Review of the Research Institute for History and - Universiteit Utrecht

• The Thematic Network ATHENA 1 (1996-2003) en ATHENA 2 (2003-2006) are funded under the
Socrates-programme of the European Research Department. In 2004, the EU awarded funding for the
Marie Curie Graduate Exchange programme “Gender Graduates”, coordinated by the OGC Gender
Studies group.
The OGC Media Studies group participates in the CHICAM research programme, a European-wide investigation
of the infl uence of computers and other media on the communication of migrant children; this programme
is also funded by the European Research Department.
International Exchange
During the past two or three decades, the research landscape in the humanities has changed dramatically.
From a primarily national enterprise, humanities research has become much more dominated by international
research agendas, meetings and publications. For those working on a medium-sized culture like the
Dutch, and within a medium-sized linguistic framework, this has created, at one and the same time, a stimulus
to broaden their intellectual horizon, and a serious dilemma in terms of research and publishing strategies. To
reach an international audience, Dutch researchers have to publish in languages not their own, and in journals
dominated by non-Dutch editorial boards. As it is, most of the so-called international journals in the humanities
remain biased towards the history and culture of their country (or linguistic community) of origin. It
is also self-evident that the need to publish internationally is not the same for each OGC scholar, or even
programme. Those working on Dutch literature will primarily target a Dutch-speaking audience; those foreigners
interested in the subject will presumably be able to read Dutch. In Gender Studies, on the other hand,
the debate is primarily in English. Seen against the background of linguistic and cultural obstacles that have
to be overcome, OGC researchers have been remarkably successful in reaching out to the wider community
of fellow researchers abroad. Generous OGC funding of international conference participation, as well the
funding of translations by NWO and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, have smoothed the way.
As an institution, moreover, OGC participates in the international agreements and networks of the national
research schools, which receive funding for international exchange from NWO and the European Science
Foundation. In 1995 OGC became a member of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes
(CHCI), an international network of 130, mainly North-American research institutes. Since 1999 OGC has
been represented by prof. Wiljan van den Akker, on the CHCI Board. Exchange agreements have been established
with two University of California campuses, LA and Riverside. In 2001 the OGC initiated consultations
about the foundations of a European CHCI. This has proved a serious challenge, but we plan to renew
these efforts at the CHCI annual meeting, which will take place in Utrecht in June 2005. The agreement
with UCLA also resulted in an annual lecture-series: the Dutch Lecture in LA, and the UCLA Lecture in
Utrecht. In 2002, a symposium and fi lm festival on War and Resistance in the Dutch Experience was staged
in LA. In 2003 NWO provided funding for National Histories and Myopia in Enlightenment-Studies, a collaboration
of historians from Utrecht and UCLA.
Faculty and PhD exchange UCLA-Utrecht:
• UCLA faculty: prof. Claudia Rapp (2002), prof. Ellen Dubois (2003), prof. Eric Avila (2004); prof. Norton
Wise (2005)
• UCLA-PhD: Christine Sellin (2001, 2002) Sara Hendren (2003)
• OGC faculty: prof. Wijnand Mijnhardt (2000-04), dr Jaap Verheul (2002), dr Bob de Graaff (2003),
dr Judith Thissen (2004), dr André van der Velden (2004)
• OGC-PhD: Oscar Gelderblom (2000) David Wertheim (2002), Inger Leemans (2002), David Onnekink
(2003),
Utrecht Lecture: prof. Wijnand Mijnhardt (2001), prof. Hans Bertens (2002), prof. Koen Ottenheym (2003),
UCLA Lecture: prof. Margaret Jacob (2004)
Utrecht University administers the Dutch Interuniversity Institute for Art History in Florence. Its Director,
Bert Meijer, holds a chair at Utrecht and is thus connected to OGC.
OGC Research Institute for History and Culture
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