In this thesis I question the role of photographs in relation to Dutch national identity, regarding traditional costumes specifically. I set forth how sentiments of Dutch (national) identity can be...Show moreIn this thesis I question the role of photographs in relation to Dutch national identity, regarding traditional costumes specifically. I set forth how sentiments of Dutch (national) identity can be expressed, questioned, challenged or reinforced through photography. In doing so, I lay bare contrasts between national and local cultural expressions, between othering and elevating people, between feelings of distance and unification, between past and present. The case studies on which I build this research concern two photo series of inhabitants of Marken – a former Dutch island, now a peninsula – photographed by Cas Oorthuys and Jimmy Nelson. In this research the focal point is the argument that a Dutch national identity is reinforced through their photographs of people in Marken traditional costumes. This reinforcement is achieved through constructing identities and by invoking symbolic and indexical relations of nostalgia, idealization, pride, ‘Dutchness’ and heritage.Show less