Branding the Nation the Place the

Product 1st Edition Ulrich Ermann

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/branding-the-nation-the-place-the-product-1st-edition-
ulrich-ermann/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Branding the Nation The Global Business of National

Identity 1st Edition Melissa Aronczyk

https://textbookfull.com/product/branding-the-nation-the-global-
business-of-national-identity-1st-edition-melissa-aronczyk/

Mapping Chinese Rangoon Place and Nation among the Sino

Burmese Jayde Lin Roberts

https://textbookfull.com/product/mapping-chinese-rangoon-place-
and-nation-among-the-sino-burmese-jayde-lin-roberts/

The First Cell Ulrich C Schreiber Christian Mayer

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-first-cell-ulrich-c-
schreiber-christian-mayer/

Nation within a Nation The American South and the

Federal Government 1st Edition Glenn Feldman

https://textbookfull.com/product/nation-within-a-nation-the-
american-south-and-the-federal-government-1st-edition-glenn-
feldman/
Astronautics The Physics of Space Flight 3rd Edition
Ulrich Walter

https://textbookfull.com/product/astronautics-the-physics-of-
space-flight-3rd-edition-ulrich-walter/

Astronautics The Physics of Space Flight 3rd Edition

Ulrich Walter

https://textbookfull.com/product/astronautics-the-physics-of-
space-flight-3rd-edition-ulrich-walter-2/

Philosophy of Place Finding Place and Self in the World

Matthew Gildersleeve

https://textbookfull.com/product/philosophy-of-place-finding-
place-and-self-in-the-world-matthew-gildersleeve/

Dangerous Language — Esperanto and the Decline of

Stalinism 1st Edition Ulrich Lins (Auth.)

https://textbookfull.com/product/dangerous-language-esperanto-
and-the-decline-of-stalinism-1st-edition-ulrich-lins-auth/

The Nation of Plants 1st Edition Stefano Mancuso

https://textbookfull.com/product/the-nation-of-plants-1st-
edition-stefano-mancuso/
Branding the Nation,
the Place, the Product

Branding is a profoundly geographical type of commodification process. Many

things become commodities that are compared and valuated on markets around
the globe. Places such as cities or regions, countries and nations attempt to acquire
visibility through branding. Geographical imaginations are evoked to brand goods
and places as commodities in order to show or create connections and add value.
Yet, not all that is branded was originally intended and created for markets.
This volume aims to broaden current understanding of branding through a
series of contributions from geography, history, political studies, cultural, and
media studies, offering insight into how ordinary places, objects and practices
become commodities through branding. In so doing, the contributions show how
nation, place and product as targets of branding can be seen as intertwined. To
discuss these forms of branding, book chapters refer to nation states, cities, holiday
destinations, food malls, movies, dances, post stamps and other items that serve
as brands and/or are branded.
The book will be of interest to students and scholars in geography, sociology,
history, cultural studies and business studies who would like to gain an
understanding of the intricate and surprising ways in which things, places and
cultural practices become brands.

Ulrich Ermann is a professor in human geography at the University of Graz. His

research interests lie at the intersection between economic and cultural geography,
exploring geographies of consumption and production, and commodities and
brands. He conducted research on local food in Germany and Austria and fashion
brands in Bulgaria.

Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik, Priv.-Doz. Mag. PhD, University of Graz, is an associate

senior researcher at the Centre for Southeast European Studies and at the Institute
of History. In the larger frame of cultural studies, his research and teaching focus
on identity-management, minorities, nation branding, and memory studies.
Routledge Studies in Human Geography

This series provides a forum for innovative, vibrant, and critical debate within
Human Geography. Titles will reflect the wealth of research which is taking place
in this diverse and ever-expanding field. Contributions will be drawn from the
main sub-disciplines and from innovative areas of work which have no particular
sub-disciplinary allegiances.
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/series/
SE0514
68 Carceral Mobilities
Interrogating movement in incarceration
Edited by Jennifer Turner and Kimberley Peters

69 Mobilising Design
Edited by Justin Spinney, Suzanne Reimer
and Philip Pinch

70 Place, Diversity and Solidarity

Edited by Stijn Oosterlynck, Nick Schuermans
and Maarten Loopmans

71 Towards A Political Economy of

Resource-dependent Regions
Greg Halseth and Laura Ryser

72 Crisis Spaces
Structures, struggles and solidarity in Southern Europe
Costis Hadjimichalis

73 Branding the Nation, the Place, the Product

Edited by Ulrich Ermann and Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik

74 Geographical Gerontology
Edited by Mark Skinner, Gavin Andrews, and
Malcolm Cutchin
Branding the Nation,
the Place, the Product

Edited by Ulrich Ermann and

Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Ulrich Ermann and Klaus-Jürgen
Hermanik; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Ulrich Ermann and Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik to be identified as
the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-22818-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-39326-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents

List of illustrations vii

List of contributors ix

Introduction: branding the nation, the place, the product 1

U L R I C H E R MANN, KL AUS - JÜRGE N HE RMANI K

1 Origination: the geographies of brands and branding 15

ANDY PIKE

2 The state branding of US postage stamps for state

commemorative years: from heritage, iconography and
place to placelessness 29
S TA N L E Y D . BRUNN

3 Ghostly cities: some notes on urban branding and

the imagining of places 53
A L B E RTO VANOL O

4 Becoming Eataly: the magic of the mall and

the magic of the brand 67
A N N A L I S A COL OMBI NO

5 The on-screen branding and rebranding of

identity politics in Cyprus 91
C O S TA S C O NS TANDI NI DE S

6 Tango Argentino as nation brand 111

R I TA R I E G E R
vi Contents
7 Tourism, nation branding and the commercial
hegemony of nation building in the post-Yugoslav states 125
FLORIAN BIEBER

8 Promoting the nation in Austria and Switzerland:

a pre-history of nation branding 143
O L I V E R K Ü H S C HE L M

Index 161
Illustrations

Tables
1.1 Brand and branding actors 18
1.2 Scales of geographical associations in brands and branding 21
2.1 Examples of categories of US stamps with a place theme 34
2.2 Examples of images on state centennial, bicentennial issues 36

Figures
2.1 Early colonies and territories: 1930s 38
2.2 Heritage landmarks and iconographies: 1940s 39
2.3 Maps and familiar features: 1950s–1990s 39
2.4 Generic landscapes: 2000 and beyond 40
4.1 Eataly Dubai: Eat Shop Learn 68
4.2 Eataly Dubai: bread is the most important food in the world 69
4.3 Fresh mozzarella in Dubai Eataly 74
4.4 Eataly’s cellars in Turin cheese hanging and Parmigiano 75
4.5 Parents and children learning how to make fresh pasta in
Eataly Dubai, Festival City Mall 76
4.6 Old scale and market and restaurants Eataly Turin 78
4.7 Water and beverage bottles: ordinary/extraordinary food,
Dubai Eataly 81
8.1 Austrian and Swiss merchandise trade in percent of GDP,
1900–2010 148
Contributors

Florian Bieber, Prof. PhD, director of the Centre for Southeast European Stud-
ies, University of Graz, studied at Trinity College (USA), the University of
Vienna and Central European University in Budapest, and received his PhD in
political science from the University of Vienna. He is visiting professor at the
Nationalism Studies Program at Central European University and has taught at
the University of Kent, Cornell University, the University of Bologna and the
University of Sarajevo.
Stanley D. Brunn, PhD, is professor emeritus, Department of Geography at the
University of Kentucky. He has lifetime interests that explore the intersec-
tions of social, political, and economic geography and also geography futures,
technology and innovative time/space cartographies. He has written and edited
many books and chapters on a wide variety of topics, has taught in twenty
countries and has travelled in more than 100.
Annalisa Colombino, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Institute of Geography
and Regional Sciences, University of Graz; she focuses on food and consump-
tion, urban studies and tourism.
Costas Constandinides, PhD, is an assistant professor of film and digital media
studies in the Department of Communications at the University of Nicosia.
He is a member of the European Film Academy and the Artistic Committee of
Cyprus Film Days IFF.
Ulrich Ermann, PhD, is a professor in human geography at the University of
Graz. His research interests lie at the intersection between economic and cul-
tural geography, exploring geographies of consumption and production and
commodities and brands. He has conducted research on local food in Germany
and Austria and fashion brands in Bulgaria.
Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik, Priv.-Doz. Mag. PhD, University of Graz, is an asso-
ciate senior researcher at the Centre for Southeast European Studies and at
the Institute of History. In the larger frame of cultural studies, his research
and teaching focus on identity-management, minorities, nation branding, and
memory studies.
x Contributors
Oliver Kühschelm, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Economy
and Social History, University of Vienna; he focuses on the history of consump-
tion and advertising. He is the coordinator of the research area Economy and
Society from a Historic Cultural Science Perspective.
Andy Pike, PhD, is a professor of local and regional development, and director of
the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Newcastle
University. He is the editor of Brands and Branding Geographies (2011, Elgar).
Rita Rieger, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Centre for Cultural Studies,
University of Graz; she focuses on cultural and aesthetic implications of dance
in literature and film from modernism until today, on emotion and writing.
Alberto Vanolo, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department for Culture,
Politics and Society, University of Torino. He focuses on urban political geog-
raphies as well as on cultural and emotional geography. He is the author of City
Branding: The Politics of Representation in Globalizing Cities (forthcoming).
Introduction
Branding the nation, the place,
the product
Ulrich Ermann, Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik

Branding is an increasingly adopted marketing tool to promote and shape the

identity of products, places and nations.1 In this volume, we argue that these three
common objects of branding – product, place and nation – are substantially inter-
woven. The chapters presented in this volume negotiate, explore and discuss how
places and nations tend to be increasingly branded as if they were products in
recent times. Simultaneously, they examine the ways in which branding evokes
and creates a multiplicity of associations with nations and places at different scales.
In focussing on how place, products and nations are interrelated through branding,
this book questions the commonly accepted idea that branding is only put into
practice by marketers and brand managers. To introduce these arguments to the
reader, we begin by discussing the example of a product from Austria, the country
where we live and work.
The Mozartkugel is a small, round sugar confection made of pistachio, marzipan
and nougat, covered with dark chocolate, and wrapped in an aluminium foil por-
traying the effigy of the world-renowned composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Tourists visiting Austria often end up buying Mozartkugel chocolate as a sweet
souvenir to bring back home. Mozart’s portrait works in this context as the symbol
and brand identifying both the confection and Austria. Tourists who specifically
visit Salzburg quickly learn that Mozart and the Mozartkugel are strongly con-
nected to this city. Salzburg is in fact the place where Mozart was born in 1756,
where he composed his early music and where the Mozartkugel was originally
invented in 1890. This narrative contributes to strengthening the role of Mozart
as the symbolic icon for Salzburg. However, the connections between the com-
poser, the confection, the city and Austria as a nation are unclear, confusing and
contested, as they provoke some odd contradictions.
First, the debate around Mozart’s nationality gives rise to controversies in
the Austrian and German yellow press. Austrians felt offended when they heard
that their composer was shortlisted in the German popular TV-show, Greatest
Germans, amongst the most prominent historical personalities of Germany. Yet,
the idea of the nation-state, which underlies how we commonly understand the
nation and nationality today, did not exist in Mozart’s era. Germany and Austria,
as nation-states, were formed after Mozart’s death. Second, if we look at produc-
tion details, the Mozartkugel – branded as a typical specialty from Austria, and
2 Ulrich Ermann, Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik
originally invented and produced by the confectionary Fürst in Salzburg – is, to
a large extent, produced in Bad Reichenhall by the German company Reber. For
this reason, a number of lawsuits have been filed, focussing on the question of
which producers and trademarks, exactly, had to be protected. The name of the
product was at the core of the lawsuits. Eventually, Fürst successfully obtained the
right to be the only producer which is allowed to sell the confection as “Original
Salzburger Mozartkugel”, i.e., original Mozartkugel from Salzburg. Yet, other pro-
ducers from Salzburg’s area, and particularly Mirabell, were entitled to call their
product “Echte Salzburger Mozartkugel”; that is, real Mozartkugel from Salzburg.
On the other side of the border, the Bavarian company Reber was allowed to call
its product “Echte Reber Mozart-Kugeln”, real Reber’s Mozartkugel. A sub-brand
of Nestlé also tried to commercialise the “Original Austrian Mozartkugel”, yet the
attempt to use this name was not successful.
Further contradictions emerge if we examine the Mozartkugel through the con-
ceptual lens of branding. We could ask, in fact, whether the commercialisation of
this confection is contributing to transforming the name of Mozart, or even the
composer himself, into an Austrian brand. On the one hand, the Mozartkugel, its
inventors, producers, marketers and customers contribute to creating the Austrian
brand ‘Mozart’. On the other hand, other actors have intervened in strengthening
the connection between Austria and Mozart. For example, the Austrian pop-star
Falco performed as the famous composer in his international hit “Rock me Ama-
deus”, thus further shaping the Austrian brand ‘Mozart’; i.e., a brand emerging
from the international recognition and success of Mozart’s classic music. It must
be reemphasised that there is no real historical connection between Mozart and
the Mozartkugel. Technically, Mozart is a surname, not a brand. In a narrow sense,
brand names of the confection are ‘Fürst’ and ‘Mirabell’, produced in Austria, and
‘Reber’, produced in Germany. Even Mozartkugel is not a brand, but a trademark,
a proprietary term to ensure its exclusive use by its owners. What exactly is the
brand then? And who is branding what and whom? Is Mozart’s name used as a
brand for the confection, the city of Salzburg and Austria? Or vice versa, is the
product helping to enhance the visibility and strengthen the identity of Austria and
Salzburg as brands? Or is the composer Mozart branded through the commerciali-
sation of the product named after him?
The example of the Mozartkugel illustrates well the complex entanglements
and associations of nation, place and product branding (see Pike, 2009). It brings
to light the multiple historical and geographical connections and contradictions,
which branding processes involve and provoke. Finally, it emphasises the chal-
lenges involved in distinguishing what is a brand, what or who gets branded, and
who sets branding in motion and puts it into practice. Furthermore, perhaps more
fundamentally, what is a brand, and what is branding?
Let’s begin by having a look at popular business and marketing literature to
glean the common understanding of brands. Kotler and Armstrong argue that

a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these,

that identifies the maker or seller of a product or service. Consumers view a
 Introduction 3
brand as an important part of a product, and branding can add value to a prod-
uct. Customers attach meanings to brands and develop brand relationships.
(2012: 255)

