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UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The making of Dutch flower culture: Auctions, networks, and aesthetics Gebhardt, A.C. Publication date 2014 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Gebhardt, A. C. (2014). The making of Dutch flower culture: Auctions, networks, and aesthetics. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:02 Oct 2021 The Flower of Making Dutch Culture The Making of Dutch Flower Culture Auctions, Networks, and Aesthetics Andrew Gebhardt Andrew Gebhardt The Making of Dutch Flower Culture Auctions, Networks, and Aesthetics ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam Op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op donderdag 6 februari 2014, te 12:00 uur Door Andrew Christian Gebhardt geboren te Washington, D.C., Verenigde Staten Promotiecommissie Promotor: Prof. Dr. F. Gouda Co-promotor: Dr. A.T. Strating Faculteit: Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen Afd. Sociologie & Antropologie Overige leden: Prof. Dr. A.P Hardon Prof. Dr. Ir. B.J. de Kloet Prof. Dr. M.P.J. van de Port Dr. R.J. van Ginkel Dr. I.L. Stengs Tutelary Solace from anemones, sepals of instinct pushing the air. Why do they matter so much, there in the room at noon while nothing moves around them: scarlet, creams, and burgundies, magenta, bone-white, and bruise-like blues; the wind’s daughter, or bride, for some, for others a temple to the wounds of Tammuz— or living itself, wordless, longing. Where is that luminous lusciousness from? Peter Cole ii iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii INTRODUCTION 1 PROLOGUE 17 Overview 19 Approaching FloraHolland Aalsmeer and the Dutch Horticultural Industry 25 Cooperatives and Cooperation 30 Moral economy, Commodities, and the World System 37 Networks, Masculinity, and Aesthetics 45 Horticulture and the Social World 50 EARLY DUTCH HORTICULTURE 59 Tulips Today and Yesterday 61 A Timeless Quest, an Invented Tradition 63 A Tale of Origins 65 Clusius and the Establishment of Horticulture in the Netherlands 68 Clusius and Networks 70 New Kinds of Institutions: the Beemster, Gardens, and the VOC 73 Gardens in the National Imaginary 76 Dutch Horticulture in the World System and the VOC 79 East-West Flows in the World System 82 Ascetics Versus Aesthetics:Weber’s thesis and the origins of Dutch horticulture 85 Tulips Yesterday and Today 89 THE RISE OF AALSMEER’S HORTICULTURAL GROWER’S COOPERATIVES 93 Aalsmeer’s Auction Today 95 How the Need and Opportunity for Flower Auctions Emerged 98 Aalsmeer Grower’s Cooperative Timeline 100 One Auction to Rule them All: a Hundred Years of an Institution 102 From a World War to a World Flower System: An Aalsmeer Grower’s Perspective 108 The Dutch Horticultural Production Chain 111 The Aalsmeer Grower’s Cooperative as a Piece of the Dutch Agricultural Sector 118 Greenports and Weberian Bureaucracy 121 Exporting a Dutch Model to China 124 iv THE DUTCH HORTICULUTRAL AUCTION: TRADERS 129 Horticultural Trader’s Dens 131 Auctions Produce Value, Identity, and Community 133 Auctions and the Performance of “Economic Man” 137 The Horticultural Auctions and Dutch Male Networks 141 What Traders Do at FloraHolland 143 The Market and the Marketplace 145 The Trader as a Cultural Figure 149 Kim: A Woman Trader’s Views on Gender and the Market Place 152 Erik: An Auctioneer’s Perspective 155 Salim: Trader Identity and Autochthony 156 ‘Death or Gladiolas’? On the Floor with Karl at FloraHolland Aalsmeer 158 Aalsmeer’s Auctions in the Historical Continuum of Auctions 162 HORTICULTURAL AESTHETICS 169 Horticultural Commodities in Context 171 Still Life and the Invention of Commodities: an ‘Empire of Things‘ 176 Flowers and Dutch ‘Cultural Iconography:’ from Gift Economy to Market Society 181 From All the World to All the World: Floral Commodities in the World System 185 Creators of Beauty: Breeders, Florists, and the Marketing of Horticultural Commodities 188 Horticultural Pageantry in the Netherlands: Bloemencorsos and the Keukenhof 196 The Language of Flowers 201 PLANET OF FLOWERS 207 The Dutch Horticultural Industry and East African Roses 209 Movement in the Global Horticultural Value Chain 215 Development/Expansion Funds: Masters of Agriculture 220 The Role of the Dutch Auction in the Internationalization of Horticultural Trade 223 Dutch Networks in East Africa 229 Kenya 233 Ethiopia 237 Dutch Networks Around the World: A Global Flower System? 