Local Identities and Politics: Negotiating the Old and the New

153 Pages·2017·2.697 MB·English

by  Kees Terlouw

Local Identities and Politics
The relation between identity and space is strong and generates many con-
flicts. Most people attach great importance to their local community and
its identity. The possibility of change can cause turmoil and become fertile
ground for staking new identities. Understanding how these changes can
take place is important to the future of community cohesion across the
world.
This book gives a detailed analysis of how different stakeholders in two
Dutch municipalities use and adapt their identity discourses to deal with
changing circumstances, situating this work within a wider international
context through global comparisons. The growing spatial interdependence
and political pressures for municipal cooperation or amalgamation creates
not only threats, but also opportunities for stakeholders in local com-
munities to transform their local identities. By studying how local com-
munities attach to local identities, a new conceptual framework can be
formed, informed by lively accounts from residents on the rich and varied
use of identity in their communities and their concerns over future
developments.
This is valuable reading for students, scholars and researchers working
in geography, politics, sociology and cultural studies.
Kees Terlouw is a political geographer at the Department of Human Geo-
graphy and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

Local Identities and Politics
Negotiating the Old and the New
Kees Terlouw
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Kees Terlouw
The right of Kees Terlouw to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Terlouw, Kees, author.
Title: Local identities and politics : negotiating the old and the new
/ Kees Terlouw.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :
Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016042560| ISBN 9781138209251 (hardback)
| ISBN 9781315457536 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Overflakkee (Netherlands)–Social conditions. |
Katwijk aan Zee (Netherlands)–Social conditions. | Group
identity–Netherlands–Overflakkee. | Group identity–Netherlands–
Katwijk aan Zee. | Community life–Netherlands–Overflakkee. |
Community life–Netherlands–Katwijk aan Zee. | Spatial behavior–
Social aspects–Netherlands–Overflakkee. | Spatial behavior–Social
aspects–Netherlands–Katwijk aan Zee. | Politics and culture–Social
aspects–Netherlands–Overflakkee. | Politics and culture–Social
aspects–Netherlands–Katwijk aan Zee.
Classification: LCC HN513.5 .T47 2017 | DDC 306.9425/39–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016042560
ISBN: 978-1-138-20925-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-45753-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
List of figures viii
List of tables ix
Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Municipal amalgamations in the Netherlands 4
2 Local identities conceptualised: from fixed facts to
flexible discourses 9
2.1 Local identities as fixed facts with physical roots 9
2.2 The social construction of identities 11
2.3 Contingent communities and identities 12
2.4 The ideal typical contrast between thick and thin spatial
identities 13
2.5 Identity gaps between administrations and
populations 16
2.6 Spatial identities and the institutionalisation of spaces 17
2.7 The layering of spatial identities 20
2.8 Identity and legitimacy: de-i nstitutionalisation and the
formation of resistance identities 23
2.9 Identities and scale: primary and secondary
identities 26
3 Measuring local identity 32
3.1 Goeree- Overflakkee 34
3.2 Katwijk 36
3.3 Interviews 39
vi Contents
4 Local identities analysed: change for the better or the
worse 43
4.1 Local identity and community values 43
4.2 Heritage and the different views on the future 46
4.3 Types of identification 48
4.4 Established local communities and migration 51
4.5 Scale strategies in local politics 54
4.6 New migrants in old villages 56
4.7 Urban migrants in Katwijk Noord 58
4.8 Anti- urbanism and local identity 60
4.9 The loss of identity as a key element in identity
discourses 63
4.10 Traditionalist and modernist identity discourses 66
5 Municipal amalgamation and changing local identities
on Goeree-O verflakkee 69
5.1 An emerging local resistance identity before
amalgamation 70
5.2 The fading local resistance identity after
amalgamation 71
5.3 A thin island identity formulated by local
entrepreneurs 74
5.4 The unification of the local entrepreneurs 76
5.5 Sunday rest: the accommodation of different local
identities in an amalgamated municipality 82
6 Katwijk: “A city which has remained a village” 93
6.1 Katwijk and the ring of Dutch cities 94
6.2 The amalgamation of Katwijk and the fear of
neighbouring Leiden 102
6.3 After amalgamation: “own village first” 105
6.4 Neighbourhood councils 106
6.5 Local Orange associations: one nation, four
villages 112
6.6 The history of the Orange associations in Katwijk 115
6.7 The four different local Orange associations 116
6.8 The unity and diversity in Katwijk’s identities 122
Contents vii
7 Conclusion: the divergent use of local identities 125
7.1 The changing use of local and regional identities
compared 127
7.2 The fragile shield of secondary identities protecting
primary identities 129
7.3 Three different archetypes of using local identities 130
Index 133
Figures
2.1 Local identity and scale 28
3.1 Goeree- Overflakkee: an island in the Dutch delta 34
3.2 Katwijk: on the edge of the Dutch urban core 37
4.1 Street painting at the seaside in Katwijk 44
4.2 The old church in Katwijk 46
4.3 The old harbour in Goedereede 57
4.4 Tower blocks in the neighbourhood of Katwijk Noord 58
4.5 Traditionalist and modernist identity discourses of fear
and hope 67
5.1 The stand of Buutegeweun in the new covered market in
Rotterdam 81
5.2 New orthodox church in Ouddorp 86
Tables
2.1 The difference between thick and thin spatial identities 14
2.2 Identity types, stakeholders and time perspective 16
2.3 The layering of spatial identities 21
3.1 The dominant spatial identity discourses on
Goeree- Overflakkee and in Katwijk 40
6.1 Royal holidays in the Netherlands 115