Foley and Kendrick (2006: 3) define a brand as “a set of promises, associations,

images, and emotions that companies create to build loyalty with their custom-
ers”. A popular definition frequently found on the Internet states that “a brand is
any name, design, style, words or symbols used singularly or in combination that
distinguish one product from another in the eyes of the customer” (see also Fahy &
Jobber, 2015).
A brand, therefore, appears to be broadly understood as a sign, where the term
“sign” comprises names, designs, styles, words and symbols. It is commonly under-
stood as something which represents something else – a lifestyle, for example –
and which typically develops a kind of autonomy and self-reference (Foster, 2008:
8ff.; Manning, 2010: 42ff.), as we discuss in the following paragraphs. Brands are
visualised through logos that attempt to incorporate and communicate with a single
simple sign the philosophy and identity of the company it stands for. Brands are also
created to epitomise and immediately identify the entire portfolio of commodities
that a company commercialises.
More generally, the broad purpose of creating a brand is to make ordinary prod-
ucts and services unique and distinct from innumerable other, similar products.
Brands are used to represent what academics and practitioners interested in mar-
keting call ‘unique selling propositions’ (USP), or they are even designed to create
products’ USP. The USP of a product serves to singularise it in order to make it
unique, and clearly different from other similar products on the market. To put it
simply, brands are those entities that creates a company’s egg or mineral water,
for example, unique and different from other eggs and mineral water bottles com-
mercialised by other companies. Brands thus serve the purpose of transforming
an ordinary product, such as eggs or water, into an extraordinary and unique com-
modity – namely, into a commodity that incorporates all the qualities for which
the brand stands.
Brands, essentially, are created to show consumers that what they are buying
incorporates a range of qualities (freshness, healthiness, style, etc.), which are guar-
anteed by the very presence of the brand itself – coupled with the reputation of the
company owning the brand and the risk of losing that reputation. For example,
when customers decide to eat in a fast-food chain, they know that they will be quickly
served food and drinks, which have a specific, similar and familiar taste. When con-
sumers buy Nutella, they expect to have this smooth and sweet chocolate-hazelnut
spread that they are used to having for breakfast. Visiting a shop branded with the
name of a world-wide known fashion designer, people presume to find high-quality,
trendy clothes and accessories. The brand, in other words, serves the purpose of
reassuring consumers that what they buy will not surprise them. By sticking to a
brand with which they are familiar, customers know what to expect.
Furthermore, all popular definitions of what a brand is, as those mentioned at
the beginning of this section, always refer back to consumers’ perceptions and/or
4 Ulrich Ermann, Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik
their relationships with the brand. Including in the definition of what a brand is the
relationship that customers establish with the brand itself points to the intention
behind and the effects of branding. That is, to sell something special and unique,
keep selling it in the long-term and create economic value. The possibility for
brands to create, rather than only to add value, may be seen as having much to do
with their ability to authenticate products, as we will discuss below. Brands are
designed to assure customers that the qualities and origins of their products are
genuine and truthful.
Traditionally, brands indicate the geographical origin of the product (see Pike,
2015). The origin of a branded product is frequently linked to its presumed good
qualities. For example, people usually assume that watches made in Switzerland
are of high quality. Knives from Solingen, Germany, are known in Europe to
be good knives. Clothes and shoes from Italy are considered to be stylish, very
fashionable and made with good-quality materials. All the positive qualities that
specific products are perceived to incorporate are the effects of their declared
origination. Belgian beer is not simply good per se, but it is perceived to be good
because it comes from Belgium. Attaching the name of the area of origin of
production – a geographical area which has come to acquire a reputation for the
good quality of the products made there – adds value to a product. Yet, brands do
not simply add value to a product. If successful, they also create value through
their ability to state that a product is authentic. Authenticity here becomes a quality
performed by a successful brand.
Moreover, brands present some social or cultural values, which seem to be
group-oriented. Sharing the same brand works successfully as another pull effect
for wearing a specific fashion-brand, or driving a specific car-brand to be part of
a group. People tend to follow this tendency of ‘groupism’ (Brubaker, 2006), and
this particular framing in the branding process uses routines similar to the forma-
tion of ethnic- or national-groups.
If we understand marketing as a performative discipline (see Lury, 2004: 17ff.,
2011; Cochoy, 1998; Araujo et al., 2010), then branding may be seen as a performa-
tive process whose effect is to make a commodity authentic. The authenticity of
brands, in turn, acquires an economic value per se. To understand how authenticity,
value and branding are interrelated, it is useful to think about counterfeit products.
There are factories and workshops that are in the illegal business of producing copies
of branded products, such as fake Nike shoes, Prada bags, iPhones, Rolex watches
and so on. These counterfeit products may be very similar, if not even identical,
to the real branded commodity. Yet, talking about fake products only makes sense
when their authentic, branded, legally commercialised counterparts are perceived
by consumers as incorporating a higher value than the counterfeit product; namely,
the value and qualities symbolised and incorporated by the real, authentic brand.
This performative process involved in branding, whose effects are to authenticate
to add value and even create new value, does not happen in isolation. Brands are
created and mobilised in the attempt to meet consumers’ demands for a specific
lifestyle with a range of products (e.g. to be healthy and environmentally conscious
by eating organic and local food; to be elegant and fashionable by dressing with
branded trendy apparels). The creation and circulation of brands occurs through an
 Introduction 5
elaborate apparatus that enrols and associates the product, through various media,
celebrities, lifestyles, landscapes, certain genres of music and specifically designed
environments. This apparatus involves the work of brand and product managers,
artists and creatives, marketers and VIPs, and is mobilised to imbue a brand (and
its portfolio of products) with a range of coherent meanings and a specific identity.
If brands prove to be successful, as previously mentioned, they come to represent
much more than just added value to a product. They become economic values in
themselves. This new, self-referent value is the effect of the emergence of a kind of
aura, surrounding and imbuing the product, produced by the branding apparatus in
the attempt to seduce and persuade consumers of the qualities that the brand attaches
to the products it sells. Let’s consider another example from Austria: Red Bull, a
company and a brand that produces and sells energy drinks all over the world.
With more than 6 billion cans sold in 2016, Red Bull has the highest share in the
market for energy drinks worldwide. The production of the drink itself represents
only a minor cost for the company. The creation of the brand, symbolising a specific
lifestyle that combines sport, adventure and risk, represents Red Bull’s major invest-
ment to create added value to the energy drink. To forge the brand, the company
invests funds to acquire several sport teams (including highly expensive football
and Formula One teams), sponsor mega-events and, in particular, very dangerous
and extreme sports events. Although some of these events have tragically resulted
in the death of some of their participants, the company has been able to dissociate
its image from the incidents occurred during its sponsored events. Red Bull remains
a company that sells energy-drinks that “gives you wings”, as it claims. Red Bull
is a good example of massive investments injected to produce brands as symbolic
capital and new economic value. The value of the company consists primarily of the
value of the brand. And, rather obviously, the recognition of the brand did not grow
spontaneously. Yet, it was and is supported by on-going campaigns and efforts to
consolidate the Red Bull brand. Although a number of rather anonymous companies
entered the market of energy drinks with comparable products – yet, sold at a much
cheaper price – inexpensiveness has not succeeded in dissuading loyal Red Bull cus-
tomers. The sales numbers and market share of Red Bull is, in fact, still increasing.
As noted before, branding is put into motion to perform distinctions between
similar products, between a can of Coca Cola and one of Pepsi Cola, for example,
or between a bottle of Evian or Perrier. Yet, making distinctions in branding is an
ambivalent process, not devoid of contradictions. On the one hand, branding frames
products as unique and distinct, it singularises them. On the other hand, it fosters their
standardisation. For commodities to circulate on the market and reach consumers to
turn them into loyal customers, the process of branding needs to make sure that those
commodities are homogenous and standardised. Gille (2016) discusses the linkage
between the consumers’ trust in brands on the basis of their stability and safety:

While we of course may still trust a certain store or brand, the reason a brand
has come to be trusted more than other brands – and unbranded generic
goods – is because the brand only accrues to products that follow a specified
set of operations.
(29)
6 Ulrich Ermann, Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik
A wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano, a slice of Parma ham or an iPhone are strictly
standardised not only because their production is guided by precise EU regula-
tions, but also in terms of their organoleptic qualities, in the case of foods, and of
design, functionality and performance in the case of branded smartphones. And
for brands to succeed, maintaining high standards for specific qualities and char-
acteristics is key to success. A branded product should never surprise its custom-
ers. Therefore, on the one hand, branding is a process of singularisation. It makes
commodities unique and distinct from other similar commodities. On the other
hand, the trust it builds with consumers is based on processes of standardisation:
Standardisation is a process that focuses on the conformity of products, which
seems to be at odds with the USP that brands incorporate. Branding, therefore, is
about making a product into a coherent, unsurprising, yet singular and distinct,
extraordinary commodity.
Branding can thus be understood as a tool for abstraction and simplification on
the one hand, and as a tool for making associations and connections, on the other
hand. Michel Callon’s (1998, 1999) concepts of framing and of the double process
of entanglement and disentanglement are helpful here to clarify how branding
simultaneously simplifies and creates complexities. As mentioned above, brands
serve to encapsulate and instantaneously communicate entirely, yet succinctly,
what a company sells (e.g., its complete product basket; its customer service; the
lifestyle it proposes). Brands commonly emerge as logos, often accompanied with
slogans, which can be much more easily remembered than the sum of all the het-
erogeneous associations they represent. Think, for example, of Amazon’s logo, in
which the orange arrow that originates under the A ends up to point to the Z, sug-
gesting customers that on the webstore anything can be bought with the swipe of
a credit card. It is basically impossible to exactly know, not to mention remember,
what Amazon sells. Yet this company has a reputation of being a reliable seller of
almost anything. At the same time, branding can also be seen as a form of decon-
textualisation and dissociation as a precondition for commodification:

to construct a market transaction, that is to say to transform something into a

commodity, it is necessary to cut the ties between this thing and other objects
or human beings one by one. It must be decontextualized, dissociated and
detached.
(Callon, 1999: 189)

