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

De historische canon onder de loep

Deze bijdrage gaat in op de cultuurhistorische context van de problematiek van leerstofkeuzes in het geschiedenisonderwijs, een onderwerp dat sterk de aandacht trekt in de politiek en de media. De vraag wélke historische kennis en inzichten relevant zijn voor jongeren en volwassenen in de huidige samenleving wordt echter zelden expliciet gesteld. Nu de buitenschoolse verwerving van historische kennis en inzicht sterk is veranderd, waardoor de historische cultuur gefragmenteerd en gedifferentieerd is, terwijl het aantal uren geschiedenisonderwijs drastisch is verminderd, is reflectie op leerstofcriteria noodzakelijk De van oorsprong vaderlandslievende functies van het geschiedenisonderwijs, gericht waren op nation building, voldoen niet meer. Toch vervult de vertrouwde historische canon als format nog een belangrijke bindende en uniformerende functie in de cultuuroverdracht. De canon ontleent zijn veerkracht aan het finalistisch schema van een voortgang in de tijd, gekoppeld aan een presentatie door middel van een epische concentratie op maatgevende gebeurtenissen, personen en ideeën. Niettemin is er tevens sprake van ‘de-canonisering’, een proces waarin de vanzelfsprekende betekenis van de vertrouwde historische kennis ter discussie komt te staan door het gebruik van perspectieven als klasse, gender en etniciteit in de geschiedbeoefening. Een geïnstitutionaliseerde wijze van overdracht van historische kennis en inzicht kan niet zonder enig historisch overzicht; losse feitjes zijn nietszeggend zonder samenhang. Systematische reflectie op het fenomeen van de ca

Wankele sokkels.:Omstreden monumenten in de openbare ruimte

Statues, busts, memorials and other monuments have a tangible presence in public spaces and may therefore evoke a variety of emotions, ranging from joy and sadness to disappointment and anger. Some monuments are unifying, comforting and healing, especially when they are associated with more profound rituals, such as the Dodenherdenking ceremony on 4 May to remember the victims of the Second World War, or the Keti Koti observance on 1 July commemorating the abolition of slavery in Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles in 1863. Other monuments portray a biased, time-bound view of the past that divides, marginalises and excludes. A monument that may have gone unnoticed for years can suddenly provoke fierce reactions. Debates and conflicts about statues and monuments have intensified in the Netherlands in the past decade. Some pedestals have become unstable The influence of the global Black Lives Matter movement have stripped colonial statues of their ‘white innocence’. Memorials to victims of the Second World War and other conflicts are now also open to debate. Public officials can respond in several different ways: do nothing, place an explanatory text alongside the monument, change its function and name, create a critical artistic conceptualization of the monument, move it to another location, or remove it altogether. In an effort to offer stakeholders some guidance, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences established a Committee on Controversial Monuments to examine what makes monuments controversial and how to engage in a well-considered conversation about them. The Committee’s advisory report focuses on three target groups: 1. public officials, policymakers and politicians; 2. institutions of learning, museums and cultural heritage centres; 3. the public, including local residents and communities of remembrance.<br/

Introduction: Historical Cultures and Education in Transition

In the Introduction Carretero, Berger and Grever present an overview of the main issues that are currently discussed in relation to historical culture and history education. They introduce the 38 chapters of the Palgrave Handbook of Research in Historical Culture and Education written by scholars from the Americas, Europe and Asia, providing an international and global perspective on these matters. The Handbook is organized into four parts: (a) Historical Culture and Public Uses of History; (b) The Appeal of the Nation in History Education of Postcolonial Societies; (c) Reflections on History Learning and Teaching; (d) Educational Resources: Curricula, Textbooks and New Media. The Introduction also explains the interdisciplinary approach of the Handbook, evidenced by contributions from History, Education, Social and Cognitive Psychology and other Social Sciences