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 […]

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)

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 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 […]

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 […]