Only through cutting the ties and simplifying what should be compared, valu-
ated and sold on markets can things be transformed into commodities. Whilst, on
the one hand, Amazon presents itself as a trusted brand able to dispatch within a
day whatever commodity we want to buy; on the other hand, the company does
not simply hide the conditions under which its workers and related contractors
operate for dispatching parcels to our doors. The brand, with its online store, serves
to silence the working conditions under which all the items it sells are produced.
The brand Amazon, in fact, is very successful in presenting itself by associat-
ing the company with images and narratives that focus on goods’ abundance and
 Introduction 7
especially on the speed of their delivery. Yet, the ways in which Amazon’s com-
modities arrive to our doors is never actually disclosed. At best, it is narrated via
science-fiction accounts incorporated in viral marketing campaigns that circulate
videos about drones delivering parcels to our doors.
This idea of branding, inspired by Callon’s work, can also be applied to nation
branding, and place branding more generally, as we will discuss in the following
paragraphs. Nowadays, cities, regions and countries are preoccupied with enhanc-
ing their visibility and recognition through promoting a positive image of them-
selves. They are competing with other places, countries, regions and destinations
for a variety of customers, including investors, new residents and tourists. Places,
at different scales, today seem to brand themselves as if they were commodities.
They appear to be preoccupied with positioning themselves as unique destinations,
with specific USP condensed in logos, slogans and specific attractive narratives.
One of the most famous example of city branding is “I♥NY”, where a love declara-
tion to a city is composed with the simple, yet efficient, use of three letters and the
symbol of the heart, notably designed by Milton Glaser in the process to change
New York’s negative image in the late 1970s and attract tourists to the Big Apple.
Yet, slogans and logos are not the only tools used to brand places. Also, market-
ing concepts such as ‘brand awareness’ and ‘brand loyalty’, normally used to refer
to the commercialisation of products and services, might work well in the context
of place and nation branding. The goals of these place-marketing strategies are in
fact to bring attention and recognition and strengthen a place’s identity and the loy-
alty of visitors, residents and investors. According to the logics of place branding,
similar to how consumers may be attracted by and loyal to a brand like Adidas or
Nike, residents, visitors and investors should create a special relation to the place
being branded: to identify with the place where they live and be proud of it; come
back to visit that place; and invest and keep investing in that place.
As noted above, following Callon’s work, the branding of places, at different
scales, involves cutting ties and making new links and associations in space and
time. It involves a reframing of the place’s identity based on a process that entails
connections and disconnections. Notably, place branding presupposes the selec-
tion of specific narratives and images about the place being branded, which in turn
get condensed into logos, slogans and sanitised images displayed and circulated
through various media and events (brochures, websites, magazine articles, cul-
tural and sport events, etc.). It involves the presentation of simple, but enticing,
accounts of cities, regions and nations that are built by drawing on uncomplicated
and linear narratives about their natural, cultural, artistic, historical heritages. In
turn, these images are created by making disconnections with all those aspects,
which do not contribute to present a positive place representation and which are
deemed to discourage visitors and investors to come to that place. To put it simply,
in branding cities, promotional campaigns focus on portraying images that depict
their cultural, artistic and gastronomic offerings, and hide, for example, scenes
of pollution, poverty, homelessness or crime. In branding nations – similar to the
processes of nation building as those notably discussed by Anderson (2006 [1983])
and Hobsbawm and Ranger (1992) – connections with their invented traditions
8 Ulrich Ermann, Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik
are commonly invoked, whilst controversial aspects of their pasts are strategi-
cally silenced. Brands simultaneously cut off complex associations and connec-
tions; codify and simplify the images and narratives of nations and places (often
in a stereotypical manner); and reinvent these geographical formations through
the creation of spatial framings and temporal continuities. In other words, brands
shape geographical and historical imaginations as they replace complicated or
unpleasant associations with other, simpler, more positive associations, which, in
turn, emphasise specific items, actors and/or events in space and time.
Furthermore, place brands are often presented with slogans that aim to frame
the identity of that place and associate it with a dynamic and sexy image. These
slogans are often created by drawing connections between the place being branded,
and other more or less distant geographies and histories. For example, Egypt is
currently marketed as the place “where all begins”, thus hinting at its glorious past
as the country where the Egyptian civilisation flourished and produced the pyra-
mids, one of the seventh wonders of the world. Aragon, a region in North-eastern
Spain, with its main capital is Saragoza, has recently started to be branded as “the
kingdom of dreams” to promote itself both as an enchanted historical area and as
destination for birdwatching.2 Budapest is frequently labelled and also branded as
“The little Paris of Middle Europe”, where the capital of France is evoked presum-
ably to highlight the beauty of the Hungarian city’s architecture. New Zealand’s
recent branding strategies included the evocation of the fantastic geography of the
Middle Earth, inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, to attract tourists,
after the movies were shot in the country. This last example points to how fiction is
used as a source, and sometimes also as one of the USPs, for branding places and
sometimes even nations, as in the case of New Zealand. Tourists enjoy visiting the
actual places where a novel, movie or TV series was originally set.
The chapters in this book point to how a multiplicity of geographies and his-
tories are intertwined into processes of branding a different variety of products
and geographical formations: food, cities, countries, holiday destinations, malls,
stamps, dances and several other elements which are used and mobilised through
branding processes. The interventions collected in this volume specifically high-
light how places, nations and products – the main targets of branding – blur the
one into the other, throughout the process through which they either enhance their
reputation, or strengthen their images and uniqueness. Importantly, most of the
chapters challenge the idea that the branding of places, and of nations in particular,
is an intentional process triggered by practitioners. These chapters suggest that a
place can acquire a reputation, as if it were a brand, in unintended ways; that is,
without the direct input of professionals and policy-makers. Many forms of brand-
ing nations and places, discussed in this volume, are not the outcome of strategies
devised to sell these places and nations to a broad audience of visitors and inves-
tors. Symbols and narratives associated to places and nations (which circulate as
slogans, logos and stories and via various media and testimonials), even when one
assumes that they were created by the hand of the professional brand manager,
were not originally created for being unique selling propositions or as part of actual
and planned branding campaigns. For example, the expression “poor, but sexy”
 Introduction 9
(arm, aber sexy), referred to Berlin by its former mayor Klaus Wowereit, became a
successful slogan for the German city immediately. It was reproduced in the media
several times and became a well-known and frequently used slogan to brand Ber-
lin. The phrase caught the attention of people. It drew recognition and presented a
USP of the city. Even if it was not conceived as an official marketing tool to make
Berlin more visible, the slogan apparently succeeded in attracting members of the
creative class, hipsters and other alternative cultures, and in contributing to shape
Berlin’s urban lifestyle. Most of the chapters of the book thus challenge common
business definitions of branding that confine this practice to the realm of market-
ing, as they suggest that branding might occur otherwise. Often, as an effect of
another bundle of socio-cultural practices and events that have nothing to do with
branding understood as a marketing tool intentionally mobilised by professionals,
who are in the business of enhancing a place’s visibility and its attractiveness.
In thinking through branding and its possible different articulations, we should
keep in mind that the term “brand” derives from the ancient practice of marking
the skin of the single bodies of animals with a red-hot iron tool to indicate their
ownership. More generally, religious or ancestor worship, cults of personality or
places could be seen as archetypes of (commercial) branding strategies. Further-
more, spiritual and mystical terminologies are often evoked in well-known cri-
tiques of brands and of capitalism more broadly. For instance, Karl Marx borrowed
the notion of fetishism from Charles de Brosses, who used it to explain ancient
religious practices, which focussed on the cult, ritual and symbolic meaning of
material artefacts. Marx’s description of the commodity fetishism may be also
read as a text about brands, when he writes that commodity is a “very strange
thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties” (Marx, 1990
[1867]: 163). More recently, Naomi Klein, writing critically about the (negative)
power of brands, has used religious expressions and terminologies such as: “the
selling of the brand acquired an extra component that can only be described as
spiritual . . .. Branding, in its truest and most advanced incarnations, is about
corporate transcendence” (Klein 2000: 43). Today, ‘marketing gurus’ often speak
about brands using terms from the world of spirituality, such as ‘myth’, ‘aura’, or
‘icon’. Furthermore, as in the work of the jurist Beebe, it seems to be obvious that
branding involves the evocation of myths, inventions and diverse imaginations:
“The modern trademark does not function to identify the true origin of goods.
It functions to obscure that origin, to cover it with a myth of origin” (2008: 52).
Beebe describes the process of branding in a way similar to how Marx and Marxist
scholars explain commodity fetishism: commodification works like a veil, which
can be lifted to see the real world behind the commodity itself. However, it must be
noted that myths, magic and auras are not making things unreal. On the contrary,
they represent the expressions of certain perceptions, valuations and connections.
In this introduction, we have described the novel value that brands incorporate
and perform as the effect of an aura that the branding apparatus is able to create
and instil into brands. In this volume, in the chapter that analyses the brand Eataly,
Colombino draws on Jon Goss’ notable metaphor of the “magic of the mall” (1993)
to draw attention to how brands may be seen as entities that ‘magically’ enchant
10 Ulrich Ermann, Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik
customer to shop ‘beyond reason’. Vanolo, also in this book, evokes the social
figure of the ghost to discuss how unpleasant – uncanny – associations with places
are made invisible though branding strategies. In his chapter, Brunn explores how
nation branding may occur via the use of postal stamps, displaying and circulating
symbolic sites, monuments and landscapes. These examples serve to suggest that,
perhaps, branding may also be seen as a mundane and banal set of practices that
dwells on events, things and more-than-economic practices, which are not exactly
part of marketers’ professional toolbox. Most of the chapters within this volume
suggest that the practices that add (commercial and non-commercial) values and
meanings to places, objects and practices, and which singularise them by making
them simultaneously more attractive, and distinguishing them from other similar
comparable items, might not be unique to the realm of marketing. The authors of
the chapters write about branding in a very broad sense by examining trademarks
and cultural icons, visible and non-visible forms of branding, intended and unin-
tended branding processes. The brands they discuss are the effects of processes
that involve products, places and nations in various ways, emerge as individuals,
political ideas and strategies, movies, postage stamps, dances, ghosts, food malls,
tourist promotion and much more.
The book is articulated through eight chapters and is structured as follows: fol-
lowing this introduction, in Chapter One, Origination: the geographies of brands
and branding, Andy Pike suggests an analytical framework for exploring brands
from a geographical perspective, starting with an account of the geographies of
the ‘American Apparel’ fashion brand. He raises fundamental questions about the
essence and function of brands as he explains their spatial registers. In particular,
Pike emphasises brands’ function of visualising the origins of products and creat-
ing spatial associations. His concept of origination is useful to explain the geo-
graphical associations that stabilise brand’s meanings and values in space and time.
In Chapter Two, The state branding of U.S. postage stamps for state commemo-
rative years: from heritage, iconography and place to placelessness, Stanley D.
Brunn refers explicitly to Pike’s origination approach and utilises it for his analysis
of US postal stamps from the 1930s until today. Adopting a historical-geographical
approach, Brunn demonstrates how states brand themselves also via the circula-
tion of national symbols displayed on the mundane surfaces of stamps. States
brand themselves and their cultures, events, heritage and environments through
their stamps. Brunn’s analysis of U.S. postage stamps, specifically issued to com-
memorate centennials, sesquicentennials and bicentennials, identifies four evi-
dent changes in the ways in which states in the U.S. have represented themselves
through recent history.
In Chapter Three, Ghostly cities: some notes on urban branding and the imag-
ining of places, Alberto Vanolo mobilises the metaphor of the “ghost” to concep-
tualise city branding as a “ghostly play”, dealing with the interplay between the
visible and invisible. Referring to works in political philosophy, he conceptualises
branding as a form of politics of representation, which points to the visibility
and invisibility of urban issues, landscapes and subjects, and which is targeted to
shape the gazes of investors, tourists, residents. Drawing on geographic literature
 Introduction 11
on spectres, Vanolo develops a critical perspective on city branding, which sees
urban brands as complex co-productions of a multitude of actors, rather than as an
outcome of top-down policies.
Annalisa Colombino discusses in Chapter Four, Becoming Eataly: the magic
of the mall and the magic of the brand, the coming into being of Eataly, a brand
that is increasingly expanding its geographical reach through the opening of food
malls in Japan, Turkey, Brazil, the USA and United Arab Emirates. She points to
how Eataly is not simply a supermarket that sells food. Its malls, she argues, sell
a ‘taste’ of and a travel to an imaginary Italy by seducing their customers to spend
time and money to see, smell, touch, hear, eat and – nearly literally – incorporate
the brand and its branded products and services. Colombino’s analysis focusses
on showing the intricate interplay of place, product and nation as she examines
the geographies of this brand, which draws on a specific visceral register of com-
munication to ‘magically’ seduce its customers to shop beyond reason.
In Chapter Five, The on-screen branding and rebranding of identity politics in
Cyprus, Costas Constandinides’s analysis is focussed in the field of film studies
whilst it is deeply connected to the wider frame of identity politics. It researches
the construction of identity politics in Greek-Cypriot films as a clear aspect of
branding. His examples derive from Greek-Cypriot films, telling stories about the
1974 historical events of the island of Cyprus. The narratives in these films take
local Cypriot stereotypes into consideration, perform them and simultaneously
deconstruct them. More precisely, Cyprus is known as an idyllic tourist destination
in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as an example of historical ethnic conflict and
division. The narratives in the films oscillate between these contradictory spec-
trums. These could be made possible in films because of the frame of fictionality
in historical storytelling. With regard to the concept of our volume, Constandinides
takes a deeper look into intentional branding issues within identity politics that
stand behind the narratives of the exemplary Greek-Cypriot films.
Rita Rieger’s Chapter Six, Tango Argentino as nation brand is embedded in the
theoretical framework of cultural studies. First and foremost, it refers to a shared
cultural value that has become a brand. In this regard, the Tango Argentino is
far more than another national costume. And it has become a significant cultural
marker of the nation branding of Argentina. The author shows explicit branding
strategies that originated from the specific nature of the Tango Argentino that com-
bines local cultural codes with iconic elements within the music, the clothing and
attitudes towards life. The cultural studies perspective of the chapter permits the
inclusion of related discourses on emotions with branding strategies that clearly
show how brands are more successful when they are fuelled by emotions. To bring
her theoretical inputs to the foreground, Rita Rieger includes specific examples
from music documentaries, namely, 12 Tangos – Adiós Buenos Aires and Midsum-
mer Night’s Tango.
Chapter Seven, Tourism, nation branding and the commercial hegemony of nation
building in the post-Yugoslav states, written by Florian Bieber, exemplifies the coac-
tion and overlapping of nation branding and tourism in many ways. It brings nation
branding significantly close to product branding because the tourist industry started
12 Ulrich Ermann, Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik
advertising the cultural and historical values of nations just like any other products.
With special regard to countries in the Balkans, nation branding has become an
overall important instrument to encourage tourism. Thus, the chapter gives impor-
tant insights to nation-branding strategies in the post-Yugoslav region by exploring
both historical patterns and dominant themes of nation branding over the past two
decades. Both the sequences clearly show the economic backbone of branding the
nation, similar to any other product. Moreover, the study on nation branding in the
Balkans elaborates the tensions between the self-perception of nations, and the inter-
national demands for both authentic and yet accessible otherness.
In Chapter Eight, Promoting the nation in Austria and Switzerland: a pre-
history of nation branding, Oliver Kühschelm points to how the term ‘nation
brand’ made its appearance only in the 1990s. It then addresses how attempts at
reputation management, which build on institutional networks and promotional
practices, have older origins. These can be traced back to the late 19th and early
20th centuries when the nation state took its modern shape. The “governmentality”
(Michel Foucault), of the nation state included persuasive communication, which
as an area of expertise integrated the concern of promoting the nation, its goods
and services. This last chapter of this volume investigates two small industrialised
nation-states; namely, Austria and Switzerland and shows how they have been
quite successful and rank high on current nation brand indices.

