Dutch Studies

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This introduction to the Dutch language focuses on the development of basic communicative competencies (spoken and written). Students will be able to understand and use high frequency vocabulary and basic grammatical structures. This course is not open for native speakers of Dutch.
Elementary Dutch: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Embedded in the context of Dutch-speaking regions, their history and culture, this course focuses on the development of communicative competencies (spoken and written), the expansion of vocabulary, and the review and practice of grammatical structures. This course is not open for native speakers of Dutch.
Intermediate Dutch: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
"Studying Abroad". This 1-unit freshman seminar explores all study abroad opportunities that UC Berkeley offers to its students. It answers questions about what can be gained by studying abroad and how to make it part of one’s undergraduate education at Cal. It focuses on how to develop a study abroad plan that suits academic and personal interests. Students also learn about different program options, how to select a program, application procedures, financial aid, and making the most of the study abroad experience after returning to the Berkeley campus. This is the ideal course to prepare yourself for a study abroad experience and to learn, explore, and grow in a globalizing world.

Freshman Seminar: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2008
This course offers a general survey on the cultural history of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Through written texts, audiovisual materials, and discussions, we will study important historical, social, political, and cultural aspects of these three countries that represent European history in a nutshell. All readings and discussions in English.
Cultural History of the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg): Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2020
This course is focused on developing reading skills in Dutch. The course is taught in English, and open to all students who want to start learning Dutch or wish to solidify their knowledge of Dutch grammar from a reader’s perspective. There is a strong emphasis on grammar, syntax, and basic Dutch vocabulary.
Dutch for Reading Knowledge: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2015, Spring 2013, Fall 2009
A basic course on the structural properties of modern Dutch, including phonetics and phonology, morphology, and syntax. Comparison with English and German.
The Structure of Modern Dutch: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course is designed to develop and enhance oral communication skills at an advanced level, by means of conversational practice, discussion of readings, and student presentations.

