Marieke Hendriksen, senior onderzoeker aan het Huygens Instituut en NL-Lab, heeft een ERC Consolidator Grant van 2 miljoen toegekend gekregen voor haar onderzoeksproject PRESERVARE. Dit innovatieve onderzoek brengt onder andere de alledaagse, ongeschreven kennis van voedselconservering in kaart door een unieke combinatie van digitale technieken, archeologische vondsten en historische reconstructies. In de periode tussen 1600 […]

Child separation: Politics and practices of children’s upbringing by faith‐based organisations in (post)colonial Indonesia (1808‐1984)  Religieuze weeshuizen, kindertehuizen, kostscholen en pleeggezinnen hebben een grote rol gespeeld in het koloniale bestuur van Nederlands-Indië. ‘Indische kinderen’ – kinderen van Aziatisch-Europese afkomst die formeel tot de Europese onderdanen werden gerekend – groeiden na het vertrek of overlijden van […]

Slachtofferschap, herinnering, activisme In 2024 is een groep gestart die onderzoek doet naar de manier waarop slachtofferschap een rol speelt in diverse herinneringsculturen en vormen van activisme. We stellen de vraag hoe slachtofferschap hierin werkt en omgekeerd: wat herinneringsculturen en activisme te betekenen hebben voor slachtoffers. De groep bestaat uit NL-lab kerngroeplid Geertje Mak, Nl-lab […]

Dit project onderzoekt religieuze themaparken religie verbeelden in verschillende landen. Welke verbeeldingen worden overgedragen en hoe? Wat zijn de achterliggende agenda’s en wat is de invloed van de parken op de emotionele en politieke betekenis van religie en erfgoed? Subsidiegever European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant)

Correspondentie van A.L.G. Bosboom-Toussaint Het project realiseert een digitale editie van de correspondentie van Geertruida Bosboom-Toussaint (1812-1886), dat wil zeggen de ruim 1500 bewaard gebleven brieven die door haar zijn verzonden, zowel voor als na haar huwelijk. De brieven aan haar zijn door haar echtgenoot Johannes Bosboom na haar dood veelal teruggegeven aan de afzenders […]

In ons onderzoek kijken we of de communicatie van de kat richting zijn of haar menselijke gesprekspartner dezelfde stappen volgt als de communicatie tussen twee mensen. Welke non-verbale signalen gebruiken katten naar mensen? En hoe komen bepaalde routines tot stand? Dit onderzoeken wij.

Weerbare Wetenschap:   Hoe gaan wetenschappers om met maatschappelijke polarisatie? Hoe kunnen zij weerbaar worden tegen geëmotioneerde reacties, scheldkanonades of rechtstreekse bedreigingen? Welke impact heeft het tijdperk van fake news en alternatieve feiten op wetenschap? Wat voor oplossingen vinden wetenschappers om op een nieuwe manier om te gaan met publiek, media en politiek in deze […]

In recent years, there has been great interest in how foreign states use the media to influence political debates. Countries such as Russia and the United States invest large sums in influencing foreign audiences via social media, in order to achieve diplomatic objectives. NL-Lab is researching the history of this form of ‘public diplomacy’. The […]

What characterises Dutch identity? What are the core values of Dutch society? How do feelings of national identity clash with modernisation, individualisation, Europeanisation, globalisation and migration? Since the 1990s, questions such as these have been prominent on the national agenda. Not only are they actively debated in the public sphere, but they also form the […]

This sub-project in the Writing the Netherlands Programme investigates the broad contours of the ‘Writing the Netherlands’ tradition, by charting the publications that describe the Netherlands and its inhabitants on the basis of statistical and topographical accounts. One iconic example of this ‘genre’ is the 38-volume series Tegenwoordige staat der Vereenigde Nederlanden (The current state […]

This project investigates the relationship between cows and humans. In what ways do humans relate to cows (as products, as sensitive creatures, as objects)? Which other animals play a role in the relationship with cows?

Dit project onderzoekt hoe koeien en mensen relaties aangaan. Op welke manieren verhouden mensen zich tot koeien (als product, als een gevoelig wezen, als een ding)? Welke andere dieren spelen een rol in relaties met koeien?