Notes
1 Regarding the increasing significance of brands, see Arvidsson (2006) and Moor (2007).
2 See www.egypt.travel/ and http://cdn2.n-stream.tv/mot/new/index.php [Accessed
19 April 2017].

References
Anderson, B. (2006 [1983]) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread
of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Araujo, L., Finch, J. & Kjellberg, H. eds. (2010) Reconnecting Marketing to Markets.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Arvidsson, A. (2006) Brands: Meaning and Value in Media Culture. Oxford: Routledge.
Beebe, B. (2008) The semiotic account of trademark doctrine and trademark culture. In:
Dinwoodie, G. & Jamis, M. (eds.). Trademark Law and Theory: A Handbook of Contem-
porary Research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 42–64
Brubaker, R. (2006) Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University
Press.
Callon, M. (1998) An essay on framing and overflowing: Economic externalities revisited
by sociology. In: Callon, M. (ed.). The Laws of the Markets. Oxford: Blackwell, 1–57.
Callon, M. (1999) Actor-network theory: The market text. In: Law, J. & Hassard, J. (eds.).
Actor Network Theory and After. Oxford: Blackwell, 181–195.
Cochoy, F. (1998) Another discipline for the market economy: Marketing as performative
knowledge and know-how for capitalism. In: Callon, M. (ed.). The Laws of the Markets.
Oxford: Blackwell, 194–221.
 Introduction 13
Fahy, J. & Jobber, D. (2015) Foundations of Marketing. London: McGraw-Hill.
Foley, J. & Kendrick, J. (2006) Balance Brand: How to Balance the Stakeholder Forces
That Can Make or Break Your Business. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Foster, R. (2008) Coca-Globalization: Following Soft Drinks from New York to New Guin-
eau. New York: Palgrave.
Gille, Z. (2016) Paprika, Foie Gras and Red Mud: The Politics of Materiality in the Euro-
pean Union. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Goss, I. (1993) The magic of the mall: an analysis of form, function, and meaning in the
contemporary retail built environment. Annals of the Association of American Geogra-
phers. 83 (1), 18–47.
Hobsbawm, E. & Ranger, T. (1992) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Klein, N. (2000) No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. London: Flamingo.
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, H. (2012) Principles of Marketing. Harlow: Pearson.
Lury, C. (2004) Brands: The Logos of the Global Economy. London: Routledge.
Lury, C. (2011) Brands: Boundary method objects and media space. In: Pike, A. (ed.).
Brands and Branding Geographies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 44–55.
Manning, P. (2010) The semiotics of brands. Annual Review of Anthropology. 39, 33–49.
Marx, K. (1990 [1867]) Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Vol. 1. New York:
Penguin.
Moor, L. (2007) The Rise of Brands. Oxford: Berg.
Pike, A. (2009) Geographies of brands and branding. Progress in Human Geography. 33
(5), 619–615.
Pike, A. (2015) Origination: The Geographies of Brands and Branding. Oxford: Wiley
Blackwell.
1 Origination
The geographies of brands
and branding
Andy Pike

Introduction
For US-based clothing company American Apparel, “Made in Downtown LA”
is integral to its business ethos and brand, and this claim to origin and prov-
enance is used to mark its products and retail outlets. Central to its differentia-
tion strategy, the actors involved have constructed the brand as “Sweatshop-Free”
and vertically integrated in the US in competition against the low-cost, vertically
dis-integrated and international sub-contracted business models prevalent in the
clothing industry. Integral to the brand’s value and meaning is its representation as
an American-based “Industrial Revolution”. Seeking to buck the trend of interna-
tional outsourcing, American Apparel has located its headquarters, R&D, market-
ing, and manufacturing activities in downtown Los Angeles. This home-grown
narrative is articulated in the brand’s circulation, consumption in its retail outlets
and regulation in its intellectual property. On the American Apparel website, visi-
tors are invited to “Explore our Factory”. The actors involved in the brand and its
branding have originated its clothing commodities in a nationally framed brand
name (‘American Apparel’) and articulated a ‘Made in . . . ’ claim that is located
in specific territories at certain scales within a particular city and state – the down-
town area of Los Angeles, California, in the US (Pike, 2015). Meaning and value
is appropriated by the actors involved from geographical associations with the city
of LA as a centre of innovation, style and buzz in global fashion circles with reso-
nance amongst consumers in differing spatial and temporal contexts worldwide.
A financial crisis has engulfed American Apparel following the competitive rise
of the ‘fast fashion’ retail groups – such as H&M, Uniqlo and Zara – focused upon
low prices and highly responsive rapid stock turnaround (Gapper, 2015). Despite
being organised on a vertically integrated manufacturing and retailing model based
in the US, American Apparel’s supply chain had grown inefficient and slow to
adapt in refreshing its inventory regularly enough for consumers in a market set-
ting where innovation and speed has become more critical to competitiveness. It
was claimed that:

American Apparel is a traditional enterprise. It made great play of manu-

facturing in the US, rather than outsourcing to China and other low-wage
16 Andy Pike
countries as Gap and other US speciality clothing retailers do. But it did not
take advantage of this proximity – it was as slow-moving and conservative
as any of them.
(Gapper, 2015: 1)

Disruptive shifts in the geographical and temporal market settings for American
Apparel have been further reinforced by ongoing turbulence and contestation in
its governance and ownership related to legal disputes with its founder and former
shareholder Dov Charney. The financial meltdown has been manifest in a pre-tax
loss of $44.8m, collapse in its share price to 11 cents, accumulated debts of $300m,
downgrading of its credit rating into junk territory, and a cash flow and liquidity
squeeze that culminated in American Apparel’s listing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection in 2015 (Indap, 2015; Whipp, 2015; Felsted, 2015). Following the
installation of new senior management, the turnaround plan for American Apparel
seeks to reach $1bn in revenue from $600m in 2015, reduce annual costs by $30m
through retail outlet closures and cutting jobs, improve its productivity, expand and
double the number of outlets in its global retail network outside the US in new
and expanding markets such as the Middle East, China and South Korea, refine its
advertising messages and spend, and make its supply chain more responsive and
agile to get faster changing ranges of popular products and collections into retail
outlets more quickly and reducing dated inventory (Whipp, 2015). Specifically,
American Apparel (2015: 26) has identified that “The current supply chain is not
properly aligned to support the diverse business needs and increase flexibility and
innovation”. In terms of production, the new and more global strategic orientation
is leading to questions about American Apparel’s home grown US-based model
given its view that:

We’re not a total fashion house. We don’t have to follow every trend. We have the
wind at our back because there is a lot of logo fatigue out there. We have
the basics, which is what everybody needs. What you can’t do is manufacture in
the US and be one of the more expensive manufacturers and be slow.
(Paula Schneider, Chief Executive, American Apparel,
quoted in Indap, 2015: 1)

The new production strategy aims to “Develop proper manufacturing balance” to

service the needs of its distribution channels and customers in retail, e-commerce
and wholesale in more innovative and responsive ways in the wake of rapidly shift-
ing fashion trends (American Apparel, 2015: 26). What implications this evolving
strategy will have upon its manufacturing in downtown LA and the strong geo-
graphical associations this spatial reference has in the meaning and value of the
brand and its branding remains to be seen.
As this instance of a brand and its actors grappling with geographical associa-
tions demonstrates, where branded goods and services commodities are from and
are associated with is integral to their meaning and value. Brand and branding
actors – producers, circulators, consumers and regulators – are constantly wrestling
 Origination: geographies of brands 17
with issues of origin(s), provenance and authenticity. Longstanding research in
marketing, though, has been fixated with the ‘country of origin’ effect on consumer
behaviour. Less attention has been given to thinking about how the geographies of
brands and branding include and extend beyond the national frame. Brands and
branding geographies are an under-researched area. What constitutes their value
and meaning? How do they relate to their geographical associations and dynamics
in spatial circuits of combined and uneven development?
Addressing the relatively neglected geographies of brands and branding, this
contribution defines what is meant by brands and branding, explains their geog-
raphies, and accounts for the roles of inter-related actors – producers, circulators,
consumers and regulators – in spatial circuits of meaning and value. The idea of
origination is introduced to explain the geographical associations constructed by
actors in spatial circuits in their efforts to cohere and stabilise meaning and value in
goods and services commodities brands and their branding in the times and spaces
of particular market settings.
Addressing David Harvey’s (1990: 422) call to “get behind the veil, the fetish-
ism of the market and the commodity, in order to tell the full story of social repro-
duction”, origination provides a way of lifting the “mystical veils” (Greenberg,
2008: 31) woven around branded goods and services commodities by the increas-
ingly sophisticated activities of the actors involved. The strategies, techniques
and practices of actors seek carefully to create, manage, rework and sometimes
hide where goods are made and/or services are delivered from, and the economic,
social, political, cultural and ecological conditions where and under which they
are organised.

What are brands and what is branding?

