Floods as shapers of Dutch cultural identity: media, theories and practices

Abstract

This article offers a theoretical framework which can be used to study processes of national identity formation through the lens of nature-induced disasters, such as floods. Firstly, it discusses the current state of affairs in historical disaster studies and shows how this field may be enriched by adapting the concept of the ‘imagined community’ developed in nationalism studies. It furthermore combines insights and concepts from literary studies, cultural studies and memory studies. Secondly, it applies this framework to Dutch history, by discussing the role of flood narratives in shaping a national identity. Studying the Dutch representations of flood disasters illustrates how the nation’s identity was shaped by the cultural media that communicated these events. They made use of a recurrent set of tropes, which linked the emergence of national identity to the capacity for coping with floods. This was articulated in a narrative framework, which consisted of standard ingredients, such as the such as the highlighting of horrific events, miraculous rescues, and God’s providence. Furthermore, authors foregrounded the involvement of Dutch kings and queens during flood disasters, and framed of the Dutch as being charitable by nature. The analysis of a wide range of media (stories, poems, treatises) shows how processes of national identity formation were shaped in cultural discourses in the aftermath of disasters, a process that is still going on.