De Biblebelt ‘bezien van boven en onder de gordel’ Onderzoek naar beeldvorming in de media Masterthesis Universiteit van Utrecht Johan van der Giessen 18 januari 2013 Titel: De Biblebelt ‘bezien van boven en onder de gordel’ Subtitel: Onderzoek naar beeldvorming in de media Onderwerp: Masterthesis Instituut: Universiteit van Utrecht Faculteit: Geowetenschappen Master: Geo-communicatie Thesis begeleider: Dr. B. van Gorp Auteur: Johan van der Giessen Student nummer: 3379299 E-mail:
[email protected] Datum: 18 januari 2013 Revisie: 1 Status: Definitief Aantal pagina's: vi + 74 ii De Biblebelt ‘bezien van boven en onder de gordel’ Onderzoek naar beeldvorming in de media Masterthesis Abstract The subject of this thesis is the Dutch Biblebelt. The Biblebelt is a region without institutional borders. It finds its origin in the sixteenth century as a result of the Reformation which started as movement to change the Roman-Catholic Church. The Netherlands had an open attitude towards new (religious) influences as a result of the focus on trade. Because of that the Netherlands became one of the protestant bastions in a couple of centuries as the Reformation started in 1517. This thesis investigates the historical processes which shaped the Biblebelt-region, where the protestant religion has been of great importance and still is nowadays. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how the Biblebelt-region is constructed through historical and religious processes and how its status maintains in present days. A theoretical overview makes clear which historical and religious processes have been of importance. Further on, the investigation switches towards an investigation of articles in popular media on how they create images of the Biblebelt and the influences of different processes as stereotyping, framing, distance decay on the images and the transporting of the images etc.