In the socially and spatially uneven transition from a producer to a consumer-dom-
inated economy, society, culture, ecology and polity, the brands and branding of
goods and services commodities have proliferated dramatically (Arvidsson, 2006;
Lury, 2004; Moor, 2007). Some claim the emergence of a “brand society” wherein
brands are “the most ubiquitous and pervasive cultural form” and are “rapidly
becoming one of the most powerful of the phenomena transforming the way we
manage organizations and live our lives” (Kornberger, 2010: xi–xii, 23). This rapid
growth, evolving sophistication and widespread use of the term brand has been
accompanied by an increase in the sheer number of definitions from academic,
business, consulting and practitioner sources. Such endeavours have fragmented
rather than integrated understanding and explanation. There is no single or gener-
ally accepted model of the tangible (e.g., design, function, quality) and increasingly
important intangible (e.g., feel, look, style) attributes and characteristics of brands
and their relative importance and relationships. One important view sees the brand
as the characteristic kind of a particular good or service (de Chernatony, 2010). A
more developed and enduring account utilises the concept of ‘brand equity’, defined
as the “set of assets (and liabilities) linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds
to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to
18 Andy Pike
a firm’s customers” (Aaker, 1996: 7). In this view, brand equity is constituted by the
tangible and intangible assets of brand loyalty, awareness, perceived quality, asso-
ciations and other proprietary resources. Together these assets provide meaning and
value through their creation, articulation and enhancement by brand and branding
actors. Such elements include associations (e.g., with particular people, periods and
places), identities (e.g., image, look, style), origins (e.g., where it is designed, made,
connected with or perceived to come from), qualities (e.g., feel, form, function) and
values (e.g., efficiency, reliability, reputation). Remedying the longstanding focus
upon consumers, actors comprise those involved in the production, circulation,
consumption and regulation of brands and branding in spatial circuits of meaning
and value (Table 1.1). This social and spatial approach to brand equity addresses
the critique of Aaker’s (1996) “managerial” approach and its focus upon corpo-
rate brand ownership and control by producers rather than consumers, its relative
neglect of the social construction and consumption of brands by multiple actors,
and the inherent inter-relations between meaning and value (Kornberger, 2010: 35).
Understanding the brand as the object, branding can be interpreted as the pro-
cess of adding value to goods and services commodities by providing meaning.
Branding ensures that goods and services are defined by their “symbolic powers
and associations” (Kornberger, 2010: 13) rather than just their material basis and
functionality. However, branding too suffers from the same proliferation and diver-
sity of definitions and conceptualisations from different kinds of sources that make
defining the brand complicated. For Peter Jackson et al. (2011: 59) branding is the
“manufacture of meaning”. It is the work that actors do in attempts meaningfully
to articulate, enhance and represent the facets and cues of the assets and liabilities
in brands in ways that create value in particular temporal and spatial market set-
tings. As a process branding is used by actors in their efforts to construct consumer
trust and goodwill. It is designed to create distinctive associations in the brand –
such as authenticity, quality and style – that directly and positively influence the
purchasing decisions of consumers (de Chernatony, 2010). Compared to and in
distinction from more commodified or generic goods and services, actors seeking
configurations of product/image and price differentiation utilise the object of the
brand and the process of branding.

Table 1.1 Brand and branding actors

Actor Examples
Producers Brand owners, designers, manufacturers,
‘place-makers’, residents
Circulators Advertisers, bloggers, journalists, marketers,
media
Consumers Shoppers, residents, tourists, users, visitors
Regulators Government departments, trademark
authorities, local councils, export agencies,
intellectual property advisers, business
associations
Source: Adapted from Pike (2015)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Dien ochtend juist had z’n vrouw voor ’t eerst zoo gegriend omdat ze
vergeten had voor de jongens eten klaar te maken. De kerels
hadden gescholden en op tafel gebonkt met d’r zwarte, gebarsten
knuisten.… dat se vrete mosse.… dat se dáás leek.… En er was
thuis ’n lawaai wéést van wa-ben-je-me. Toen had hij d’r, in z’n
grimmigheid ’n opstopper pal tegen d’r snoet gemept, dat ze te
duuzelen stond; en niks zei ze, bleef ’m alleen maar [26]aanzien, met
oogen die besefloos wijd vraagstaarden, staarden naar wat ie nòu
dààn had. Plots was ze heviger in grienen uitgebarsten en had ze
krampzwaarder snikken uit d’r borst gescheurd. Daar kon ie dien
ochtend met z’n gedachte maar niet van af. Hij was ’n
ongeluksvogel. Nou dattie wel dacht ’n beetje rust te krijgen, werd
z’n wijf mal, stapel. En al maar had ie aan dat grienende mormel
gedacht, met telkens stijgende woedevlagen, bij elkaar harkend
nijdig de blaren, tot gouïge lichtduintjes, rond groen-brons en
roodgegloeid boomgeglans. Midden in z’n harken, hoorde ie weer d’r
snikken. Zoo mal, woestgillend en heesch had ze gegriend, ’m al
maar ankijkend. Toen, in-één, was dolangstig door ’m heengeschokt
’n gedachte, die ie zichzelf bijna niet voorhouen durfde.… aa’s z’n
wijf, z’n bloedeigen wijf nou d’r maar zoo deed om sain te snappen,
om achter de waarheid te komme van z’n rommelen in de donkere
kelderhoekjes, als d’r niemand was dan zij. Angst-zweet was er op
z’n lijf gewazemd, en zwel-benauwing had ie in z’n gorgel gevoeld.
Nou, là die dokter moar klietere, had ie gebromd, die hep gekoop
seure.… hài sat t’r mee.….. in huis.….. hai.… hai alleen! da’ verrekte
waif!.… da lamme waif!.… f’ r’ wâ sei dokter nie wa’ d’r skol.… dan
wist ie t’met’.… waa’s ’t puur uit!—

’n Jongen die ’m zag staan, stil met z’n hark, had toen, midden in z’n
woedend gemopper geschreeuwd.…

—Haei! Hassel.… Blommepot!.… mo je niet strak-en-an na huis.…

je waif stong op wacht.… t’met al ’n uur!.…
En teruggeschreeuwd had ie—„vast nie, la moar stoan”.… lacherig
gemaakt, valsch, want de buurlui, en ’t heele stedeke wisten al, dat
z’n vrouw zoo raar deed. Telkens dien ochtend weer, was de angst in
’m teruggedraaid, dat ze zich zoo maar hield, die feeks, die lintwurm,
dà sluwe kreng. Want in den laatsten tijd had ie voor hààr veel
minder z’n steeldrift verborgen, had ie al ’n beetje gerekend op ’r
vergeetkop. Zichzelf inpratend, dat ze zich toch vergiste, dat ze
werkelijk zwak van kop was, had ie gauw afgeharkt om te kunnen
snuffelen in de winterkasten of daar t’met nog wat lag, dat ie hebben
wou. Bij z’n rondgaan, langs den tuin-achterkant, had ie ’n [27]trap
tegen de deurluiken gegeven, omdat alles zoo stom-gesloten en
potdicht-sarrend ’m beloerde.… Vroeger elke plek besnuffeld!.… Wat
had ie al niet mee gepikt, toen de weduwe nog leefde.…
Damesskoentjes met gespeltjes.… brokkies van dat faine goed mit
kanten skulpies.… En linte!.… en grafbloarkranse.… en zilveren
suikerlepeltjes.… En plate en kemieke poppetjes.… Elk jaar wat.…
En armbande.. gevonde in den tuin na ’t krikkete.… En
damespetoffels.… van sai.… so glad as ’n mol om d’r over te
straike.… En meiderokkies.… onderrokkies.… gekleurd.… En
damesrokkies, allemaal geel mit sai.… prêchtig! En twee peresols.…
rooie.… he!.… hè!.… da was mooie woar.… En wa lai da nou
allemoal kloar voor sain!… precies hoe en wanneer ie die dingies
gekaapt had.… Dàt nou allemaal had ie gevoeld dien ochtend in
dien tuin.… En de heeleboel zoo maar verstopt, nauwelijks verstopt
àchterof, in ’n vuile hoek, bij ’t vat gepekeld vleesch, achter àn, in de
donkerste kuil, daar, in ’n groot zwart hok, waar niemand kwam, dan
hij zelf, zachies an met stukkies en beetjes afgeschut. Daar lei ’t
verknaagd en beskimmeld ’n beetje. Maar daar lei ’t. ’t Was toch wel
lollig weest dà’ s’n waif soo’n vuilpoes hiete, soo klieterde en stonk
t’met van ’t smeer.… Da se nooit-nie keek na d’r kelder, en da hai,
alleenig, bai skoonmoak ’t eerst rondrommelde.… En.… da Guurt d’r
de koning te raik mee was da sai d’r niks mee van doen had.… ook
soo’n skoone!.. Wel lollig toch dà’ hai nou joar an joar, veur
skoonmoak sorgde doar.… en al die hoeke … dà’ t’r leê, z’n spulle.…
rustig.… bestig.… Soms kreeg ie zoo’n vreeselijk verlangen er naar
te kijken dat ie ’t niet uithouen kòn. Dan moest ie zien, ’s nàchts, als
allen snurkten en ronkten. Want na z’n zware ziekte sliep ie weinig,
lag ie soms halve nachten wakker, en dan was ’t maar
prakkeseere.… met open ooge, tegen ’t donker beskot van de
bedstee.… Ja dat had ie daar nou allemaal staan.… Nou kon ’t
verrotte voor zijn part, as ie maar wist, dat ie ’t had, dat ’t van hem
was.… Zoo voor zijn eige òòge en hànde.. dat ie ’t kon grijpen en
zien wanneer ie wou.—Maar ’t zalige ook was, dat geen
[28]sterveling wist dàt ie gapte,.… hij de fesoenlijkste tuinder van de
plaats. En als ie nagong,—al liep ie in Amsterdam,—da s’n spulle
dààr leie.… in zijn kelderhoek.… God-kristus! dat ontroerde zoo
hevig, gaf ’m zooveel geluk, dat ie d’r bevingen van kreeg, in z’n
armen en beenen, en handen, en dat z’n hart ging hameren.… En
helsch-lekker was ’t, dat niet één uit de plaats, niet één bij ’m thuis
wist waar ’t lag.… zelfs z’n vrouw niet. Elke dag effetjes zag ie z’r bij
dwalen, dàn Dirk, dàn Piet, dan z’n meid Guurtje.… maar vast
niks.… Nooit niks merken.… En spannend, zag ie ze, nou jaren en
jaren achtereen, wegduiken in de rotte kelder, en weer opduiken en
nooit niks, nooit nooit niks!.… Dat gaf ’m nog weer ereis gloeiende
vreugd, maar stil, stil.… in zichzelf gesmoord.…

Met z’n stoel strompelde ouë Gerrit nog dichter bij de kachel,
onbewust, ’t zelf niet merkend, in brandende opwinding, blij iets te
bewegen. Z’n vrouw zag ie sjokkeren van den stal naar de keuken,
met ’n peinzerig gezicht, en rooie huil-oogen, ’n paar kopjes
wegdragend van ’t koffieblad. Vandaag had ie puur trek om er is te
kaike na z’n spulle.… Maar hij dorst nie.… Guurt, s’n dochter mos
sóó komme.… aa’s tie ’t moar weer es sag.…

Wà’ kon ie lolle, lolle, soo in ’t donkere hok, tusschen z’n gestolen
rommel in.… Wa genot! om te stikke! Wà’ had ie ’t netjes an rijtjes
legd lest.… Die vervloekte muize.… allegoar goatjes d’r in.… Hij kon
se de kop afbijten.—Nee, vandaag zou die ’r geen poot anzette, als
ie ’t moar sàg, soo moar sag, kon ie al sterven van heetige lol.—Wâ
spulle! Wà’ kon die ’r mee doen.… Nee, toch niks doen d’r mee.…
Alleen moar hebbe, wéte, al moar wéte en beseffe, dat ’t van sain
was.…, dat ie ’t kaapt had van andere.… andere.… Kristis, wà’ lol,
wà’ salig.… So moar had ie ’t gegannift van ’n aêre en nou was ’t
van sain, van hèm, van hem, van sain. Wat zoet, wat zalig zoet dat
toch was, dat nemen! Hoho!.. ho.. ho.… Van g’n waif, van g’n waive
hield ie zooveul.… Da [29]gappe.… puf!.… naar je toe.… En zoo
verborgen weg duufele in je eige kelder.… En dan, aas de
menschen je vrage en segge.… Hai je al hoort?.… dà’s stole of dit is
stole, dan verbaasd meekijke en lache, en dan zoo zeker, zoo zeker
wete dà’s se hem, hèm, mit z’n grijze kop, z’n faine noam net soo
min verdenke, aa’s den bestolene self.… En dan lol, brandend lollig
van binnen, daà’ niemand je sien hep.… niemand, nooit niks!.… En
dan àl maar meer lachen om ’n grappie ertusschen en schudden met
de zilveren haren, en dan, daardoor heen, maar genieten, bij ’t
spreke d’r over … En wrijven door de baard, en zalig, zoet van
binnen weten: jonge, kerel, dà’ hep jài nou,.… dà’ lait nou stikempies
op z’n rug, bai jou.… Niemand hep sien.… En dan ’t genieten er van,
de eerste week.… nachten, als ie niet slapen kon, in het kelderhok,
met ’t lampie.… en soms, als ie ’t niet kon houen, als ie van binne
opbrandde van zien-dorst, dan op den dag ook nog effe.. Aa’s ’t
most, en ’t kwam, dol-heet-begeerend, dan omkeerend van ’n
boodschap en dan loeren op ’n vrij gelegenheidje. En dan de tweede
nacht, aa’s ’t verlange om te zien zoo hevig was, dat ie lag te beven..
om z’n spulle te pakken.—Als ’t door ’m heengierde, onrustig gehijg
van kijkdrift en voeldrift. Als ie zich dan al lekkerangstig eindelijk
voelde, òver z’n wijf, heenstapte.… bang-vol en blij dat ze ’m wouen
snappen, en eindelijk met wild lichtgejuich in z’n oogen, in en uit z’n
kelder kwam, zonder dat ie gesnapt was. Dan in bed weer zien,
rustiger en verzadigd, hoe alles gelegen had, kijkend met oogen
dicht. Herinnerend hel-schittering van knoppies, blinking van
lepeltjes, en na-tastend in z’n verbeelden de kleuren en ’t zachte
goedje.—Dan den volgenden nacht weer, kijken en tasten, slaaploos
met zweet-hoofd van angstig-zwaar genot.—Na ’n week begon lust
te luwen, bleef ie ’r maanden zonder, dacht ie er nog alleen maar
aan, in z’n bedstee, stil-starend tegen beschot-donkerte, dat ’t daar
lei, effe onder ’m.. dat ie ’t kon zien, kon hebbe aa’s ie wou.. dingen
al van veertig jaar, nooit niks van verkocht.… nooit niks.… gegapt
voor sain … zalig zoodje.. Nou vàn sain, vàn sain alleen. En geen
[30]sterveling die wat wist van z’n zalig genot, geen die iets wist van
z’n sluipen ’s nachts, z’n waken, z’n woest-geheime passie, z’n
heethevig begeeren.

