Staging Modern Monarchs. Royalty at the World Exhibitions of 1851 and 1867

In 1792 Thomas Paine compared the monarchy with something kept behind a curtain, ‘about which there is a great deal of bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seeming solemnity; but when, by any accident, the curtain happens to be open—and the company see what it is, they burst into laughter.’ According to Paine, a passionate republican who was involved in the American Revolution, nothing of this could happen in the rep

Visualisering en collectieve herinneringen.

In the field of history we are currently observing a ‘memory wave’. A key feature of the growing bulk of publications on memory is that they revolve around the relationship to the past in the past. This meta-historical approach implies the study of both scholarly and non-scholarly production, distribution and reception of historical representations. This article discusses some influential notions: collective memories, emblems, icons and appropriation. Memory participants sometimes integrate and use the received meanings and values in their own culture, and might disturb the larger mnemonic community to which they also belong. To clarify my argument I furthermore analyse ‘Volendams meisje’, a famous female Dutch icon. In the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century the original emblem for the Netherlands – the heroic Dutch Virgin of Liberty – was replaced by this young girl in traditional costume. Since the 1870s images of Dutch rural life were gradually used to construct a national identity, a Dutch myth of unity, based on cultural and ethnic criteria. After 1900 particularly several ‘peasant girls’ figured in advertisements to attract buyers. Interestingly enough, Dutch suffragettes from the bourgeois classes playfully appropriated the traditional costume for their own purposes. Obviously this type of acting evoked nostalgic memories of the good old days. At the same time the reassuring image of ‘peasant girls’ emphasized the ‘whiteness’ and femininity of Dutch feminists

Beyond Petrified History. Gender and Collective Memories.

In the field of history we are currently observing a 'memory wave'. A key feature of the growing bulk of publications on memory is that they revolve around the relationship to the past in the past. This meta-historical approach implies the study of both scholarly and non-scholarly production, distribution and reception of historical representations. This article discusses some influential notions, such as collective memories and appropriation from a gender perspective. Memory participants sometimes integrate and use the received meanings and values in their own culture, and might disturb the larger mnemonic community to which they also belong. To clarify my argument I furthermore analyse 'Volendams meisje', a famous female Dutch icon

De enscenering van de tijd

Met welke middelen werden in de negentiende eeuw nieuwe tijdervaringen tot uitdrukking gebracht en wat betekenden deze uitdrukkingsvormen voor de omgang met het verleden? Dit is de centrale vraag van deze oratie. Eerst wordt ingegaan op de versnelling van de moderne geschiedenis, de achtergronden en effecten. Daarna komen het dubbele karakter van de tijd en enkele toepassingen daarvan in de geschiedbeoefening aan bod. Ook de begrippen 'historische tijd' en historisch besef passeren de revue. Tenslotte worden enkele concrete tijdensceneringen op de negentiende-eeuwse wereldtentoonstellingen als voorbeeld van gearticuleerde tijdservaringen toegelicht

Alternative Facts, Truth and History Education

Although we never reach "the truth" and poststructuralists rightly question the notions of truth, the pursuit of historical truth in the academic discipline and in the practice of history teaching remains very important. We therefore need to further elaborate the didactics of historical thinking and to support history teachers to implement historical thinking concepts in their classes. See for a more extensive argument my article in Dutch language in Hermes (2019), the EUROCLIO website and a video clip https://nl-nl.facebook.com/EUROCLIO.Association/videos/10156103877976660