Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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In popular culture, the European Middle Ages (ca. 500-1500) are commonly portrayed as a culturally homogenous time period in which the supremacy of the white, heterosexual male is taken for granted...Show moreIn popular culture, the European Middle Ages (ca. 500-1500) are commonly portrayed as a culturally homogenous time period in which the supremacy of the white, heterosexual male is taken for granted. This makes the period attractive to the far-right, whose members view the Middle Ages as an alternative to our modern, multicultural times. In the past, Medieval imagery and rhetoric have consequently been appropriated by groups and individuals ranging from the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis to Anders Breivik, the Charlottesville protesters and Vladimir Putin. In this thesis, Guus van der Peet examines how the appropriation of history has taken place in the Dutch Language Area. He analyses four case studies: 1) an antisemitic sequel to the Middle Dutch classic Vanden Vos Reinarde; 2) the academic publications of Jan de Vries, a national-socialist professor in Leiden; 3) two Youtube videos from the Flemish far-right student association Schild & Vrienden; 4) two speeches by alt-right politician Thierry Baudet. In the end, Van der Peet concludes that there is a significant difference between the Flemish and Dutch appropriation of the past. Whereas the Flemish far-right repeatedly references the Middle Ages, the Dutch far-right deviates from the international tradition by instead appropriating the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Show less