Van heel klein al had ie ’n diep jubel-genot gekend voor stil stelen,
juist op de gevaarlijkste plekken. Nou nam ie alleen wat ’m beviel,
maar toen, nog jong, nam ie elk onbeheerd ding mee. Telkens werd
’t ’m toen afgenomen, kreeg ie ransel en straf, omdat ie ’t nog niet
goed wist te verbergen, of handig genoeg weg te kapen. Op later
leeftijd was ie zich gluip’riger gaan toeleggen op stil-stelen, op dat
loerend geheim-zoete stelen, met uren-geduld van ’n poes,
onbeweeglijk, rumoerloos dan toespringend als de kansen schoon
stonden, en dan alles vergeten, om te hèbben, te hèbben. Eerst had
ie, als eenmaal de dingen van hem waren, er niks meer voor
gevoeld. Later tikte ie de zaakjes op hun kop, maar bewaarde ze
meteen; werd zoo nieuwe prikkelhartstocht, dien ie eerst niet gekend
had. En nooit nog had ie goed beseft hoe ie eigenlijk aan dien
steeldrift kwam. Zóó zag ie iets, zóó gréép ie, zonder dat z’n
hartstocht ’m kleinste nàdenkruimte liet. ’n Vrouw pàkken en stelen,
maar stelen nog liever.—Verder was z’n heel leven niks voor ’m
geweest. Z’n land ging al jaren bar slecht; z’n zoons bestalen ’m, z’n
pacht en schulden al hooger, de opbrengst al minder.… Maar ’t gong
z’n triest gangetje nog.… Toch was ’r niks geen pienterigheid meer in
z’n werk; z’n steellust was alles, ging nog ver boven lijfbegeeren
uit.… ontzettend, van genot, van stil genot.

Eens had ie, zoo in ’n angst-bui, die ’m in z’n jonge jaren maar heel
zelden bekroop, aan dominee in ’t geheim verteld dat ie zoo graag
dingen wegnam, die van hem niet waren, zoo alleen maar om ze te
hebben, en om te doen, te doèn vooral. Maar die man had ’m
uitgescholden, had ’m de deur gewezen in woede.… zeggend dat ie
niet verkoos voor den gek gehouen te worden. En hij in z’n boerige
stommiteit en blooheid had niks verder kunnen zeggen. Toen had ie
dominee in de kerk nog es hooren dreigen met de hel, dat dieven
monsters waren.. [31]En hij had dol-angstig gegriend, bang, bang, de
hel, de hel.… En de ouë vrome, streng-bijbelsche dominee had hèm
onder de preek aangekeken. ’n Tijdje was ’t stil in ’m gebleven. Maar
z’n begeerte vrat dieper in. Geen rust had ie waar ie was. ’t
Verlangen, heet schroeiend, kwam in ’m opblakeren, als ie iets zag,
van verre al, hartkloppingen beukten z’n slapen en z’n binnenste
stond in brand. Dan de gréép.… En als ’t gedaan was, voelde ie zich
opgelucht, lollig, lekker.… tot ie later weer moest, en de hitte-greep
weer kwam. Door dominee’s gedreig had ie nooit iemand meer iets
durven zeggen, wat ie toen wel gewild had. Want ’t werd ’m soms,
zoo zwaar, zoo bang,—maar dan weer vond ie ’t zoo zalig, zoo
zoet.… Zoo was ’t geweldiger in ’m doorgevreten, met de jaren
erger, kon ie ’r niet meer zonder. En om zich heen zag ie niemand
die wist wat in hem omging, hoe wreed-rauwelijk ie genoot, en hoe ie
leed, als ie wroeging, angst voelde. Want elke week precies toch
ging ie naar de kerk, soms als ’n zelf-marteling om te hooren wat ’m
te wachten stond. En elk woord paste ie dan toe op zich-zelf, elken
zin, elken uitleg. En soms midden door z’n donkeren, hoog-donkeren
angst, schoot dan berouw, klagelijk deemoedig voornemen, dat ie
nooit meer iets van ’n ander zou wegnemen. Twee dagen daarna als
de woorden van dominee afgekoeld waren, zat ’t alweer in hem te
hijgen, als ie maar iets zag, dat alleen stond, dat ie hebben moèst.
Dan bleef ie in zoete streel-stemming van z’n eigen begeerte, tot ze
onstuimiger, brandender oplaaide, niet meer te houen, en duizelde ie
van nieuw genot, dat te wachten stond. Dan kwam er al dagen
vooruit, licht of doezelig geduizel in z’n hoofd, vreemde ontroeringen
en gevoelige toeschietelijkheid thuis, in alles.… zelfs z’n stem begon
te vleien, lichtelijk.

En dan had je ’t, volop ’n groote blij ontroerende angst voor wat ie
doen ging en voor wat nou weer in ’m woelen en snoeren kwam. Zoo
wàchtte ie op zich zelf, dook er grillige benauwing ônder z’n
hartstocht uit.—Soms klaar-fel in één, heel kort, zag ie zich-zelf,
begreep ie, hoe ie Onze Lieveheer bedroog, den dominee, de
menschen, de wereld.. Dat kwam dan meestal ’s nachts, als ie
wakker lag, niet slapen kon, en er klare kijklust [32]juist in z’n oogen
kittelde; in die lange, donker-dreigende nachten, als ie verschuil-
angst voelde, angst dat ie slecht was, dat ie toch eens gesnapt zou
worden, dat z’m in de kelder zouen pakken en opsluiten, of dat ze ’m
eerst midden op den weg zouen sleuren, zóó, midden op straat
jagen, en dat iedereen ’m dan kon zien met z’n grijzen kop, z’n lange
haren.… dat ze’m zouen uitjouwen, uitgieren en met steenen gooien.
Dan werd ie week, voelde ie, hoe hardvochtig ie was voor z’n wijf en
kinderen.… In die angstnachten voelde ie zich aan alle kanten
bedreigd, zàg ie klaarder dan op den dag, hóórde ie beter, de
vreemdste tikjes, kraak-lichte geluidjes, strak-zuiver in de
nachtstilte.. En hij, hij die nooit niks gevoeld had,—wel duizend keer
in ’t holst van winternachten dwars door ’t Duinkijker bosch, van ’t
zeedorp Zeekijk, naar Wiereland was geloopen,—híj huiverde dàn,
en kippevelde van angst, hij lag daar te stumperen, te beven en
benauwend te zweeten, naast z’n wijf, beschutting zoekend àchter
haar dooie, snorkende lijf, toch blij dat zij er tenminste was, ’n
mensch net als hij, die ie hoorde ronken.… die hij kende.… die hem
kende.… En als ie dan, loerend stil, in ’t pikdonkre vunzige ruimtetje
van het hollig bed-steetje, uit groenig vuur op ’m zag aangrijpen,
handen met kromme, scherpe worg-nagels, vreeslijke, knokige,
graaiende handen, beenderige geraamte-handen, vaal en grauw en
hij lag te steunen, zoetjes in zweetangst te kermen, zich verkrimpend
en kleinmakend àchter ’t half-wezenlooze lijf van z’n vrouw—dan
begon ie stil tegen haar lichaam te praten, òp te biechten, luid, met
beverige stem, tegen haar rug.… Dan angstigde ie uit, dat ie ’t haàr
wel zeggen wou, z’n slechtighede.… aa’s se’t maar nie verklikte …
da’ se ’m steenige souê … En dat alles, alles in de kelder lei.…

In den stillen nacht hoorend z’n eigen holle beefstem, weenend van
wanhoop, keek ie even òp achter het ronkend lijf van z’n vrouw of ’t
groenige vuur nog liktongde—van ’t donker beschot naar ’m toe.
Maar als ie dan geen beenige grauwige geraamte-hand meer zag,
zweeg ie gauw met biechten, verroerde ie zich niet meer, ’n kwartier,
’n half uur, al spijtig, gejaagd dat ie te veel had [33]gezegd, dat ie zich
had laten bangmaken. Bleef ’t weg, ’t groenige vuur, dan begon z’n
zweet-benauwing wat te luwen, gingen er knellingen los van z’n kop,
z’n beenen, begon ie weer ’n beetje ruimer te ademen .… in zichzelf
gerustgesteld, dat ie toch iemand opgebiecht had wat ie deed—En
aa’s ze wakker was zou ie ’t weer zeggen. Stilletjes wel, dacht ie
’rbij, dat ze toch alles weer vergat,.… maar dat kon hem niet
schelen, had hij niks mee van noode. Hààr zou ie ’t zeggen, dan wist
ie ’t ten minste niet meer alleen. Als ie dan eindelijk achter ’t deurtje
van ’t donkere bed-holletje durfde kijken, in de scheemrige
schijnseltjes, naar de stille schaduw-schimmen van de roerlooze
kamer en hij zag op ’t ruit, aan den straatweg, ’t nachtlichtje,
blompotjes-schaduw en tak-vormpjes, grillig-dwars en puntig op ’t
vaal-geel gordijntje lijnen, kreeg ie weer moed, zei ie zichzelf, dat ie
’n lintworm was, drong ie zich op, dat ie nog nooit-ofte nimmer
kwaad had gedaan.….

.… Dief? .… dief.…? nee, dâ was tie nie, heelegoar nie.… En

snappe?.… nooit!.… nooit!.… Wou ie stele om geld?.… bah! kon ’m
geen zier skele.… ’t Was lekker, ’t was puur zalig.… Hij mos
gappe.… hij mòs of ie wou of nie.… Soms wou ie zelf nie.…, en toch
most ie.… En dan had ie al branding en wilde jeuking in z’n
handen.… Nee pakke dée ze’m nooit van d’r leve.… want sluw, sluw
was ie, aa’s de beste.… En wie had d’r ooit erg in sain? Hij mit z’n
grijze kop, hij diake weest?.… Hij die nooit dronk, hij die met jare
beule en ploetere, eindelijk ’n stukkie grond had gekocht, met veul
hypetheek?.… ze zeie allemoal wat van z’n zachtzinnigheid, en hoe
goeiig ie omging met z’n ongelukkig suf waif.…

Maar aa’s tie alleen was met haar, kon ie z’n geduld niet houên. Dan
griende ze, had ze vergeten waar ze woonden, wist ze niet meer den
naam van haar kinderen; dan griende ze maar, grienen. En hij er
tegen in, haar meppend met wat ie maar in handen kon krijgen. Dan
griende ze erger, mepte hij harder, uit drift, uit dolle drift, dàt ze
blerde.… En toch vergat ze waàrom ze griende, wist ze na ’n paar
minuten niet meer, [34]dat haar man ’r geranseld had, sjokte ze weer
stil-droevig voort, alleen brandende pijn-plekken voelend op ’r lijf en
handen..

