When history students Jurjen Abbes and Ilse Engels discovered that their international peers hardly knew anything about Dutch history, they decided to do something about it. Now they teach Dutch history once a month to whoever is interested.
‘What a great idea’, Ilse Engels responded when her friend and fellow history enthusiast Jurjen Abbes proposed that they’d organise a PowerPoint evening about Dutch history for their foreign friends.
‘I’ve been in situations where internationals don’t even know why orange is the national colour, or that Holland and Netherlands are not the same thing’, Jurjen says. They felt like internationals are often interested in learning about Dutch culture and history, but not too active in looking for the information themselves – so they decided to bring it to them.
Fun facts
‘I used to randomly drop fun history facts on my friends’, Jurjen says. But you can only do that so many times. ‘And so we decided it would be nice to actually plan a lecture to introduce Dutch history to them.’
Luckily, their friends were enthusiastic too.
The topic was the Dutch canon and the history of Dutch monarchy, but after five hours of enthusiastic discussion, they hadn’t even touched upon the royals. ‘We had so much to talk about already’, Ilse says. ‘People were bringing the view from their country, too.’
Still, they initially believed that that one evening would be the start and end of it. ‘But then people started asking when the next session would be and the next topic’, Jurjen says.
Casual
Now they share their knowledge about Dutch history and culture once a month. A group of around ten people will gather in whatever location they can secure, typically someone’s home. ‘The informal setting helps’, Jurjen says. ‘The threshold to engage is low. People dont think it’s just a lecture, it is also an evening to hang out.’ Ilse adds: ‘You start talking more easily and connect faster when it’s casual.’
Ever since that first night, they have taught their students about the Spanish – Dutch war, the history of the royal Netherlands, and the provinces and their characteristics, amongst others.
But they also share fun facts: What is the motto of Zeeland? How many times has the former island of Urk changed provinces? Which village crowns a shrimp queen every year? And why does the statue of Willem of Orange in The Hague point in the direction it does? (Legend has it he points to the city and not the Parliament, as he served the needs of the people, not those of the establishment)
And always enthusiastic discussion ensues. ‘People are very interested and want to compare the Dutch cases to their own contexts’, Jurjen says. ‘It is lovely to see their reaction to something that is really normal to us’, Ilse says. ‘And to discover and learn about other cultures.’
Integration
They also think these lectures bring international and Dutch students together. ‘A lot of people would probably share my observation that there isn’t a lot of integration taking place between the two groups. Improving this would be a two-way street, and I like to think this is a humble contribution from the Dutch side’, Jurjen says.
And he’s seeing promising signs: ‘After the lecture on Dutch royalty, this girl started using the Dutch royal family in jokes, when normally people would use the more internationally famous British royal family.’
The internationalisation discussion might benefit from a little shift in perspective, he feels. ‘I think we always talk about the Dutch language, but if we want to further integration, it would be good to teach internationals about Dutch culture and history as well.’
Interested in joining the group? Send an email to [email protected]