Advanced Dutch: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2019
This advanced Dutch language course is designed to develop and enhance students’ written skills. Students will be introduced to different types of texts and will learn different styles and practices in writing.
Conversation and Composition: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2012, Spring 2011, Spring 1998
While the focus will be on some of the major novels in the Dutch language, relevant works of poetry will be included too, and to give this class the widest exposure possible, the class will consist of an English track and a Dutch track (the latter will accommodate our Dutch majors and minors who will read and reflect on these works in Dutch).
Topics in Dutch Literature: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2024
In this course, we study three multiracial communities with a Dutch-American connection, one that identifies as African American, one as Native American and one as Asian American, and take these cases as a point of departure for a broader discussion on the history and future of racially-mixed people in American society. This focus is important considering that people of mixed race have experienced a long history of discrimination in the United States. Racial mixture was long associated with degeneration, and racial theorists claimed that it weakened physical, intellectual and moral qualities such as strength, endurance, honesty, and even fertility.
Multiracial Americans: The History and future of racially-mixed communities in the United States: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2022, Spring 2018, Spring 2014
This course deals with the Dutch colonial history of Indonesia, the former Dutch East Indies. After studying the importance of the East India Company in Southeast Asia and the history of Indonesia under colonial rule, we analyze a number of works in Dutch literature and film with a focus on post-colonialism and interculturality. This course intends to give an opportunity to those who do not have a command of Dutch language, but wish to complete their knowledge of Southeast-Asian history and culture. All materials will be in English, no knowledge of Dutch is required.
DUTCH C164 The Indonesian Connection: Dutch (Post)colonial History and Culture in Southeast Asia: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Spring 2019
This course deals with the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in World War II and the Holocaust, with a special focus on the Anne Frank's diary. We will discuss literature, film and historiography with a focus on anti-Semitism, collaboration and resistance as well as the postwar discussion on guilt and responsibility. All materials will be in English, no knowledge of Dutch is required.
Anne Frank and After: World War II and the Holocaust in the Netherlands: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2012, Spring 2010
The course will focus on contemporary Dutch politics, culture and literature: the post-war period and the early twenty-first century. Particular attention will be paid to immigration and the debate on multiculturalism and Islam in the Netherlands. All readings and discussions in English.
Multiculturalism in the Netherlands: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2008
This course will focus on the cultural aspects of protest and youth cultures in two cities that were influential in the sixties: Amsterdam and Berkeley. Particular attention will be paid to how American popular culture was perceived in a European context. All readings and discussions in English.
Dutch Culture and Society: Amsterdam and Berkeley in the Sixties: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
What would it mean to begin modern American history on the island of Manhattan instead of New England? We intend to question the Anglo-American perspective on the representation of cultural identity, national identity, ethnicity, and race by constrasting the traditional foundation story of the United States with that of the 17th-century Dutch colony on Manhattan. Readings will include historical and ethnographic writings, self-representations of the different ethnic groups, and fictional accounts.
From New Amsterdam to New York: Race, Culture, and Identity in New Netherland: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2011
Selected topics in Dutch or Flemish/Belgian colonial literature and/or history. See departmental description for current topic. All readings and discussions in English.
Dutch Post-Colonial Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2009
This course aims at a comprehensive study of Brussels, capital of the European Union: its historical richness, institutional complexity of Belgium, cultural diversity, linguistic contradictions, globalizing economy, and its rapidly transforming social divisions. Taught in English; no knowledge of French or Dutch is required.
Brussels: A Global Study of a European Capital City: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Summer 2020 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2019 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session
With the 17th-century "Golden Age" as its starting point, the course traces the important cultural developments in Holland and Belgium (Flanders) up to the present. The interdisciplinary curriculum provides a clear picture of these two constrasting monarchies. The historical, cultural, and linguistic relationship is a constant focus of the course. The literature (documentary and fiction) concentrates on the Holcaust in the Low Countries. Students will engage with their subject matter not only in daily lectures, but also as eyewitnesses through regular field trips to museums and historical sites in Amsterdam, The Hague, Haarlem, Delft, Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and other cities. Visits to the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, the House of Representatives, an interactive criminal trial, attendance at the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague, and the European Parliament in Brussels are included in the course.
The Amsterdam-Brussels Connection: The Art, History, and Literature of the Netherlands and Flanders: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Prior to 2007
This course deals with the colonial history and intercultural identity of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, the former Dutch West Indies. After studying the importance of the West India Company in the Americas and the history of the Dutch Caribbean, we analyze a number of works in Dutch, Surinamese and Antillean literature with a focus on post-colonialism, interculturality, and miscegenation. This course intends to give an opportunity to those who do not have a command of Dutch language, but wish to complete their knowledge of Caribbean history and culture. All materials will be in English, no knowledge of Dutch is required.
The Caribbean Connection: Dutch (Post)colonial History and Culture in the Caribbean: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2010
Selected topics in cultural studies. Offerings vary. See departmental descriptions for current topic. All readings and discussions in English.
Cultural Studies: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Fall 2015
A major research paper in the areas of Dutch literature, culture, or the area of linguistics.
Senior Thesis: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This capstone project is designed to allow students to “finish off” their Dutch minors and majors in such a way as to return to, develop, and synthesize what they have learned in the minor or major. Students will begin by reviewing their previous seminar paper with faculty and highlighting passages that could use re-crafting, argument elements that are not strong, and points where research could be added. They will then proceed to revise and expand their paper, providing occasional progress reports and other short assignments to keep them moving forward. They will submit various components of the in-progress revisions to their adviser for comment and feedback.
Capstone Project: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Supervised independent study and research course for honors students.
Honors Studies in Dutch: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024

Directed Group Study: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Consent of Instructor is required to enroll in this course.
Special Studies in Dutch: Read More [+]

Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
For graduate students engaged in exploration of a restricted field, involving the writing of a research paper.
Individual Studies in Dutch for Graduate Students: Read More [+]