A Key to Dutch History

229 Pages·2007·10.452 MB·English

by  Frits van Oostrom, Hubert Slings

* omslag Canon Engels 27-03-2007 11:42 Pagina 1
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A Key to
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Dutch History t
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report by the committee for c
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the development of the dutch canon H A Key to
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Many think they know the legends behind tulipmania
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and the legacy of the Dutch East India Company,
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but what basic knowledge of Dutch history and Dutch
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culture should be passed on to future generations?
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A Key to Dutch History and its resulting overview
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of historical highlights, assembled by a number of u
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specialists in consultation with the Dutch general public, a History
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provides a thought-provoking and timely answer. c
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The democratic process behind the volume is n
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reminiscent of the way in which the Netherlands has n
o the cultural canon
succeeded for centuries at collective craftsmanship,
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and says as much about the Netherlands as does t
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the outcome of the opinions voiced.

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978 90 5356 498 1
Amsterdam University Press
Amsterdam University Press
www.aup.nl
boek Canon A ENG V3 23-03-2007 13:47 Pagina 1
A Key to Dutch History
boek Canon A ENG V3 23-03-2007 13:47 Pagina 2
This iron clock was found on Nova Zembla. On 18May 1596, two ships left Amsterdam
for a reconnoitring expedition in the Arctic. The ship with expedition leader Willem
Barentsz and captain Jacob van Heemskerck on board reached the island of Nova
Zembla in the northernmost part of Russia and became icebound. The seventeen
crew members were forced to spend the winter on the island. They did so in a shelter
which they constructed using driftwood, referred to as the Behouden Huys [the Safe
House]. It was ten months later before a return trip to civilisation could be undertaken
by rowing boat. A lot of the crew’s belongings remained behind on Nova Zembla
including cutlery, clothing, weapons, books, tools and this clock.
©rijksmuseum, amsterdam
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A key to
Dutch History
report by the committee for
the development of the dutch canon
Amsterdam University Press
boek Canon A ENG V3 23-03-2007 13:47 Pagina 4
c
c
c
C A N O N
VAN
Nederland
Publication of the Committee for the Development of the Dutch Canon
www.entoen.nu
© 2007Frits van Oostrom, the Netherlands
isbn978-90-5356-498-1
nur688/840
Published by Amsterdam University Press, the Netherlands
www.aup.nl
Design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Printing: Drukkerij Romer, Schiedam, the Netherlands
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of
this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise)
without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
boek Canon A ENG V3 23-03-2007 13:47 Pagina 5
Contents
11 Foreword to the English version
13 Foreword
15 Section A
16 Summary
CHAPTER 1
18 Canon – the pros and cons
Grounds, assignment, analysis, points of departure
18 1.1 Administrative grounds
19 1.2 The desire for a canon
23 1.3 The canon under fire
25 Intermezzo: Canons in Denmark
27 1.4 The power of the canon
CHAPTER 2
32 The canon outlined
Basis, content and form
32 2.1 Basis
34 Primary education sector
35 Aside on the local canon
36 Secondary education sector
37 2.2 Content
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39 2.3 Form
39 Wall chart
40 (Virtual) treasure chest (for the time being)
41 Website
44 The canon as a “wiki”
CHAPTER 3
46 The canon in practice
Implementation in schools and society
46 3.1 The canon in the classroom
49 3.1.1 Primary education sector
49 History
50 Geography
51 Dutch language
53 The arts
53 Man and society
54 The local canon in primary schools
54 3.1.2 Secondary education sector
56 lower forms
56 History
57 Geography
57 Dutch language
59 Art & culture
59 upper forms and second stage
60 Dutch language
62 Culture and the arts (CKV)
62 Social studies
63 3.1.3 Higher education
64 3.2 Teachers and their “baggage”
67 Refresher courses
68 3.3 Cultural institutions
68 Collaboration with schools
71 Cultural institutions and the canon
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75 3.4 Market and society
75 Market
76 Society
77 3.5 Willem van Oranje Fund
CHAPTER 4
79 The canon in revision
Periodical maintenance of the canon
79 4.1 The ever-changing canon
82 4.2 Concrete procedures
CHAPTER 5
84 The canon in position
Recommendations and desiderata
(including: at what price the canon?)
86 Recommendations
86 With regard to the report
86 With regard to the design
86 The education sector
87 Provinces and municipalities
87 Cultural institutions
88 Market and society
88 With regard to the process
89 Closing remarks
91 Literature
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APPENDICE 1
98 Letter of instruction
APPENDICE 2
104 Composition of committee and description of working methods
APPENDICE 3
107 Discussion partners and experts
110 Abbreviations
113 Section B
114 Introduction
116 The canon of the Netherlands
218 Main lines of the canon
225 Acknowledgements
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When we, as individuals, pick and mix cultural elements for ourselves,
we do not do so indiscriminately, but according to our natures.
Societies, too, must retain the ability to discriminate, to reject as
well as to accept, to value some things above others, and to insist
on the acceptance of those values by all their members. [...]
If we are to build a plural society on the foundation of what unites
us, we must face up to what divides. But the questions of core
freedoms and primary loyalties can’t be ducked. No society, no 9
matter how tolerant, can expect to thrive if its citizens don’t prize
what their citizenship means –if, when asked what they stand for
as Frenchmen, as Indians, as Britons, they cannot give clear replies.
salman rushdie1
Some etymologists speculate that the word ‘canon’ (as in
‘canonical’) is related to the Arabic word qanum, or law in the bind-
ing, legalistic sense of the word. But that is only one rather restric-
tive meaning. The other is a musical one, canon as a contrapuntal
form employing numerous voices in usually strict imitation of each
other, a form, in other words, expressing motion, playfulness, dis-
covery, and, in the rhetorical sense, invention. Viewed this way, the
canonical humanities, far from being a rigid tablet of fixed rules and
monuments bullying us from the past [...] will always remain open
to changing combinations of sense and signification.
edward said2
1 Rushdie 2005.
2 Said 2004, p. 25.