Together with Frans Ruiter, Maarten Prak has led the OGC for the past eight years. During this period the research landscape, within and outside our Faculty, has changed quite dramatically. In many of these changes Maarten was, willingly and at time times also unwillingly, directly involved. The name of his successor is not yet known.
How 'cool' are the Humanities?
The title of the symposium refers to the keynote lecture delivered by Prof. Joep Leerssen in September 2010 at the Faculty opening of the new academic year. He alerted his audience to the fact that the Sciences are quite successful with a type of research that causes the wider public to say “Cool! I had no idea”. The Humanities, Leerssen argued, have perhaps withdrawn too much into a world of theorising and criticism that is only accessible to a relatively small in-crowd. This, however, was not always so. As another scholar from Amsterdam, Rens Bod, argues in a recent history of the field, Humanities scholars in the nineteenth century developed lots of ambitious agendas that appealed also to a non-academic public (Rens Bod, De vergeten wetenschappen, 2010, especially chapter 6: ‘Alfa-inzichten die de wereld veranderd hebben’).
During the symposium scholars from various OGC disciplines will reflect on this issue and discuss a book or an article that has indeed changed the agenda of their field and therefore merits to be called ‘cool’. Next to these OGC scholars there will also be representatives of the Linguistics, Philosophy and Religious Studies research institutes to present their ideas, so as to make this into a genuine Faculty event. The symposium will be concluded with a drinks party.
13:30 Reception, coffee/tea
14:00 Start of the programme
17:00 Drinks
Speakers
Christoph Baumgartner: Trans-Formations of Religion.
Dr Christoph Baumgartner is Assistent Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Theology and director of the research institute INTEGON.
Isabelle Duyevesteyn: Verrek zit dat zo met vredesoperaties
Dr Isabelle Duyvesteyn is Asssitant Professor in the Department for History and Art History. She is research leader of the NWO VIDI project 'A History of Counterterrorism in Asia, 1945-2005.'
Marjo van Koppen: Hoe Arabisch is het Nederlands? Over taal als universeel gegeven
Dr Marjo van Koppen is Assistant Professor of Modern Linguistics. In 2010 she was awarded the Utrecht University Prijs Jong Docententalent (prize for young talented lecturer). She leads an NWO project on how languages differ from each other.
Ann Sophie Lehmann: Follow the Materials
Dr Ann Sophie Lehmann is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Culture Studies. She just finished a NWO VENI project, 'The Brush in the Computer. A Critical History of Computer Graphics and the Painterly Turn in Digital Visual Culture.'
Tine de Moor: The revenge of the 'homo reciprocans'
Dr Tine de Moor is Associate Professor of Economic and Social History. Among other things, she leads the ERC starting grant project '"United we stand". The dynamics and consequences of institutions for collective action in pre-industrial Europe.'
Dana Mustata: Breaking News in Television Studies
Dr Dana Mustata is researcher in the EU project 'EUscreen'. Recently she got her PhD.
Mirko Tobias Schäfer: Unveiling Culture. Actors and factors in media practice
Dr Mirko Tobias Schäfer is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Culture Studies. Recently his book Bastard Culture! How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production (2011) was published.
Iris van der Tuin: Paradigmawisseling als kwantumsprong
Dr Iris van der Tuin is Assistant Professor at the Department of Media and Culture Studies. Currently she is working on an NWO VENI project ‘The Material Turn in the Humanities’.
Uğur Ümit Üngör: Massaal geweld: nieuwe inzichten uit aangrenzende disciplines
Dr. Uğur Ümit Üngör is Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Art History. His most recent book is Confiscation and Colonisation: The Young Turk Seizure of Armenian Property (2010).
Paul Ziche: Tolerant Science
Prof. Paul Ziche is professor of the History of Philosophy. In 2010 he was chosen as Lecturer of the Year at Utrecht University.
Registration
Due to the limited number of seats available, registration is necessary: send an e-mail to ogc@uu.nl, mentioning ‘symposium for Maarten Prak’ in the subject line.