Dutchness as an effect of walking

‘Dutchness’ as an effect of walking

Rogier wrote that we were walking in the ‘heart of Dutchness’. But what is ‘Dutchness’? The polders? The windmill? The light?

Great work on the question on difference is currently undertaken by Amade M’charek. In looking at ‘race’ and ‘Dutchness’, she conceives of differences not as given, but as effects that come about in relational practices. In that sense, walking enacts a very specific version of ‘Dutchness’.

	Vorarlberger Boden	Dutch Soil
What do you wear?	Hiking boots – all other kinds of shoes would be dangerous	Whatever you like – from hiking boots to flip flop
How do you get there?	Take the car for, at least, half an hour in order to go from 500 meters to 1000 meters or 1500 meters above sea level.	Take the train for 15 minutes.
What do you see?	In the beginning trees, later other mountain ranges, in the end the valley you will return to	A lot of sky and differences in heights of several centimetres between the polders
Which landmarks do you recognise?	Mountain tops. The real experts know all their names, of course.	Wind mills
What do you hear?	Nature: If you are lucky – and high enough – the skirling of marmots. Culture: The mountain farmer with his tractor.	Nature: Frogs quaking in the polder. Culture: The farmer with his tractor.
You might be disturbed by….	Mountain bikers and in the winter skiers	Cyclists
How you know that the end is approaching…	The air is getting warmer.	You see the train station.
How does it feel?	In the beginning challenging, you start sweating as you go up. When you reach the top, you are delighted because you achieved something.	You are walking, walking and walking. Nothing limits your sight, no woods or mountain chains. And as your gaze touches upon the horizon you feel free.