Speak Up! Analyzing the Voice of Dutch Students in Countercultural Movements of the 1960s

Abstract

This project aims to nuance the history of Dutch countercultural (student) movements of the 1960s. Herbert Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man (1964) will be used to set the context of countercultural movements that were active in the 1960s, with a focus on developments in the academic realm. Next to the Dutch student movements, anarchist movement Provo is taken under consideration. Over the course of this project, student press-periodicals of the 1960s are used as a primary source to examine how students positioned themselves in relation to developments that were at play within these domains. I demonstrate that qualitatively analyzing these periodicals nuances historiographical narratives of revolting youths in the context of the Netherlands. As a result, the voice of students is amplified in this history.