Eergisteren nog had ie ’n paar mooie ronde bollemanden gekaapt, ’n

stel witgeschuurde klompen en ’n nieuwe overschieter.… Donders,
vaa’n arme kerel, dat had ’m even heel erg gespeten, maar ’t stond ’r
zoo zalig voor.… Niet lang was de bedenking. Door z’n bars boeren-
verstand, wrokkig, eigenzinnig en steenhard-achterlijk was de
gedachte gegaan dat ’t maar ’n zuiplap was, hij er toch nies an had.
Listig en bijgeloovig, dat was ie, bang en brutaal. En gisteren had ie
alles aangedurfd.… Zoo, in de zon had ie staan blinken, de
overschieter, en de mandjes ’n eind verder, en bij ’n ander de witte
klompies. ’t Was plots in ’m gaan kriebelen, hij had zich voelen bleek
worden, gejaagd, kloppingen op z’n borst, in z’n strot, hooger op
naar z’n kop.… En opgejaagd in zichzelf gromde ’t: da mo je hewwe
Ouë, da mo je hewwe.… Er was licht in z’n oogen geloensd, raar
valsch licht, als uit de oogappelspleet van ’n kat die ’n vogeltje met
stil lijf en zachte kopwending alleen beloert.—Z’n handen waren
gaan woelen in z’n broekzakken en voor ie zelf wist of ’t kon, of
niemand ’m zàg, had ie ’t beet, beet, beet, schuurde ie met z’n stille
juichstem langs brandende hebzucht, die nou te blakeren lag, wild in
z’n strot, had ie ’t ding in knelkramp vast, schroefvast en daverde z’n
hart in geweldsbonzen, dat z’n ooren dicht suisden van woest genot.
Zoo was ie weggehold, keek ie strak voor zich uit, zwaar, lang
genietend, om te voelen hoe ’t afloopen zou.… met ’t heete steel-
gevoel in ’m, zoo zàlig zoet-spreidend over z’n harsens, dierlijk
genietend van eigen benauwing.… En dwars door vage-angst-van-
pakken, lol dat niemand ’m in den weg was getreden, dat ie dadelijk
kwam, waar ie wezen wou, dat ’t dadelijk kon geduwd in z’n kelder
en daar begulzigd met z’n oogen. Toen, alleen z’n wijf thuis, kon ie ’t
raak-zeker wegstoppen waar ie wou. Eén huilgenot was uit ’m
gevloeid. En gisterennacht had ie ’t weer gezien. Tranen van
ontroering had ie zitten schreien in z’n kelder. [35]

Over z’n spullen gebogen, beaaiend met z’n kijk, had ie ’rbij gezeten
in z’n rooie wollen onderbroek en z’n wilden zilveren haarkop, te
schreien in z’n kelderhok, met z’n klein lampje, rossig-geel, bewalmd
in vunshoek, genoot ie van z’n doorgestane spanning, duizendmaal,
zacht-snikkend in stembeving zich zelf zeggend, in huil, dat ’t nou
van hem was, van hem.… Dat ’m dat geen sterveling kon afnemen,
Dirk niet, Piet niet, Guurtje niet.… En stil als ’n faustig spooksel,
kromde z’n verdonkerd rood lijf zich in z’n lage kelder, veegde ie z’n
tranen van de handen, snikte ie zachter, luchtte ie op, lag ie om en
om z’n gestolen waar, zoet-innig streelend, en bleekte z’n zilveren
haardos en kindergezicht, in het wazige kelderschimmige
lampschijnsel òp, met gelukslach en zalige verrukkings-koorts.

Nee, niks kon ’m meer skele.… z’n kinders, z’n waif, z’n pacht, z’n
schulden, z’n hypetheek.… Alleen die lamme notaris, die ’m ’r in had
met vijfhonderd gulde losgeld en al de rente, ses pissint, zat ’m
dwars.… En de dokter.… die z’n rekening hewwe wou.. en veurskot
van grondbelasting.… Snotverjenne, dat was nou ruim dertig joar
puur, dat notaris ’m losse duiten leent had.… En nou, nou Dirk en
Piet bij andere wat wouen knoeien mit grond, nou eischte ie op, in
één s’n geld, met dertig jaar rente.… godskristis.….. Da was puur ’n
slag.… miskien ’n kleine twee duuzend gulden mit de rente van àl ’t
deze! En nou weer ’n paar termaine hypetheek achter en pacht en
nog drie joare raize achter.… Nou dan moest s’n brokkie moar an de
poal.… Hai verrekke.… sullie ook verrekke.… Hai had toch se
genot.… Moar dwars, dwars zat ’t ’m; nòg twee koebeeste voorschot
waa’s tie ook achter! Nee, dwars zat ’t sàin!.… ’n suinige boel!.…
Aa’s s’n heule rommel achtduuzend beskoûde, was tie d’r.… Maar
da had ie t’met an volle skuld!.… Tug, ’t brok stong nog onder sain
klompe!.… [36]

[Inhoud]

II

Guurt, de mooie blonde dochter van Gerrit Hassel, kwam op ’r

fameuze dij, met ’n groote witte schaal grauwe erten aansjokken, en
’n pan uien met aardappelenbrei, die vettig smeulden en geurden in
wasem voor d’r uit. Guurt was de mooiste blonde van Wiereland,
met zwaar-korpulent, hoog boerinnelijf, rompig-rond en heupmollig,
dat droeg, droomerig fijn klein hoofdje, wonder-blauw starende
oogen, fijn poppig gezichtje, potsierlijk-lievig, teer en damesachtig in
’t zware zonneblond van haardos, kontrasteerend-pronkend op ’r
vetten schommelenden vleesch-groei van flank en boezem.
Vrouw Hassel zat stil-ontdaan, met ’r huilerig gezicht vlak voor ’t
raampje op den weg te kijken naar de kale tuinderijen, en de goor-
gele hooi-klampen. Haar versmoezelde trekmuts zat scheef-
achterover, en de eindkrullen ervan hingen slapvuil langs d’r slapen.
Even blies ’n geraas door ’t vertrekje, en hoog-plechtig sopraande de
staartklok ’t twaalfuurtje uit, na elken slag meetrillend ’n zangerig
geluid als van tooneelklok, die vreemd-bekorend-sonoor, ’n
nachtelijk spanningsuur aanluidt, in melodrama.

Achter in den stal, rumoerden de jongens binnen, zich in haast ruw

neerschuifelend met stoelen aan tafel, beslijkt van grondwerk, overal
langs schurend met hun modderplunje, gulzig laag bukkend in
dierlijken vreetstand voor d’r borden.

Ouë Gerrit zat in gemakstoel, tegenover z’n vrouw. Plots zakte stom
z’n kop op de borst; kruisten zich z’n handen in krampigen bid-buig.
De jongens en vrouw Hassel brabbelden wat meê, gejaagd.

Gulzig-spraakloos begon er geëet, klikklakking van lepels op borden

en schaal, die naar alle richtingen getrokken werd. Piet had zich
zwaar-vol opgeschept, ruw-weg bij-lepelend, dat het donker
klonterde op z’n borst, erwten met vet en kleine ertusschen
gesnipperde vleeschbonkjes. Dirk kauwde, kauwde langzaam,
zwaarder, met bij-zijduwing van kaken, en schoof na iederen hap z’n
vuile lepel in de schaal, langzaam, langzaam, [37]zoekend naar
plekjes met vleeschbonkjes. En Piet er haastiger tegen in,
opstapelend nieuwe lepelingen, telkens met z’n slijk-bruine vingers,
reuzige grauwe klauw, erwteklusjes, druipend bedoopend met vet,
wegzuigend, van mondgulzige toppenduw, z’n spreekholte in. Want
telkens had ie wàt te zeggen, met barst-vollen, spuug-spattenden
mond. Ouë Gerrit smakte zuinigjes z’n bord erwten op. Alleen vrouw
Hassel at niets, bleef suffig-beteuterd kijken naar éen plek buiten ’t
raam, met oogen flauw-versluierd van tranen.
Jammerlijk druilde stilte op haar grauw-verflenst gezicht dat sufte
onder ’t vuil-grijze haar, bijzij steekmutsfloddering los uitkrullend. Om
haar heen bleef zuigen stil gesmak van uitgehongerde kerels, die
met zweet en vuil nog op rood-grauwe gezichten, stil maar hapten
en kauwden, in grimmig kaakbeweeg, rauw en vraatvol, zich
vergulzigend als beesten.—Guurt kwam pas zitten, met geschuifel
van ’n stoel en wegduwing van Piet’s arm, vluggelijk biddend.

—Mo’k nie sitte?.… jai la nou nooit niks veur ’n ander.…, mokte ze
bits.

—Jonges, zei Hassel plots bezorgd, morge is ’t houtvailing bai jonker

van Ouenaar.… wie goat t’r hain.…? Sel ik ’t moar sain, hoho!

—Nou, gromde Dirk, z’n lepel uit z’n mond zuigend en gravend in de
weer vol geplompte schaal,.… daa’s net, wà’ hai je meer?.…

De Ouë wist wel dat ie moest, al vond ie ’t lam werk. Maar als Dirk
en Piet zeien dat ’t gebeuren zou, durfde hij niet nee zeggen, bang
dat ze ’r de heele boel op ’n goeien dag bij neersmeten.

—Aa’s t’r t’met wat is.… vier en vaif.… enne nie genog!..

—Mit staive stàp d’r moar op an Ouë .… sal wel wa sàin.…

seurderij.…, bromde Dirk, met vollen mond, in z’n altijd klanklooze
kortsnauwende bitse zinnetjes.

De ouë zei al niets meer, keek sip voor zich, verschuchterd, zat star
op z’n met zware duimvegen uitgelikt bord te kijken.

—Godverjenne moeder, barste Piet los, zwaar-boerend voor [38]zich

uit, in zangrige stijging van Wierelands spreekgeluid, godverjenne,
waa’t is t’r t’met mi je veur.… ik sien je kwalik ’s murregens.…
—Wa?.. wa?.. wa sait tie?.… wa sait tie?.… schrikte vrouw Hassel
òp uit ’r sufkijk over het kale land.

Piet brokkelde weer onverstaanbaar iets verder, met uitgebuilden

mond, stamp-vol van uien en aardappelenbrei, die z’n lippen
overdrongen. Telkens greep ie met z’n grauwe vuile modderhanden
in de pan, rondwroetend tusschen breiklodders, om direkt weer in te
stoppen als ie met beklemming van zacht-roggelende ademhaling,
ingeslikt had. Zoo aldoor met vollen mond blijvend, wou ie spreken,
iets driftigs uitstooten, dat brabbelend wegsmoorde in z’n
uienkauwsel.

Vrouw Hassel zat te wachten, maar hoorde niets meer.… Eindelijk

na zware ademhaling, kraste er stemgeluid op, had ie alles
doorgeslikt. Guurt, naast ’m, zat te giegelen om z’n gulzig geslobber,
lachend, lijf-schuddend achter haar dikke handen.

—Nou moeder, wa’ kaik je aa’s ’n skoap.… f’rjenne!.… je sou main

broek làpt hebbe.… d’r sit ’n gat in.… daa’ k’r t’met deurvalle sel.…
hai je dà nou weer f’rgete?.… bin je dan t’met fe’gete daa’k ’n broek
droag?.… geep.… dwarrel!.… wa skeel je.…?

—Sai vergeet puur d’r kop van d’r romp, woedde de Ouë.

—En.… ne.… de bloedworst, hai je ’m kloar moeder, vroeg Dirk er

loom midden in.

Vrouw Hassel zat met inspanning naar ’t stemgekruis te luisteren, vol

angst-trekken om d’r ingevallen mageren neus en mond, vooruit al
voelend, dat ze wat leelijks te hooren kreeg. Maar herinneren van
bloedworst en broek deed ze zich. niets meer. Al wat zij haar
voorhielden was nieuwtje, hoorde ze nou pas voor ’t eerst, meende
ze.
—Ja, ja, stamelde ze in verwarring terug.… ik wee nie wâ main
skeelt.… ik bin d’r puur f’rskote van kinders!.… En zwaar te huilen
begon ze.

—Seg waif, bler nie.… valt rege sat.… snauwde hard [39]de Ouë en
allen nu snauwden mee, van lamme kemedie, gesanik van dit-en-
van-dat, scholden eruit voor luiwammes, die gluipertjes wou maken.
En stil snikte ze door, zonder dat ze zich met ’n woord meer
verdedigen kon. Uitgesuft zat ze weer. Niemand die voelde wat ze
had, wat ze leed. O! leed?.. leed?.. Nee, pijn had ze niet. Alleen zoo
raar, zoo doovig, zoo rare banden kruislings over d’r hoofd,
gespannen! en zoo knellend, zoo stevig.… En niks, niks meer kon ze
onthoue.. Ze huilde weer harder.… Guurt keek ’r àn, met d’r
glimlacherige blauwe oogen, of ze zeggen wou: hou je je aige moar
stiekem van de domme, je bin immers zoo sterk aas ’n paard.…

Dirk grabbelde ’n pijp vol, met kop in de tabaksdoos geduwd, en Piet

diepte mee in. ’n Paar minuten bleef er stilte-gepaf van alle lijven.
Alleen Gerrit en de vrouwen vouwden de handen, prevelden
plechtig-mechanisch dankgebed.

