DUTCH PROGRAM - Why study Dutch?

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The Dutch Studies Program has distinguished itself over the years as one of the most active academic units on the Berkeley campus. One of the reasons is its biennial sponsorship of the distinguished "Berkeley Conference on Dutch Literature," which alternates with the "Berkeley Conference on Dutch Linguistics." These conferences draw the most distinguished specialists in their field and publish the papers in attractively volumes. It also invites the Berkeley academic community to these conferences, along with the Dutch and Flemish community.

The Dutch Studies Program is an active participant in the Internationale Vereniging van Neerlandistiek (http://www.ivnnl.com), an international organization of professors of Dutch language, literature and culture that brings the academic world of the Netherlands and Flanders together with their extramural counterparts all over the world. As one of the largest Dutch academic programs in this continuum, Berkeley has established student exchange programs with a number of Dutch and Flemish universities, including Amsterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Ghent and Leuven.

Berkeley is also co-founder and an active contributor to the American Association for Netherlandic Studies
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/aans/
a society that consists of several hundred professors, half of which from foreign universities. Dutch Studies in Berkeley is actively supported by the Nederlandse Taalunie (http://taalunieversum.org). The Dutch Language Union is a Dutch-Flemish organisation set up in 1980 by treaty between the Netherlands and Belgium. The Language Union promotes and finances projects relating to the Dutch language, literature, education and culture, both in and outside the Dutch-language area.

The Dutch Studies Program is the touchstone of the Netherlands America University League of California (NAUL-CAL), which sponsors lectures, concerts, readings and films of the highest caliber for the University and the general public. Each month a major event is featured. Further information can be obtained from the NAUL web site or from the Dutch Studies office.

Since 2006 Dutch Studies has also been collaborating with one of the oldest Dutch-American organizations in the US, The Netherland-America Foundation (www.thenaf.org). Because NAUL already takes care of an important part of the Dutch-American cultural agenda in Northern California, the Netherland-America Business Exchange Innovation Program (www.thenafsanfrancisco.org) has focused its energies on launching a 3-part speaker series celebrating innovation in business. The series (to be held in the Fall of 2007) is a venue for US Bay Area and Holland-based business people to discuss innovation from a past, present and future perspective, while also providing an opportunity for social networking.

EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Thanks to the Exchange Agreement between the University of California at Berkeley and the Universities of Nijmegen en Utrecht, you have the opportunity to study there for credit during one semester or one year. Go to our Study Abroad page to find out more.

SUMMER TRAVEL COURSE

The Dutch Studies Program at Berkeley also sponsors a summer travel course in the Netherlands and Flanders. Entitled "The Amsterdam-Brussels Connection: The Art, and Literature of the Netherlands and Belgium." This course is designed to introduce the history, art history, and literature of the Netherlands and Flanders to American students. Using the 17th century "Golden Age" as its starting point, the course traces the important cultural developments in these countries up to the present. The interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum allows the student a fuller picture of these two contrasting monarchies. The historical, cultural, and linguistic relationship between Flanders and the Netherlands is a constant focus of the course. Students engage with their subject matter as eyewitnesses through daily field trips to museums and other historical sights in Amsterdam, The Hague, Delft, Utrecht, Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent.

DUTCH STUDIES MAJOR

The Dutch Studies Program offers both a major and a minor in Dutch. In order to reach out to a larger student body, the courses on Dutch culture, literature and history are presented in English, with no language requirement. Perhaps because of its flexible interdisciplinary academic approach, Dutch has become a favorite second field of studies for students of Comparative Literature, German, Linguistics, Art History, History, South & South-East Asian Studies, Anthropology, Political Science and other disciplines. In the future the program is geared toward establishing a larger number dynamic links to related areas of intellectual inquiry.

The group major in Dutch Studies is designed to present a balanced curriculum of the language, literature, history and culture of the Netherlands. Since the program is both specialized (in dealing with one country) and broad (in its many-sided approach to the subject), it is recommended that the student also prepare a strong related discipline so that the group major constitutes the focal point of a larger area of interest.

The student is expected to complete a minimum of 30 upper-division units, but no more than 36, from those courses listed below. Of these, the following courses are required (prerequisite: Dutch 2 or equivalent).

Language: Dutch 107, 110 and 125 (the latter may be repeated once for credit);
Literature: 8 units in either the Dutch 140 or 160 series (may be repeated as topics change) or Dutch 180;
Culture: Dutch 170 or one Art History course (166, 172, 173);
History: History 170
Senior Thesis: Dutch 190

Additional courses to be selected from the following list in completion of the major: Dutch 140, 160 series, 177; History 163; Comparative Literature 170; Music 129. Majors in Dutch Studies who are enrolled in Dutch 160 series courses are expected to read the literature in the original language.

Four units of Dutch H196 are required for enrollment in the honors program, and students will be expected to write their Senior Thesis (Dutch 190) with distinction. Students may enroll in the honors program if they have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in all work completed at the University and a 3.3 or higher GPA in the major.

DUTCH STUDIES MINOR

The minor is designed as a complementary field of academic study for students of literature, linguistics, history, political science, art, history of art, South & South-East Asian Studies and related fields in which Dutch culture, the Netherlands or Belgium (Flanders), plays a role. With prerequisites of elementary and intermediate Dutch (or their equivalents), the minor consists of five upper-division courses. Three of these are required (110, 125/130, 170), while the two additional courses are to be taken from the balance of the course offerings (107, 120, 140, 150, 160, 180).

INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF DUTCH AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Dutch Studies in Berkeley organizes every year an international exam to obtain an International Certificate of Dutch as Foreign Language. This CNaVT-exam (http://www.cnavt.org/main.asp) is the only official, internationally recognized exam for Dutch as a Foreign Language for all who learn Dutch all over the world. The University of Leuven and the University of Amsterdam are jointly responsible for the exam. The Dutch Language Union has commissioned this collaboration.

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Queen Beatrix Scholarship

The Queen Beatrix Chair provides a total of five scholarships of $500 each which are available to both graduates and undergraduates. The only stipulation is that recipients enroll in at least one Dutch course of at least 3 units during the year of tenure. Application forms are available in the Dutch Studies Program and the deadline for application is May 1 for the following academic year.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DUTCH SUMMERCOURSES, A BA AND MA AND FOR RESEARCH IN THE NETHERLANDS AND FLANDERS

Go to our Study Abroad page to find out more.

 

NETHERLANDS AMERICA UNIVERSITY LEAGUE