Who Are the Squatters? Challenging Stereotypes through a Case Study of Squatting in the Dutch City of Leiden, 1970-1980. (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: van der Steen, Bart; van Rooden, Charlotte; Snoep, Merel
• Other Names: Gutman Marta guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of urban history. Volume 46:Number 6(2020:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1368
• Page End: 1385
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: social movements -- political history -- urban history -- squatting; Cities and towns -- History -- Periodicals; 909.09732
• DOI: 10.1177/0096144219843891
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0096-1442

Abstract

This article investigates the development of squatting and house occupations in the Dutch city of Leiden during the 1970s to challenge stereotypical images of squatting and squatter protest in the Netherlands and beyond. Based on a historical analysis of 344 newspaper articles on squatting in the middle-sized city of Leiden from 1970 to 1980, this research not only shows the diversity of the squatter population and the ways in which the authorities responded to their actions—thus challenging the radical, confrontational, and metropolitan nature of squatting—but also analyzes how squatters were portrayed and how and why their image changed over time.