Blog

Food for thought

When I arrived as a visiting ARC fellow to the Graduate Center at CUNY, New York a few weeks ago, I was told that the common dining room at the 8th floor had fallen out of use. There used to be a kitchen, with...
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Corona and Research

Covid-19 is shaking up our society. As we speak, our Prime Minister is seriously condemning the violence that has taken place in several parts of the Netherlands over the past night in response to the curfew that was installed on Saturday 23 January. Draconic...
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Language

“One can sleep with anyone, but one can only read some people’s words.” Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (1991 [2nd ed.]), p. 77   One of the great advantages of staying at NIAS (the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies) is that there is ample time...
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Voices from the past

Sometimes, the archives unexpectedly offer a treasure of distant voices from the past. Last week, when I was reading Frances Gouda’s 1995 book Dutch Culture Overseas, I discovered that she had used some letters by female Indonesian students of the privately funded Van Deventer...
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Storytelling. Reflections by a history teacher

For almost two years now, my 12-year old daughter has been complaining that her history lessons in high school are “so boring”! She is now in her second year, and has had two different school teachers. When I ask her: well, don’t they tell...
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