Ethnic boundaries in American, Dutch, and German national literary policies, 1965–2005

Abstract

This article addresses the extent and ways in which ethnic diversity has been part of American, Dutch and German national literary policy from 1965 until 2005. By analyzing the content of policy documents of the National Endowment of the Arts and the Dutch and German Literary Fund, I found that ethnic boundaries were weak in the USA, moderate in the Netherlands and strong in Germany. First, national literary policy organizations made much, moderate and little use of ethnic discourse respectively. Cross‐national and longitudinal variations were closely related to the need for political legitimacy. Second, ethnic minority granters and grantees were (relatively) the least underrepresented by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Dutch Literary Fund, while the German Literary Fund included hardly any ethnic minority panelists or authors. The differences in the representation of ethnic minorities could largely be accounted for by demographics and variations in the need for legitimacy.

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