To refer to this article use this url: http://www.quotidian.nl/vol03/nr01/a04
Abstract
This article addresses the current popularity of ‘Holland symbols’ depicted on everyday household objects in the Netherlands. Research shows that various shops have been selling household objects with typical Dutch motifs and traditional ‘Holland symbols’ since 2006. During the same period the Dutch identity has been a hot topic of debate in the media. This trend is described and subsequently the popularity of the objects is put in the context of social developments such as globalisation, Europeanisation, individualisation and multiculturalisation. These developments led to a collective need for expressing the Dutch identity, to which the trend of objects depicting ‘Holland-symbols’ catered. The popularity of these household objects can be interpreted in this context and considered as a form of banal neo-nationalism.