BoerenzijNL
Boerenzij (the rural side) is a former nickname for Rotterdam-South. In the 20th century the term was used disparagingly to refer to the rural migrant workers and their families that settled in neighborhoods near the Rotterdam harbours on the south bank of the Maas.
The residents of this new district were rural labour migrants, initially from North Brabant, Zeeland and Southern Europe, and later from Morocco, Turkey, Suriname and the Antilles, and more recently - Eastern Europe. These newcomers were implicitly expected to leave their rural culture and knowledge behind, just as local farmers were expected to relinquish fields to make way for the city.
Rotterdam-South has been the organisational home of Myvillages since 2003. It is also the home of Wapke Feenstra, her studio and the archive of Myvillages.
In 2003 we officially launched Myvillages (then called myvillages.org) as a shared cultural space for opening up the rural as a working place for artists. Fed up with the ubiquity of urban cultural hegemony, we self-organised ways of thinking together, working within and publishing about the rural as a particularity without any urge to define it.
| Region | South Holland |
|---|---|
| Local partners |
|
| Population | 240 165 |
| Common fruit, vegetables, animals | Harbour, cats and rats, penthouses |
| Tradition | Wereldhavendagen, NN North Sea Jazz Festival |
| Scent | Fresh cold sea wind, Quaker cruesli granola |
| Distances from Boerenzij | Distances |
Rural Relations Writing Club
In early spring 2025, Ioana Lupascu from Seasonal Neighbours, in collaboration with Myvillages, initiated a series of writing gatherings centred on themes of rural relations.
Driven by a shared interest in questions like What stories take root in the rural? and How might writing help us trace them? Ioana now organizes monthly writing workshops at the RSoE studio in Southern Rotterdam.
This is a growing series that explores rural life, memory, and imagination. Each session focuses on a different theme, like kinship, grief, or harvest, and invites participants to write from personal experience, collective rituals, and everyday observations.
The gatherings follow a simple rhythm: we eat together, write through a series of gentle prompts, and share what we choose to. The space is informal, welcoming, and open to anyone curious about rural storytelling in all its forms and languages - no writing experience needed.
Rooted in the belief that rural stories deserve time, care, and collective attention, the Writing Club continues to grow as a shared space for reflection, imagination, and belonging.
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If you’d like to join an upcoming writing session, keep an eye on our instagram or write to Ioana at: writing.rural.relations@gmail.com
| Region | South Holland |
|---|---|
| Local partners |
|
| Population | 240 165 |
| Common fruit, vegetables, animals | Harbour, cats and rats, penthouses |
| Tradition | Wereldhavendagen, NN North Sea Jazz Festival |
| Scent | Fresh cold sea wind, Quaker cruesli granola |
| Distances from Boerenzij | Distances |