Dutch Studies

University of California, Berkeley

About the Program

The Designated Emphasis (DE) in Dutch Studies provides curricular and research resources for students who want to concentrate on Dutch Studies within their respective disciplines and have their work formally recognized in their degree designation. Designed to bring together faculty and students from different departments, the DE will be administered by the Graduate Group in Dutch Studies and will provide a unique context for rigorous cross-disciplinary research. Sponsoring departments include German, History, History of Art, Southeast Asian Studies, African-American Studies, Comparative Literature, French, and Sociology. However, the DE is open to interested students regardless of whether their home department is officially affiliated with the DE. The program will help advance Berkeley’s position as America’s leading Dutch studies program and facilitate research in and cooperation with other universities in the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Indonesia, and the Caribbean, for example, who also have strong Dutch studies programs. Students applying to the DE must be prepared to integrate high-level research in Dutch studies into their coursework, qualifying exam and dissertation.

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Admissions

To be admitted to the Designated Emphasis in Dutch Studies, an applicant must already be accepted into a PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley. For further information regarding admission to graduate programs at UC Berkeley, please see the Graduate Division's Admissions website.

Students are required to fill out a form requesting admission, listing their prior preparation in the field, and their projected pathway through the program. In addition, they have to submit a brief essay stating interests and reasons for applying, a CV, a writing sample, and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member in the student’s home department indicating why and how the student would benefit from the DE.

Students must be admitted to the DE prior to taking their qualifying exams. Admission will be determined on the basis of how coherently and logically the student can articulate the value of the DE for her/his larger course of study and career goals, as well as on the quality of the written work.

Designated Emphasis Requirements

Curriculum/Coursework

Students admitted to the designated emphasis program must complete the following requirements before applying for their qualifying examination:

Language Requirement
DUTCH 100Dutch for Reading Knowledge 13
or DUTCH 1 Elementary Dutch
Integrative Course
DUTCH 299Individual Studies in Dutch for Graduate Students 21-8
Electives
Select two additional courses related to Dutch Studies, from the following approved list; at least one must be a graduate seminar: 3
AFRICAM 118
The Slave Trade and Culture in the Modern Atlantic World [3]
AFRICAM 131
Caribbean Societies and Cultures [3]
DUTCH 107
The Structure of Modern Dutch [3]
DUTCH 110
Advanced Dutch [4]
DUTCH 125
Conversation and Composition [4]
DUTCH 140
Topics in Dutch Literature [3]
DUTCH C164
DUTCH C164 The Indonesian Connection: Dutch (Post)colonial History and Culture in Southeast Asia [4]
DUTCH 166
Anne Frank and After: World War II and the Holocaust in the Netherlands [4]
DUTCH 170
Multiculturalism in the Netherlands [3]
DUTCH C170
Dutch Culture and Society: Amsterdam and Berkeley in the Sixties [4]
DUTCH 171AC
From New Amsterdam to New York: Race, Culture, and Identity in New Netherland [4]
DUTCH 174
Brussels: A Global Study of a European Capital City [4]
DUTCH 173
Dutch Post-Colonial Studies [4]
DUTCH 178
The Caribbean Connection: Dutch (Post)colonial History and Culture in the Caribbean [4]
DUTCH 179
Cultural Studies [3,4]
DUTCH 299
Individual Studies in Dutch for Graduate Students [1-8] 4
GERMAN 280
North Sea Germanic [4]
HISTART 108
Cities and the Arts [4]
HISTART 166
Van Eyck to Brueghel [4]
HISTART 172
The Dutch Golden Age [4]
HISTART 173
The Age of Rubens [4]
HISTART 260
Seminar in Italian Renaissance Art [2,4]
HISTART 262
Seminar in European Art [2,4]
HISTORY 112B
Africa: Modern South Africa, 1652-Present [4]
HISTORY 170
The Netherlands [4]
1

Students who already possess a basic knowledge of Dutch can apply for dispensation of this requirement. In order to do so, their knowledge of Dutch has to be examined and officially acknowledged in a letter written by a member of the Dutch Studies Program in the Department of German.

2

This course will serve as the integrative course for the program regarding methodology and research skills. The student needs to write a 7000-word article to complete the course, using a bibliography that includes Dutch studies materials. The ultimate goal is to elaborate an article in close cooperation with the supervising faculty member(s) that can be published in an academic journal in the field of Dutch studies (such as Dutch Crossing, Journal of Dutch Literature, or The Low Countries), or any other academic journal.

3

Students may petition for a course not on this established list if approved by the advising committee.

4

One of the two-course electives can be fulfilled by repeating DUTCH 299, under the condition that the topic of this course changes.

Qualifying Examination

A member of the Graduate Group in Dutch Studies must be a formal member of the PhD qualifying examination committee of the DE student. Under most circumstances, the Graduate Group member in the student’s home department will serve in this function. A member of the graduate group may also serve as the outside member of the qualifying exam committee if not a faculty member of the student’s major. At least one Dutch Studies topic must be included as a subject on the qualifying examination. Satisfactory performance on the qualifying examination for the PhD will be judged according to the established rules in the student’s major program.

Dissertation

A member of the Graduate Group in Dutch Studies must be a formal member of the dissertation committee of the DE student. The dissertation must (partially) relate to Dutch studies (such as Dutch culture, history, politics, art, literature, linguistics, or sociology).

Degree conferral

Upon completion of all requirements of the student’s major program and the DE in Dutch Studies, students will receive a designation on their transcript and diploma stating that they have completed a “PhD in ( . . . ) with a Designated Emphasis in Dutch Studies.”

Courses

Dutch Studies

Contact Information

Graduate Group in Dutch Studies

5319 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-643-2004

Fax: 510-642-3243

gspa@berkeley.edu

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Director of Dutch Studies

Jeroen Dewulf, PhD

5329 Dwinelle Hall

jdewulf@berkeley.edu

Graduate Advisor

Timothy Hampton

4123 Dwinelle Hall

thampton@berkeley.edu

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

Andrea Rapport

5307 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-3786

germanga@berkeley.edu

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