Pedagogy 2025

Abstract

Recent elections in The Netherlands suggest that a significant proportion of voters is in favour of a more right-wing political direction. This brings challenges to discussing national culture and identity in higher education. In addition, in our teaching, we have observed a growing disconnect between existing theoretical frameworks of national identity in relation to arts and culture and the lived experiences of our students in the BA Media, Art, Design and Architecture (MKDA) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Students have indicated that theories, currently framed through ‘essentialist’ and ‘constructivist’ paradigms, feel overly polarised and abstract, and fail to represent the lived complexities of their own identities and cultural backgrounds. At the same time, they have expressed uncertainty about whether the theories, methods and tools they are learning will support their future employability in an increasingly digital and globalised job market. This paper presents the findings of a pilot study that we carried out in the first-year course “The Netherlands™”. In this pilot, we explored together with students how digital “knowledge graphs” (which allow the visual mapping of overlaps and conflicts in relationships between, for example, people, artefacts, places, concepts or experiences) can be integrated into theory-building and teaching. The paper presents the main insights from the pilot, and discusses how digital tools can be used to (co)create less polarising approaches to national identity – and ultimately, more inclusive, relevant, and future-facing learning experiences.