The study is an imagological analysis of Dutch immigrants in the United States giving insights
into stereotyping identity formation and the marketing of ethnicity. Tracing Dutch-American
literary images through four centuries of writing in America the study emphasizes the
continuity of Dutch-American history. The assessment of images in their socio-cultural context
reveals the disparity between literary and socio-cultural perception the latter of which often
evokes Dutch ethnicity in the United States as a mere means to an end. While the study
ascertains which images of Dutch Americans have dominated public perception it also
investigates the origins of such images their persistence irrespective of time and location
and the reasons for their fluctuating interpretations.