—Seg Ouë.… kristus! wa he’k ’n pain in main polse.… kristus!.…

main klauwe!.… saa’k verbrande aa’s ’k weet hoe ’k sitte mot.…
jesis wa pain.… main stuit.…

Afbrekend eigen zin bleef Dirk op z’n doorbarste spithanden

staren.…

—Nou Ouë, murge goant beertje d’r an—Met ’n schonkigen draai

van z’n zwaar lijf keerde ie zich naar Gerrit, ’m drie maal zwaar
boerend vlak in ’t gezicht. Vader Hassel keek bedrukt.

—Tjonge, daa’s te vroeg, f’rdomd, daa’s te vroe-eg, zàng-zeurde z’n

stem.
—Nou maor, hai goant, daa’s main werk.… ikke hep ’r lol in.… Ikke
hou van da werkie.… Aas ’t poar weke verduufle gong he’k g’n fait
meer.… nee.… nou mot tie.… jesis! me sai laikt of ’k spersie-bedjes
maok hep.… da verrekte diepspitte..

Dirk was rood van stille woede dat de ouë tegensprak, woede die
aan kwam stuiven in bloedvlekken op z’n woest-kakigen wreeden
kop. Z’n vlassige brauwen gramden in dreiging naar elkaar, en z’n
kaken beefden. Dàt was z’n grootste hartstocht, slàchten; zelf ’t mes
in ’t plooiige nek-vette van ’t varken te vlijmen, ’m bij z’n strot te
smakken, dat ie spartelde, dan ’m te zien rochelen en hooren gillen,
met bloed op z’n handen, [40]warm-lauw, stankig en rood. Dan
genoot ie met ’n bedaarde lol, niemand mocht er an komme thuis. As
ie ’t niet zelf kon doen, vrat ie ’t niet; most ’t vleesch verkocht. Al de
kippen, die niet meer legden, draaide ie even gemoedereerd den
kop om. Guurt joeg ze op, greep ze, en hij alleen wrong ze den hals
af. En Guurt zàg ’t ook dol-graag, al griende ze ’r soms bij van
rillerigheid. Zij, zij met ’r meidehanden dee ’t altemet eerder dan
Kees, de erge strooper, waar ieder in de plaats bang voor was; Kees
de Strooper, oudste zoon van Hassel.

Piet had zich languit met z’n modderlaarzen en slijkgoed op den

grond neergesmakt, vlak bij de rookige kachel, om wat te tukken.
Dirk zat te smoken, slaperig weggedoezeld in blauwe rookkrullen,
stomp, naar den straatweg kijkend. Ouë Gerrit voelde slaaploomte
en rilling.

’n Paar uur maar had ie vannacht geslapen. Alleen Guurt lachte luid
en brutaal, joligde tegen Dirk, die stom aanluisterde zonder zich te
verroeren, wat ze snapte van Annie en Geert Slooter, dochters van
’n tuinder, bij hen in de buurt.

—Nou Dirk.… enne.… nou mo je wete.… nou sait se Annie.… se

binne veur sain in ’n f’rseeekering … aas sain … sie je.… d’r vader.…
aas sain nou wa beurt.… dan.… danne kraige sai ’n prais.… ’n prais
sa’k moar segge.… van ’t Nuuwsblad.… En nou sait Geert.…
hohà!.… nou sait Geert.… gom.… ikke wou moar da die ouë suiplap
soo dood bleef aa’s ’n pier.… in se werk.… he?.… dan heppe wai
vaifhonderd poppies.… Is da nou woar Dirk.…? kraige sullie dan
soveul?.… puur vaifhonderd.… tog jokkes hee?

—Nou seker, bromde Dirk, wrevelig dat ie spreken moest, aa’s t’r
stoat, sal wel ’t uitkomme t’met.…

—Nou, en nou sait Annie, sait se main.… f’r wa’ sai nooit niks meer
van je sien, s’avens.…

—La se stikke.… mestvarke.… hep màin noodig.… dwarrel!

kabbeloebelaap!.…

—Nou hait s’nie g’laik.… sa’k stikke aa’s se ’n sint los kraigt van den
ouë.… nou is tie weewnoar.… en hokke [41]mi Jan en alleman dat ie
doe.… ’n wijd skandoal.… Nou lest, mi Sint Jan mosse Annie en
Geert.… mosse ze ’n poar nuwe laarse.… hai gaift g’n sint.… strak-
en-an komp ie thuis.… stroal!.… En hài an ’t danse.… de guldes
rolde sain broek uit.… sóó, langs se paipe op de vloer.… Dà’ ware
sullie bai aa’s kippe hee?.… Se heppe grabbeld en vochte.… Hai
was smoor.. en niks het ie sien.… ha! ha!.… ha! ha! ha!.…

Wat ’n beeste, wat ’n maide.… nou binne sullie skoene goan

koope.… Ho-je-wi! wa ’n pinkebul!—

Gieren deed Guurt, met ’n bord in ’r hand, wild op ’r dijen patsend,

dat ze schommelde.

—Hep jai Kees nie sien maid, vroeg dwars-vreemd en stroef Dirk er
tegen in.

—Kees? Kees? sien ik t’met nooit.

—Wâ? en Grint dan, sain buurman? Kom je’r nie meer? Skarrel je
doar nie?.… en se seun?.… is da doàn? verdomme.… Die jonge
was puur mal op je.…

—Wa? die staive hark? die .. kikker.. àn main blouze seg!.… gierde
Guurtje, wild naar achter stormend, met vingergetrommel op borden.

—Houw doar smoele.… kaa’n g’n tuk pakke.… schorde Piet

slaperig-stemlui van den grond, zich wild in protest, met lijf-lawaai,
omdraaiend.

—V’rek, kom bai je, goedigde Dirk, zich aan den anderen kant van
den kachel neersmakkend.

—Guurt, denk ’r an, één uur!

—Ja, stem-gilde ze uit ’t achterend, ja sel d’r sain!

Om één uur moesten ze weer op, spitten, spitten tot oneindige

troosteloosheid van winterdonkering over avondvelden kwam
droeven.

En Guurt bleef met ingehouen, geluid-dempende bewegingen

vaatwerk-rommel beploeteren. Haar princessekopje roezemoesde.
Zij was de mooiste meid van Wiereland. Iedereen had ’t gezeid.… en
ze wist ’t zelf ook wel. Ze had wel nooit wat geleerd, maar de
jongens keken d’r an, of ze ’r t’met allegaar teg’lijk wouen. Maar
mooie Guurt wist wat ze waard was. ’n [42]Meneer wou ze hebben, ’n
meneer mit mooie mesjette, in nette kleere, en ringe om se hande.…
’n faine hoed.… en faine jas. En dan niks g’n konkelefoesies om den
meneer, maar blij om den stand, om ’t hooger-opkomme. Dat was
brandendste eerzucht in ’r. En aa’s tie, onfesoenlijk wou, voor d’r
trouwe, sou se’m meppe.… O! se hield ’r wel van soms, maar so als
die meide van Wiereland, soo dol.… nee, dà’ had se nooit niks soo
erg naar verlangd. Die gooie zich te grabbel. Die moste wel, die
hadde niks anders. Maar zij, de mooiste meid van Wiereland! De
apetheker haalde d’r stiekem àn.… dacht moar.… stom
boerinnetje.… En de dokter wou er soene.. t’met de heule ploats.…
Lest mit d’r seere vinger wou die vent d’r nie helpe.… of eerst ’n
lekkere soen.… so’n vuilpoes!.… dà’ hep ’n waif.… acht kooters.…!
En dà kreeg se, en dî kreeg se; allegoar van meneere.… En mee
ging se.… met kennissies en skarrelaars, die wà’ graag de meneere
van de plaots ànhaakte.… Nou, da had ze t’met puur sien.. maar bai
haar, niks g’n kansies.… Zij wou nooit, nooit gemeen sain.… Alleen
moar lolle en lache.… en pronke.… en t’met alle kemedies sien. En
dan moar al die manne opwinde, en net doen of se wou.… of se soo
moar te neme was.… En aa’s se dan woue toehappe.… pats, dan
d’r van langs, mit d’r stevige knuiste, dan seie se niks meer.… dan
was ’t glad f’rbai.

Zoo was mooie twintigjarige Guurtje, met haar dames-hoofdje, haar

prachtig goudhaar, haar lichten lach, haar fijne trekjes en blauwe
oogen-vreugd, met ’r hoog-zwaar, frisch boerinne-lijf, haar
schommelend-onderstel, de begeerlijkste meid van ’t dorps-stadje,
waarvan geen tuinder, geen meneer zich op beroemen kon dat ie ’r
gepakt had. Maar allen had ze dol gemaakt en opgejaagd, van
hartstocht. Midden in ’t paringsgedrang van beest-menschjes,
koketteerde zij grof en stoeide met allen zoo goed en zoo kwaad als
haar sluwe meisjesnatuur met berekening dat klaar kon spelen. Zij,
vrij koud voor lijfgenot, zocht naar zwakkelingen met geld, die op ’r
verkikkerd werden, [43]ambtenaartjes eerste klas.—Op één had ze al
lang ’t oog, ’n heel piek-fijn heertje, ’n rijk, wellustig slap-blond
mannetje, maar chiek, ruikend naar odeur, met lokkende snor en
streelend baardje, en zooveel geld as tie maar wou.… Die most se
anhake, hebbe, al kwam de onderste steen boven, hem met z’n
duiten, z’n chiek, z’n geurtjes en odeurtjes. En hij wou haar ook,
maar d’r lijf alleen. Alles sloeg ze àf, en toch maakte ze ’m vuriger
door ’r verleidelijke gekunstelde boerinne-onschuld. Hij, ouderloos
mannetje, zwak dobberend, afgezwabberd, wou iets om handen,
was ambtenaartje geworden.… later burgemester.… misschien! .…
zoekend naar rijke heere-boerdochter, die z’n afgezwabberd lijf wel
hebbe wou.… Toen, in één verkikkerd op ’t frisch-wellustige lijf van
Guurt, ’r blonde haaraureool, ’r fijn snoetje.… Maar veel gegeven,
weinig meegenomen, nooit iets kon ie bij ’r gedaan krijgen; niet eens
mocht ie d’r met ’n zoen besmakkeren. Ze had ’m gezeid dat als ie ’r
hebben wou, ie maar met ’r trouwen most. Hij stond wel op zich-zelf,
en dertig jaar, kon ie doen wat ie wou.… Maar van die platte familie
gruwde ie, die ruwe broers, die vuile moeder.… Daarom draalde
ie.… En zij voelde z’n dralen. Sluw, hitste z’m met ’r lijf-mooi erger
op, zich nog minder gevend dan eerst. Zoo was ze ’m gaan
beheerschen.… En nou most ze zich bekennen, dat ze hem toch
ook wel aardig vond, met z’n manchette, en z’n blondkrullend
snorretje vooral, met dat gleufie in ’t midden, en z’n zachte kijkers,
z’n goeie netuur.… o ja alles vond ze mooi an ’m. Maar ’t meest was
’t ’r te doen om z’n duiten, z’n lekkere duiten.…

Dat ze zich prachtig kon maken, dat ze baas over ’t ventje was.… zij
met ’r dijen, waarachter ie zich verschuilen kon, zonder dat z’n
neuspunt te zien kwam. Maar hij wou, durfde maar niet. En zij,
doorkoketteerend, met andere jongens van de plaats en van Duinkijk
en van de sekretarie, dat ie dol werd van heetige jaloersigheid. En
de anderen gebruikte zij om ’m op te winden, metéén te laten zien,
dat ze maling aan hem had, en dat kerels als boomen om ’r
heendrongen, naar ’n [44]gunstje bedelden. Zoo, als ’n plompe, maar
stomp-sluwe dorps-Carmen had ze Jan Grint den tuinderszoon, dien
ze al van ’r schooljaren kende, mal gemaakt, maar toen ie met liefde
en vuiligheid kwam had ze ’m de deur uitgesmeten. Ze kreeg
smeekbrieven van ’m; dat hij d’r vroegste minnaar was en dat ie zich
z’n handen van de romp zou afsnijen, aa’s sai ’t puur hebbe wou.…
Maar ze dàcht niet aan ’m. Ze wou met ’m lachen en uitgaan of