247 Brazil 249 Colombia 250 Ecuador 252 China 254 v CONCLUSION 261 SUMMARY 267 Summary 269 Samenvatting 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY 273 vi vii Acknowledgments Many people helped in a variety of ways in completing this thesis; I hope anyone I fail to mention will pardon my forgetfulness. First and foremost I want to thank my parents for supporting me in many ways throughout this often challenging process. Their love and kindness were essential every step of the way. I’m very grateful to Alex Strating for his advice and insight; he was with me at the beginning of my Ph.D trajectory and stayed through to the end. Frances Gouda provided encouragement, advice, intellectual rigor, and a sympathetic ear through many rewrites and reconceptualizations of this project. I feel fortunate to have worked with her. Mattijs van der Port was there as well at crucial stages— at the very beginning and at the very end, with kind intelligence, vital critical feedback, and writerly insight. Without my informants, this work could never have been done. Too many people to list by name helped me in ways large and small throughout my research. They offered their time, invited me into their homes, gave me tours of their greenhouses and places of work, entertained my questions, showed patience, and provided me with insight and understanding. I felt welcomed in the horticultural world thanks to them, and feel lucky to have met such thoughtful and generous individuals. Thanks also to my colleagues at the UvA, including members of the anthropology club, who commented on early drafts of these chapters. Above all I want to say gracias to friends and loved ones. Anouk de Koning and Eileen Moyer offered terrific insights and intellectual rigor at vital stages, as well as friendship, encouragement, solidarity, and patience throughout the experience. I cherish their presence and their comments as readers. Clara Cendrós Torres Montserrat was supportive especially during chapter 5, accompanying me on fieldwork in Ethiopia, and contributing beautiful photos. Florencia Kral was there from beginning to end with insight, good humor, and cameraderie. Ana Menendez, Miriyam Aouragh, Ajay Gandhi, and Kelly Brady read drafts of various parts of the thesis and gave valuable feedback. I feel fortunate as well for the friendship of Randy Bundel, Beth Bedinotti, and Victoria van den Doel. Finally, I’m deeply grateful for the companionship and warmth of Kranya Díaz-Serrano. viii ix Introduction Children trap bees for their flowers the world traps people for itself Gu Cheng x 2 Growing tulip bulbs on the moon, and a tulip shaped island in the North Sea. Frederick Ruysch’s Wunderkammer and contemporary bloemencorsos. A Dutch- Chinese billionaire, aka the Orchid King, recreates a ‘Dutch’ town in northeast China complete with a replica of Amsterdam’s central station and the International Court of Justice. A retired grower recalls a life in flowers, from the Second World War to the European Union. Dutch development policies in Ethiopia today and its former civilizing mission in Java. Auctions, cooperatives, networking, commodity culture, what might be called Dutch masculinity, and globalization. These are some of the imaginaries, themes, curious details, and perspectives you will encounter in this thesis. All of them pivot around Dutch horticulture, and directly or indirectly link to Aalsmeer’s flower auction, the world’s largest, located not far from Amsterdam. Because of such disparate elements, an explanation of the scope and approach of the thesis seems appropriate. First, what it is not: a traditional ethnography of a local institution; a sociological mapping of the network of Dutch horticulturalists; a theoretical treatise on globalization, masculinity, or Dutch national identity; a complete historical account of Dutch horticulture from the seventeenth century to the present. Nevertheless, there are elements of all these approaches, amounting to a sort of hybrid that, like all hybrids, foregrounds some qualities and sketches others. What follows in this introduction explains something about the research as it suggests ways of framing this text, including a few words about my own scholarly background and influences in writing this dissertation. The subsequent prologue grounds the thesis’ main themes in a range of scholarly literature, and suggests how these themes are relevant to many topical concerns. I should begin by noting two things to help present this text. The first aspect of this work involves my approach, reflecting much contemporary ethnographic writing, where some of the connections and associations are undoubtedly idiosyncratic and perhaps impressionistic.