Review of the Research Institute for History and - Universiteit Utrecht

A. Documentation regarding the level of the research programme
Title of the programme:
Gender Studies
Starting date:
1994
Research erea and mission:
Gender and ethnicity
Programme leader:
Prof. R. Braidotti
Affi liations outside the institute (e.g. research school) and other cooperations and
relations with national and international research groups:
Netherlands Research School for Women’s Studies
International Offi ce Women’s Studies
A 1. Leadership
With 6,44 fte this is one of the smaller groups within the OGC. It consists of 3 full
professors, 1 associate professor, 2 Postdocs, and 6 PhD-students. Gender Studies is
a new fi eld of academic inquiry within the Humanities and Social Sciences. From
the very start, Gender Studies has been international and interdisciplinary in orientation.
Because of its recent origin, Women’s Studies was not so much shaped
by the traditions of the nineteenth century, but rather, during the 1980s, heavily
infl uenced by structuralism and post-modernism. Recently, under the infl uence of
post-colonial studies, Gender Studies has become closely connected with the study
of ethnicity.
These developments in the fi eld as a whole are clearly visible in the development
of the Utrecht group that has in its own right helped shape the course of the
fi eld. Since the appointment of prof. Rosi Braidotti to the chair in Comparative
Women’s Studies in 1986, the group has been self-consciously international en
interdisciplinary. Particularly history and literary studies have been prominently
represented in the group. The group values team work and regular interaction
between members. The group has a coordinating team that meets every six weeks,
to discuss new initiatives. In the monthly workshop meetings faculty, PhDstudents
and guest speakers from other Dutch and foreign universities meet to
discuss papers. The group also regularly invites distinguished guest speakers for
lectures and master classes. Members of the group are encouraged to participate in
inter national projects and networks.
A 2. Strategy and policy
The group is particularly engaged in the analysis of, and theoretical refl ection on
processes of power, representation and signifi cation. Much of its work concerns
the interaction between the symbolic and material manifestations of culture and
identity, two spheres usually treated as distinct. The theoretical framework of the
programme is formed by two research traditions: on the one hand an American
tradition of critical refl ection on issues of race and gender, and on the other the
post-colonial feminist theories that were developed in the study of early colonies
and metropoles. The programme aims to contribute new ideas to the study of the
interaction between gender and ethnicity that have sprouted from these two
traditions. Concentration on the cultural practices developed in Europe, as a post-
OGC Gender Studies
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