The Biografisch Portaal van Nederland (Dutch Biography Portal, Huygens ING) forms a central access point for biographic information. It brings together a range of published information about more and less familiar figures in Dutch history, from the earliest years to the present day. Biographic dictionaries such as these have played (and play) an important role in the canonisation […]

For over ninety years, the Meertens Institute has being acquiring archives and research collections on the Dutch language and culture. This unique material on linguistic variation, ethnology and onomastics forms part of the national heritage of the Netherlands. The institute currently manages more than 700 collections, including research data (digital and non-digital), audio collections, archive […]

Cheese is a typically Dutch product. This is often reflected by its packaging, which shows idealised images of its origins and how it is made: Frau Antje, contented cows and traditional farming practices. This project does not overlook how cheese has played a key role in the Dutch landscape and gastronomic culture, economy and image. […]

The Westforschung project is being undertaken as part of the Writing the Netherlands Programme. The project investigates how the image of the Netherlands has been shaped by external forces. In particular, it looks at how, shortly before and during the Second World War, the Germans tried to gain insight into their neighbours with the aid of […]

The COVID-19 crisis has underlined how smell plays a key role in everyday life: not only is the loss of smell one of the symptoms of COVID-19, but the lockdown has also influenced our olfactory environment (we miss the aroma of vending-machine coffee at the office and fragrant smells when dining out). But what role […]

Populism poses a major challenge to society and academia. Movements such as the PVV (the Netherlands) and PEGIDA (Germany) do not fit neatly into existing paradigms, and they publish few programmatic texts. How should we understand populist movements? This project draws on social media data to analyse how key concepts are defined in populist ideology. […]

The elections of 2017 were dominated by the issue of Dutch religious-cultural identity. Christian symbols and the ‘Judaeo-Christian’ tradition were brandished by Liberal politicians such as Mark Rutte and populists from the PVV. This article draws on ostensibly trivial examples, such as Easter eggs, to examine the new ways in which religion has become a […]

The Dutch have long been enthusiastic petitioners. For centuries, Dutch citizens in their masses filed requests and petitions with every conceivable authority. They submitted proposals and made their wishes and interests known, but they also called their leaders to account. Due to the citizens’ active role in the political process, the country and the machinery […]

The kite seems to be a fleeting thing: a fun toy for the young, but swiftly forgotten after childhood. How can we thus explain the enduring fascination of the Dutch with kite-flying? The Netherlands is a country of kite enthusiasts. A history of the representation of the kite in Dutch culture reveals that it crops […]

NL-Lab investigates how identity is created, and analyses the concept of ‘identity’ on a more theoretical level. The concept of identity links individual experience, perception and identification with collective categories such as nation, gender, ethnicity, religion and sexuality. It can mean both ‘identical’ (the same as others in this category) and ‘unique’, individual. Moreover, identity […]

NL-Lab documents emotions in the Netherlands. In partnership with the Meertens Institute, we investigate which emotions are displayed in public debates, and why certain emotions have become so dominant in the public arena. We aim to produce a ‘humours map’ of Dutch society, focusing on differences, demarcation lines and historical developments. The project seeks to […]

The Netherlands has long been portrayed as a sober nation of merchants. The Republic of Seven United Netherlands, one of the world’s first modern capitalist economies, is said to have been built on a prudent commercial moral code. This myth was grounded in the dominant economic theory of the efficient market, with homo economicus as […]

Liquorice is viewed as a ‘typically Dutch’ product, and as a characteristic form of Dutch identity. But why is this the case? Liquorice is also eaten elsewhere, and the liquorice plant Glycyrrhiza glabra, the roots of which give the black sweet its distinctive taste, is not native to North-western Europe. Liquorice was probably first introduced […]

The research theme From generation to generation is coordinated by Geertje Mak. Based on the concept of the ‘generation’, with this theme Mak wants to contribute to thinking about history as a process of generational transfer. One aspect that cannot be avoided is sex: sex in its concrete forms and variations, but also the social, […]

The Dutch language is spoken far beyond the nation’s borders, but the Netherlands itself has always been a multilingual country. Moreover, as a small linguistic region, the Netherlands was an early specialist in translation to and from the national tongue. NL-Lab investigates the ‘Dutch translation factory’, but we also carry out research on the ‘departed […]

Behind an object as simple as a hat lies a complex cultural code. Hats feature in many seventeenth-century portraits

The Cultivar project investigates the historical links between the cultivation of a country, animals and humans. It focuses in particular on the concept of the colony. A colony or ‘human settlement’ was a form – an ideal type – where the reclamation and cultivation of land went hand in hand with the development or education […]