appe n d ix 8 : some c o m m e nts o n a rec e nt critique of the provos
Relatively little new material was published on the Pro vos between 1 970 and the 1 992 appearance of Virginie Mamadouh's important study, De stad in eigen hand: Provos, Kabouters en Krakers als stedelijk sociale beweging (Amsterdam: Sua, 1 992 . The title translates approxi mately as Popular Control of City Government: Provos, Kabo u ters, and Squatters as Urban Social Movements; or, more literally, The City in One 's Own Hands). The definitive account of the Kabouter movement is Louter Kabou ter: Kroniek van een beweging, 1 969- 1 9 74 (Pure Kabouter: Chronicle of a Movement, 1 969- 1 974) by Coen Tas man (Amsterdam:De Geus-Bablylon, 1 99 6 ) . Most recently, in 200 3 , Niek Pas , a n assistant professor a t the Institute o f Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam, published his doctoral dissertation as Imaazje!: De verbeelding van Provo, 1 965- 1 967 (Image!: The Imag ing of Provo, 1 965- 1 96 7) (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 200 3 ) . Unfortunately, Pas ' book i s a major study, a hefty tome of 463 pages of which 90 pages are footnotes and an additional 1 8 pages include a bibliography and list of source s . It is maddening that such a thorough work should so consistently belittle Provo and its members on page after page . Given Pas 's negative view of Provo it is essential that this first major study not be taken as the defini tive work on the movement. In response to it, Coen Tasman, author of Lou ter Kabou ter, wrote a long critical review that he published in the Dutch periodical B uiten de Orde (Herfst 2003 ) . Pas ' book was written from the point o f view o f Media Stud ies , an area that is his present specialty. The word verbeelding in the title does not have an exact English equivalent, it means " imaging " as well as " self-promoting, wishful thinking, allowing one 's imagi nation to run away, pipe-dreaming, exaggerating, " suggesting that the current " image " of Provo is a myth. Thus the title strikes a sar castic note, echoing the attitude of the author. Throughout his book Pas comes across as an overbearing skeptic, blind to the creativity
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