Review of the Research Institute for History and - Universiteit Utrecht

Introduction
During the past eight years a variety of interesting and inspiring research activities at the Onderzoekinstituut
voor Geschiedenis en Cultuur (Research Institute for History and Culture, OGC) have borne fruit. Notable
successes have been achieved during the period under review. It is these research activities that we would
like to highlight in particular in this review. Because research is our core business, we have chosen to present
the research programmes and their work in the fi rst part of this report, whilst the institute, with its supportive
facilities, is discussed in the second part. The reader who is interested in information on organizational
matters, which constitute the framework of the actual research, is advised to consult section B fi rst.
During the eight years under review, 1997-2004, OGC scholars published signifi cant books with highlyreputed
publishers. From the rich crop we would like to mention Hans Bertens’ textbook Literary Theory:
the Basics (Routledge 2001), Bart Besamusca and Paul Wackers’ defi nitive edition in two volumes of Van
den vos Reynaerde (Bert Bakker 2002), Albert Blankert’s collection of essays Selected Writings on Dutch Painting
(Waanders 2004), Rosi Braidotti’s innovative study Metamorphoses: Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming
(Polity 2002), Jeroen Duindam’s comparative history Vienna and Versailles: the Courts of Europe’s Dynastic Rivals,
1550-1780 (Cambridge UP 2003), the survey by Louis Grijp et al., Een muziekgeschiedenis der Nederlanden
(Amsterdam UP 2001), the milestone in the study of Islamic Mysticism edited by Frederick de Jong, Islamic
Mysticism Contested. Thirteen Centuries of Controversies and Polemics (Brill 1999), Ann Rigney who happily
returned after a 3-years professorship at Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam) published Imperfect histories: the elusive
past and the legacy of historic romanticism (Cornell UP 2001), Jan Luiten van Zanden and Arthur van Riel’s
groundbreaking The strictures of inheritance. The Dutch economy in the nineteenth century (Princeton UP 2004),
as well as the one-and-a-half `Utrecht’ volumes in the four-volume milestone series Nederlandse cultuur in
Europese Context: Joost Kloek, Wijnand Mijnhardt, 1800: Blauwdrukken voor een samenleving, and Jan Bank,
Maarten van Buuren, 1900: hoogtij van burgerlijke cultuur, now published as 1800: Blueprints for a National Community
and 1900: the Age of Bourgeois Culture (both Palgrave 2004). Perhaps most impressive in terms of impact
was the huge study on the Dutch in former Yugoslavia, Srebrenica, een `veilig’ gebied (Boom 2002), with a major
contribution by Bob de Graaff. This book toppled the Dutch government in 2002.
OGC scholars acquired prestigious grants for their research projects, most notably Josine Blok for her
project on Citizenship in Classical Athens, and Koen Ottenheym for a combined project with the Catholic
University of Louvain on the architectural relations between the Southern and the Northern Netherlands.
Jan Luiten van Zanden was awarded the Spinoza Prize by NWO, allowing him to develop a programme on
Economic Development and Inequality in World History.
OGC scholars were elected to prestigious posts in the institutions of their chosen fi elds of expertise.
Bart Besamusca became president of the International Arthurian Society in 2002, Frank Kessler became
president of DOMITOR, International Association for Research on Early Cinema in 2003, Jan Luiten van
Zanden has been secretary-general of the International Economic History Association since 1998. In 2003
Utrecht hosted the fi rst worldwide conference in computer-games research, Level Up, which was organized
by Marinka Copier and Joost Raessens. It is therefore fair to say that, during the period under review, OGC
scholars were able to continue to make valuable contributions to the rich and fertile fi elds of Humanities
research, specifi cally within the context of the following Utrecht programmes:
1. Ancient and Medieval Cultures.
2. Cultural Infrastructure and Intellectual Culture in the Modern Age
3. The Cultural Construction of Media
4. Arts, Culture and their Contexts
5. Art History
6. Literary Studies
7. Oriental Studies
8. International and Political History
9. Social and Economic History
10. Gender Studies
7 Introduction OGC