreign investor in the United States. The present-day Low Countries (the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) represent the fourth biggest export economy in the world. Europe's two biggest seaports are located in the Low Countries (Rotterdam and Antwerp), as is the EU capital in the Dutch and French-speaking city of Brussels.
- Dutch Culture is a World Culture
- Dutch studies offers a profound study of the cultural importance of the Low Countries. The singular development of the Netherlands has been accompanied by splendid cultural achievements in painting, book printing, architecture, and literature right through contemporary dance and design. Dutch culture is represented by several of the world's most famous painters, from van Eyck to Rembrandt and from Vermeer to Van Gogh.
- Dutch Language is a World Language
- Dutch studies offers four levels of Dutch language acquisition from introductory to advanced Dutch as well as a linguistic course on the structure of modern Dutch. While Dutch is the mother tongue of approximately 23 million people in Europe (some 17 million in the Netherlands and 6 million in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), it is also spoken by half a million people in the Caribbean and, although in a creolized form, by some 6 million people in South Africa. Due to its colonial legacy, knowledge of Dutch language proves to be of essential importance for scholars interested in the history of Japan, South East Asia, South Africa, the Caribbean and the early European colonization of the United States.
